Carrier Command was made by the Leeds studio Realtime Games Software, led by Ian Oliver and Graeme Baird, right after they'd finished the 8-bit conversions of Starglider for Rainbird: the publisher then asked them to create an original title for the new 16-bit machines, and the result was an unusual crossover between vehicle simulator and real-time strategy. The player commands the Epsilon, an autonomous aircraft carrier, deploying unmanned planes and ground vehicles from it to capture, one by one, the 64 outposts of an archipelago rendered in filled polygon graphics — a remarkable feat for 1988. The Games Machine gave the ST version 98% and the Amiga version 97%, and named it game of the year. It's still cited as one of the most technically advanced pieces in the Atari ST catalog, and as an early — and rarely imitated — example of blending genres without either one ending up as a secondary afterthought.
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