Many of the defining moments of World War II in the Pacific arena were decided by fleet battles. These weren't conducted with battleships, but with carrier fleets. Control of the air was handed to these noble ships against a fanatical enemy determined to win at any cost. Battles were hard-fought campaigns by brave naval personnel and the pilots who manned the fighters and bombers and who gave their lives in defense to win territory and regain control of the islands of the Pacific, with the ultimate goal of the Japanese surrender and ending the war.

Carriers at War is a simulation of the air and naval operations in the Pacific Ocean. Publisher Matrix Games and developer SSG bring you seven famous battles of Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomon, Santa Cruz and the Philippine Sea. There's also a tutorial to help new and veteran players get familiar with the game.

You command all of the naval and air forces in a scenario. Carrier strikes on surface vessels means the decisions made are crucial. Finding the enemy carriers and sinking them before they find yours means victory or defeat. Other scenarios have you conducting invasions, but they are of secondary importance to the carrier clashes.

The game supports audio controls, a 2-D overhead view, easy interface, a sound but dated graphics display and advanced options. One of the best things of the game is that ships aren't controlled individually, but there are task groups organized into task forces lead by a commander. The game is all about ease of use. Carriers at War focuses on air support rather than ship-to-ship action. Each scenario features invasion, supply or bombardment of coastal landmarks. You earn points for destroying enemy forces.

This game is aimed at beginners, as veteran players may find it a bit underwhelming. This is due to easy controls and a high level of automation. Task groups are issued simple move, escort, cover or support orders on a specific unit. Strike missions on enemy ships are issued from a pop-up menu. Your gameplay is in a simple real-time mode, where time is advanced in increments. The game plays out until dusk settles in. Orders aren't given in real time, which is a great help; they're given before the actual action begins.

The game is really about searching for your enemy, sending out your attack planes and defending against incoming attacks. Searches are done automatically using bombers, float planes, etc. Picking the search directions will have the computer doing the rest. The main decisions to make are balancing your planes as you assign them to combat air patrol (CAP) or offensive strikes. For CAP, you just assign your planes and once again, the computer does its thing. The rest of your planes can be used to escort strikes involving bombers. If you don't assign escort missions, you risk losing your strike force to enemy CAP. Setting up a mission is a simple affair; just select any of your spotted targets, pick what you intend to send, departure time and whether you'd like to coordinate the attack, causing everything to arrive at the same time. If you have enemy incoming, all available planes will be sent up automatically. Combat is simple, and this is where the real time kicks in. As you watch the action, you'll mostly see them miss their targets, but the more planes you have, the better their chances of hitting the targets.

Some exasperation occurs as the enemy planes seem to be more accurate than your planes. They have a tendency to target your carriers a lot more, while yours will sometimes target ships of lesser value. Ships suffer damage, either of a permanent nature or by catching fire that can turn into permanent damage. Fighting fires is automated, and once all the hit points of a ship are depleted, it's sunk. Carriers at War also features surface combat, but this also is automated. The only thing you do is pick whether guns and/or torpedoes are being used and the opposing formation to shoot at. Submarines are scattered around the map, but you have no control over them, and hits against them are just a bonus.

A lot of the game is automated, which may make veteran players feel left out. Personally, I like some automation in my games, but I'd like a bit more control over my forces. The one advantage to the automation is it makes the game really easy for novice players, having none of the headaches associated with some war games. This game is simple to play: sending out your scouts, choose your targets and maneuver. I'll mention once again that the game comes down to placing correct CAP defenses versus your air strikes. If you were looking for a more advanced game, you'll be disappointed. The only thing I'd wish is that there were more scenarios or a campaign or two tossed in as well.

If you're expecting a game that will try your brain matter, you will be sorely disappointed. However, there is a solid war game here that focuses on carrier operations. The controls are straightforward once you get used to the interface, which makes the game perfect for new gamers. Once you make the basic decisions, the game will basically run itself, since combat and scouting are automatic. Still, Carriers at War is fun even though it may lack the depth of other titles; it still provides a unique appeal to less-experienced players.