Wing Commander™ 1+2

Too buggy in DOSBox, these should actually have disclaimers on them because they barely function. WCI has a lot of audio issues, plus if you hold down the shoot button it keeps you turning constantly in the last direction you pressed, which makes the game very difficult to control. WCII doesn't let you turn and shoot at the same time, which makes the game far more difficult than it's supposed to be. Don't bother with these releases, if they could have been made to run properly I'm sure they'd be fun games, but as it is it's either the DOSBox settings or DOSBox itself not emulating these properly. Broken release.

Having just tried out both games, I can say I'm less than impressed. The clunky controls (you can't fire while turning, for example), inability to accurately judge distance, lack of lead indicator, frustratingly slow ships, control panels that barely explain anything, the obtuse manual more concerned with world building than explaining how to fly... It's too old, too irritating, and not worth the money I spent on it. I'm sure it was great in 1990, but it hasn't aged well. I was able to finish both the original King's Quest and the original Ultima - but the flight controls in this are so bad that I can't tolerate it another minute. I'm being generous with my score, since I know this game was genre defining, and for that alone do I grant it three stars. Some games are great, even today. This one sadly, is not. Play Freespace 1 & 2 instead.

I don’t get people who praise this version of the games, did they play the same game I did? It unplayable, the controls with a mouse and keyboard are horrible but tolerable but what make it even worse is the addition of slowdowns during dogfights when there are a lot of ships on the screen and when the game start to run too fast when there are not a lot of ships on the screen. I heard that the re-release of the first 3 games called "wing commander the kilrathi saga" fixed those issues (and those issues with the DOS version were even on old computers) and improved music and sound quality, but sadly it is not sold on GOG. If GOG will manage to release the kilrathi saga then there is a fan made patch that allows to play it on modern systems.

I played it as a child in the early 90's, even could remember to speed up is + & to slow down is -. But better play with keyboard and maybe mouse in addition to aim instead with a gamepad. I kinda like those graphics :)

These games were hugely important and influential - and even more so for my own development as a gamer. The branching campaign structure and shifting narrative of WC1 - an adaptive game structure, sensitive to your successes and failures and even respecting the death or survival of your wingmates - was an astounding achievement for its time. The combat mechanics themselves stand up today, as you jockey to get onto the tail of a Kilrathi fighter and learn the behaviours and weaknesses of each opponent. A challenging game by any standards. WC2 shifts the focus to plot-led action, fleshing-out some characters and motivations and really presenting an old-fashioned WW2 Pacific Campaign scenario. Similarly good fun, and a vital introduction to the 'interactive movie' episodes to come.