Strike Commander: Tactical Operations

The Good
It still retains everything that was good about Strike Commander: Great graphics, great action, and a great game world in which to fly in. The add-on gives you the chance to fly some missions with the F-22 which offers a nice change of pace and certainly makes the dogfighting missions much more enjoyable. Also worthy of mention is the addition of some cool new enemy planes, like the F-117 and the famed Phantom and a new wingman.

The Bad
Nothing more than that is what this add-on offers. Not even new weapons... groan. The missions themselves seem to acknowledge that they are the same things over-and-over again, and try to include some twists (ie: go take out the defenses on a carrier group BEFORE taking out your main target) but it is essentially another case of MOTS, something this game didn't need at all. The only standout mission is the one at the end, which is a preview of those truly anal missions that would plague future Wing Commanders and in which you have to shoot down some missiles...yipee...

Furthermore, while the add-on does flesh up the great gameworld of Strike Commander (a gritty near future in which oil and corporate interests have finally made the world collapse and divide) it does not offer any new storyline or even attempts to. Instead of being an exciting new chapter in the lives of Stern's Wildcats, this is a series of unconnected new campaigns aimed at giving you a quick fix of more Strike Commander.

Also, the chance to fly the F-22 is nearly a joke. Being a fast interceptor first and foremost, the game only lets you take a fixed amount of 2 sidewinders and 2 AMRAAMs. Needless to say, the missions with this plane are nothing but aerial dogfights.... and guess what?? Whether you want to or not you end up selling the F-22 midgame and end up flying the same kind of missions of the original game.... with the same plane... with no new weapons..... groan...

The Bottom Line
Ok, so the game is still cool, but more of the same was what this game definitively NOT needed!!! It doesn't trash the original product, but it doesn't add anything to the experience. Other MOTS add-ons justify their reason of existence with original storylines and by revealing facts of the original game, but SC:TO doesn't even try to!! Unless you are a collector of all things Origin, or get this add-on bundled on the SC:CD edition, I can't imagine why you would want to bother with it.... well, maybe to know which Wildcat finally bites the dusts.... :)