Wing Commander™ 1+2

There is a lot to be said on the first two Wing Commander games. They were the first games to be treated as a hollywood production by their makers. They also were the first games with budgets on an entirely different level. But the most important thing was that Wing Commander was probably the first game which made gamers want to buy a x86 based PC. And the main reason for that was that the game at the time of its release was exclusive to x86 MS-DOS. Sure it was ported to other systems later but that was much later. This is an epic peace of PC gaming history. This game proved to people why the MS DOS PC can be and still is a valid gaming machine, by giving them an experience they cannot find anywhere else. Up until that point the closest thing to Wing Commander (called Wing Leader during early production) was Wings, from which Wing Commander borrows a lot. But instead of copying Cinemaware, Origin just took a look at their cinematic design playbook and improved on it immensely. A must buy, even if you are not interested in space combat sims.

This game is a genre defining classic in every way. In the 90's Wing Commander was one of those games that made you want to upgrade to a VGA graphics card and Sound Blaster 16 sound card just to get the most out of it. The multiple paths through the story and animated cut scenes made you feel like a star in a science fiction movie. There simply was no other game like it when it was released. You get so heavily invested in your squad mates that when someone dies (and they don't come back!) you really feel like you let them down. A must own pair of classics that are at a price too good to pass up.

I consider the Wing Commander series to be godfather of space flight simulations and the storyline is epic. In future Wing Commanders, Mark Hamil as Colonel Christopher Blair, shines perhaps as much as he did in Star Wars. The game itself is a series of missions, one after another, that completely engross you into the story of the war against the ferocious Lion-like alien race the Kilrathi. If you never played these games back in the 90s then you will get the chance to enjoy a truly amazing experience.

If you played it back then, you will simply love it. If you never saw it in the 90s, you'll probably think it's not worth the money. It's a great game with great design but a bit aged. Grab a Joystick to play. Mouse-play isn't that nice.

I have fond memories of Wing Commander. I used to play it as a child and as a teen. I have always hated EA for killing the franchise after they bought Origin (much like when they bought Bullfrog). I picked up the Wing Commander pack when it was on sale last weekend (despite actually owning all games, having them all on CD or floppy still to this day, though I do not have a floppy rive any more) and I couldn't be happier. All of the games play on my modern computer and I was astonished that I was thoroughly enjoying Wing Commander 1 again, it may have aged but it is still an amazing classic. I am looking forward to playing through 2, 3 and 4 all over again and hope that gog.com see fit to release Prophecy soon as well. If you have not played these games, you need to.