Wing Commander (video game)
A space flight simulation set in 2654.
Wing Commander is a space flight simulation game developed by Origin Systems and released for MS-DOS in 1990. It is the first entry in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander franchise and was later ported to several platforms including the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was noted for its graphics, audio, and story campaign, which drew comparisons to the Star Wars films.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Origin Systems
- Director
- Chris Roberts
- Producer
- Chris Roberts; Warren Spector
- Composer
- George Alistair Sanger; David Govett
- Writer
- Jeff George
- Genre
- Space flight simulation
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Wing Commander is a space flight simulation game in which the player pilots a ship, completes missions, and engages enemy ships. An AI-controlled wingman can receive orders from the player. Missions typically have multiple objectives, but the game can continue if objectives are failed as long as the protagonist survives. The story is branching and open-ended: success leads to medals, promotions, and better ships, while failure results in more difficult missions and inferior ships. The mission tree allows players on the losing path to return to the winning path, and vice versa. Wingmen can be permanently killed in combat, including by the player. The two Secret Missions expansion packs lack a branching story and require completing core missions to win.
Plot
The player assumes the role of a nameless pilot, later called Christopher Blair in sequels, aboard the TCS Tiger's Claw. The pilot chooses a name and call sign. Performance determines the campaign's path: success leads to a strike on the Kilrathi High Command starbase in the Venice system, forcing a Kilrathi retreat; failure results in defensive missions, refugee abandonment, and the Claw's retreat. The winning path is considered canon by the expansions and sequel. The crew captures a courier ship revealing the weapon is on a Sivar-class dreadnought, which the pilot destroys in the Vigrid system. In The Secret Missions 2: Crusade, the Tiger's Claw is in the Firekka System, where bird-like Firekkans negotiate to join the Confederation. A large Kilrathi battle group appears, and despite the Firekkans signing the Articles, the Terrans retreat. Kilrathi lord Ralgha nar Hhallas defects with his cruiser, bringing news of a rebellion on Ghorah Khar.
History
Wing Commander was originally titled Squadron and later Wingleader. During development, an EMM386 memory manager error displayed a message on exit; programmer Ken Demarest hex-edited it to show 'Thank you for playing Wing Commander' as a workaround, which was removed before shipping. The game shipped in 1990 for PC/DOS with an instruction booklet styled as the magazine Claw Marks, containing tactical suggestions, fighter statistics, pilot biographies, and shipboard news. It also included blueprints for the four playable fighters: Hornet, Scimitar, Rapier, and Raptor. The first expansion, Wing Commander: The Secret Missions, was released in November 1990, adding missions, ships, and a storyline without a branching tree; failure leads to two retreat missions. It was also released for the Super NES as a stand-alone cartridge. The second expansion, The Secret Missions 2: Crusade, released in March 1991, added a new narrative, ships, and wingmen. The Super NES and Amiga ports arrived in 1992, followed by the Amiga CD32 in 1993 and Sega CD in 1994. A Sega Mega Drive version with a custom ASIC chip was planned but never released.
Reception
Wing Commander became a best seller and spurred competing space combat games such as LucasArts' X-Wing. Dragon magazine awarded it six stars out of five, and the Secret Missions expansion received five stars. Computer Gaming World in 1990 called it a 'stellar warfare adventure', praising its graphics, story, and music, and later gave it five stars in a 1992 survey of science fiction games. A 1994 survey of strategic space games awarded it four-plus stars. Readers gave Wing Commander a score of 10.91, the highest in the magazine's history until superseded by Wing Commander II in 1992, when the game was inducted into the magazine's Hall of Fame. GamePro praised the Sega CD version's story and cinematic animation but found the 3DO remake Super Wing Commander tedious due to repetitive missions, slowdown, and poor voice tracks. Jim Trunzo in White Wolf #26 rated it 5 out of 5, noting it brought back the excitement of Star Wars space combat.
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