Hi there.

I've recently decided, since my bigger gaming PC is in for repair, to try some older classics that I know my significantly weaker laptop can handle. One of the first games I downloaded was Wing Commander 3 and 4.

However, I realised after I installed them that my joystick is at my parents and thus out of my reach for the forseeable future. I was wondering how necessary a joystick really is for these two games and by extension the other space flight sims that I've bought such as WC: Privateer and Freespace 1+2.

I want to experience these games at their best, so if a joystick is needed for the best experience then I will just have to settle with playing Alpha Centauri and Thief for a while (I'm sure I'll manage). I'm just curious.

Thanks in advance.

Can't say WC 1 or 2 would be fun without a Joystick in my experience. The mouse doesn't really work will for responsiveness for me, and the arrow keys are okay, but really just don't match the feeling. I'd imagine all flight games are the same way, but I can only recommend you try it. Harder fights will be that much harder without it though probably.