Command LIVE: Aegean in Flames Review

After being given the great opportunity as my first wargame to review, Command Modern Operations, I was again provided with the chance to review CMO’s new DLC, Aegean in Flames! One of the many possible scenarios in the LIVE series of scenarios for Command Modern Operations.

Aegean in Flames is a fictional scenario that is as close and still probable in our real world. Just don’t be surprised if you see this happening in our local news. The gist of it is, Turkey is trying to grab the opportunity to drill some oil from the Aegean sea, which essentially means laying claim to that part of the sea with its oil-rich resources. Greece is not going to have any of that.

You get to play as either Turkey or Greece. Playing as Turkey, your job is to escort your oil tankers and edge your way, and to establish enforceable perimeters. Your arsenal is laced with custom fighter jets like F-4s, F-16s, and M2Ks of a different flavor, and a steady fleet of cruisers and destroyers. Aside from this, you are also given command of a landing amphibious assault fleet to invade one of the neighboring islands if Greece tries something funny. Please don’t ask me about the landing mechanics.

However, commanding as Greece, you need to play on the defensive while biding your time to anticipate Turkey’s next move. However, your technology may be slightly more up-to-date than in Turkey. The advantage here is nothing to shout about. Turkey still has the upper hand because it will make the first move. So your only move here is to scout about and be as vigilant as possible. When the time comes you’ll hear a thousand beeps. Still, it’s easier to play as Greece than Turkey.

Usually, I won’t talk about performance in wargames as most of them take up minimum resources from your PC. However, when playing Aegean at Sea, I noticed a considerable drop in frame rates and sluggish gameplay that affected my enjoyment of the game. Now, it could be my PC, but I have an i7 and an RTX 2080, so I don’t think that is the problem. Hopefully, the devs will look at optimizing larger scenarios to be able to run more smoothly on most PCs.

Overall, I did enjoy Aegean in Flames, ignoring the mentioned detractors; this new scenario proves that Command Modern Operations can simulate real crisis in a believable and controllable environment. This experience gives you an in-depth look into modern conflicts happening right now or could happen soon.

You can watch the full trailer below: