{{Short description|1983 video game}} {{Expand French|topic=cult|Carrier Force|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox video game |title = Carrier Force |image = Carrier Force 1983 game box.png |developer = Gary Grigsby |publisher = Strategic Simulations |released = 1983 |genre = Computer wargame |modes = Single-player |platforms = Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 }}
'''''Carrier Force''''' is a 1983 computer wargame published by Strategic Simulations for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers,<ref name="mania">{{cite web |title=Carrier Force |url=http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-carrier-force_903.html |website=Atari Mania}}</ref> and Commodore 64.
''Carrier Force'' was Grigsby's fourth game. While he had started developing games part-time while working for the United States Department of Defense, he left to become a full-time game developer halfway through his third title, ''North Atlantic '86''.
==Gameplay== ''Carrier Force'' is a computer wargame that simulates aircraft carrier warfare.<ref name="CGW15"/>
==Development== ''Carrier Force'' was the fourth game by designer Gary Grigsby. It was released in 1983,<ref name=egint>{{cite journal | author=Dille, Ed | title=War in the Pacific | journal=Electronic Games | volume=1 | issue=3 | date=December 1992 | pages=54–56, 58 }}</ref> the same year he debuted ''North Atlantic '86''.<ref name=guru>{{cite magazine | author=Emrich, Alan | title=The Pioneering Spirit of a Wargame Guru | date=September 1995 | issue=134 | magazine=Computer Gaming World | pages=201, 202, 204 }}</ref>
==Reception== {{Video game reviews | rev1 = ''Computer Play'' | rev1Score = 6.68/10<ref name=computerplay>{{cite journal | author=Miller, J. L. | title=The Wargamer's Desk Reference | date=January 1989 | journal=Computer Play | pages=34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42 }}</ref> | rev2 = ''Current Notes'' | rev2Score = 3.5/5<ref name=cn1985>{{cite journal | author=Brooks, M. Evan | title=Battle Bytes: An Overview of Wargames | date=November 1985 | volume=5 | number=9 | journal=Current Notes | pages=14–16 }}</ref> }}
Tom Cheche reviewed the game for ''Computer Gaming World'', and stated that "CF has been exhaustively researched, and beautifully produced. In many ways it is the kind of game that we had in mind several years ago when we were daydreaming about where the wargaming hobby was headed now that the computer had arrived."<ref name="CGW15">{{cite magazine |last=Cheche |first=Tom |title=Carrier Force: The Fog of War at its Foggiest |magazine=Computer Gaming World |date=April 1984 |volume=1 |issue=15 |pages=22, 47}}</ref>
In a 1985 survey of computer wargames for ''Current Notes'', M. Evan Brooks called ''Carrier Force'' "worth the effort for anyone desirous of learning about the period", but considered it "extremely slow in execution" and saw it as having historical errors.<ref name=cn1985 /> In his similar 1989 survey, J. L. Miller of ''Computer Play'' found that the game was "hampered by very slow execution" and offered it a middling score.<ref name=computerplay />
==Legacy== Grigsby decided to build on ''Carrier Force'' in his later game ''Carrier Strike''. He told ''Electronic Games'', "I liked the subject matter and, given the evolution in computer capability and my programming skills, I wanted to refine it."<ref name=egint />
==See also== *''Carriers at War''
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{MobyGames|/carrier-force}}
{{Gary Grigsby}}
Category:1983 video games Category:Apple II games Category:Atari 8-bit computer games Category:Commodore 64 games Category:Computer wargames Category:Fiction about aircraft carriers Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture Category:Naval video games Category:Pacific War video games Category:Single-player video games Category:Strategic Simulations games Category:Turn-based strategy video games Category:Video games developed in the United States