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Since there are many different types of space-combat simulations, some are often lumped into the category that have very little in common with other games in the genre. For instance, some developers aim to make epics like the Wing Commander series, while others try to make simpler, arcade-like shooters set in space. Red Storm's Bang! Gunship Elite definitely falls into the latter category: It tries to draw you in with its graphics and fast action, though it's weakened by its simple story and repetitive gameplay.
Like many other space combat games, Gunship Elite looks great. Although the background images are simply two-dimensional bitmaps, Red Storm added a few effects to make the game look more appealing. Many enormous background objects such as planets and gas clouds almost look three-dimensional. Various effects like blinding lens flares and numerous polygonal asteroids are also in abundance to make the surrounding environment seem more realistic. However, the actual ship models are not very complex. Each ship has a distinctly rectangular or blocky look, which was apparently necessary in order to accommodate the large number of ships that can appear onscreen at once. In addition, with the exception of the hellfire and the stasis cannon weapons, which both fire with impressive effects, Gunship Elite's weapons are disappointing. Most of the weapons just fire simple projectiles or balls of light that really don't convey any sense of increasing strength.
While Gunship Elite is pleasant to look at, other aspects of the game suffer from a pronounced lack of depth. Gunship Elite's story is nothing but a series of mission objectives strung together with an incredibly boring and poorly voiced prologue explaining that you're fighting to protect a valuable resource from the Sektar and its allies, the Morgoths. Whatever semblance of a plot there is in Gunship Elite ends abruptly with the final decisive battle, which is merely narrated to you by the same monotone voice actor. It's anticlimactic to say the least: You fight the majority of the battles yourself, only to be left out of the final decisive confrontation. If you expect a story to help lend some purpose to playing through a game, don't expect Gunship Elite to deliver.
Although you'll have to sit back and watch the final battle, Gunship Elite does at least offer plenty of action up to that point. Gunship Elite resembles an arcade shooter more than a typical PC space combat simulation, even though the game has its share of escort and specific-target missions that fans of traditional space combat sims will recognize. The challenge in a typical mission consists of swarm after swarm of enemies hurling themselves at you while you attempt to complete the objectives. While this keeps the action going at a quick pace, dealing with so many enemies can become quite frustrating and redundant. You'll spend several long minutes taking out the first few waves of enemy ships, and by that time you'll want to get the mission over with. The problem is you can't, because the enemy ships just keep on coming. Except for a few stages, you'll have to spend a large portion of time taking out the enemy ships before you can complete the rest of the mission. Since your foes come in large batches, detecting each individual ship on the radar can take some getting used to. Fortunately, after a few battles you should be able to read the radar without much trouble.
