Strike Commander

A perfect blend between simulation and arcade. Dogfighting & ground attacks are equally enjoyable, as is chilling at the base and talking to your squadmates. Graphics way ahead of the time, and a solid storyline. This game is responsible for completely wearing out my MS Sidewinder joystick. Instant buy

Absolute classic. Great Origin Story-Simulator that just made my 90s and childhood a great era... :-) Not only that of course :-). Here is a story how I got my first ever original game. A few years after Velvet revolution in 1989 (Czech Republic peacefully abandoning communism) my father started business and on his first ever trip to the US I have written 4 games he could buy for us - Strike Commander and Aces over Europe were the two classics he bought. It was a wonderful choice. Great packaging and box. Huge manuals and story background. And the game itself - the visuals, sounds and music plus voiceacting all top notch. Also an economic part too :-) buying the equipment and keeping the budget... I cannot describe how much I enjoyed that with my brother back then. Helped also our English a bit. Good Gaming times and now I am buying it again. LOVE YOU GOG, Love you Chris Roberts. I hope another ORIGIN games are coming our way...

OK, so the 'simulation' part is not as complex as some other flight sims. But the 'flying' part, oh boy! It's pure action-loaded fun. Add to that the nice storytelling and the 'taking care of a merc squad' aspect and you get a perfect blend of Wing Commander, Flight Sim and soap opera.

[reviewing from memory of original] Lots of fun. An arcade flight sim that adds just enough realism to make it feel like you're flying an actual plane instead of panning your view around, coupled with a globe-hopping story following a small mercenary company working for anyone with enough money to hire them (and sometimes without). Mission structure is similar to Wing Commander's. Fly to a waypoint, defeat waves of enemies, then move on. Like any good flight sim, there are ground units and buildings, realistically limited loadout (including cannon ammo), limited fuel, system damage, limited countermeasures for you and your opponents (you'll need them), stalls, blackouts, and even an early virtual cockpit if you enable head tracking of targets. Between missions you can browse through the rooms of your base to talk with company employees and purchase supplies. The game looked beautiful when it came out. The low resolution and simple terrain shading won't win fans today, but like most of Origin's other classics, the art is first-rate and consistent, making up for technical shortfalls. The game is solid across the board with no major weaknesses. It gives many hours of flying action and a story that's just enough over the top to avoid feeling too cliched. Easily worth the asking price.