Wing Commander™ 1+2

Dosbox settings: fullscreen=true fulldouble=false fullresolution=800x600 windowresolution=960x600 output=ddraw autolock=true sensitivity=100 waitonerror=true priority=higher,normal mapperfile=mapper-0.74-2.map usescancodes=true language= machine=vgaonly captures=capture memsize=16 frameskip=0 aspect=false scaler=none core=simple (or dynamic) cputype=486_slow cycles=max limit 3800 cycleup=1000 cycledown=1000 Other setting should be left as default. If anyone has problems with cursor moving to the edge of the screen, try disconnect any usb devices such as joysticks or printers, NOT keyboard and mouse ^^ Change the resolution to your liking.

When they were good, the first two Wing Commander games were great. Flying a nimble fighter, trying to survive with your armor almost gone and your shields barely repleting, the dogfights can really have a lot of tension. And these were also among the first few games that I can remember actually pulling off the cinematic style properly. While the first game's story is a little light, the second one throws in a lot of drama, although there are moments where the writing just feels a little odd. Finally, the game doesn't force you to win every mission. If a mission is too tough, as long as it isn't one of the few YOU MUST win, you can still return to base and the game will adjust the story if need be. Maybe you'll go to a different system, or maybe you'll get chewed out by the commander. However, there are a few issues that really do hurt the games in a modern sense. First off, the balancing is out of whack. The first game is rather easy, and if you don't follow the NAV points, you can win any escort mission without any trouble. The second game, on the other hand, has a few really cheesy missions that are way too difficult to really be enjoyable. Secondly, the game features a diverse cast, but unfortunately, some of the characters are literally walking stereotypes. Thirdly, the engines aren't that good. The first game gets clogged up real easily, slowing down to a crawl, and just really can't handle the bigger battles. The second one crashes a lot, but is at least smoother. Finally, these sets are missing the expansions. For the first game, it's not really a big deal. Yeah, you're missing out on some story, for the first Secret Mission expansion is terrible, all they do is just throw an absurd number of ships at you and hope you can get out alive. Given the engine problems, it makes it a lot harder than needed. The Secret Operation packs aren't so bad, if I remember correctly, but they aren't essential. Overall, if you're looking for a classic game, these still are fun. They're not the perfect classics some are saying they are, and they haven't held up completely over time, but there still aren't many games out there that are like this.

See, it's funny because the first game was also available on Sega CD. No? Well, so much for that icebreaker. Wing Commander 2 was the second PC game we ever owned (the first, for those curious, was Terminator). It was, however, the first time I was so utterly enthralled by a computer game that I would stare into the monitor, one hand clutching a joystick while the other fingered the keyboard, holding the post for hours on end with only the spasmodic twitches necessary to control the onscreen action. The amazing things about Wing Commander, as a series: hectic yet tactical space dogfights, engaging stories, cinematic presentation, crisp graphics, compelling characters, badass ships and moral grey areas before they were the hip, new thing. Wing Commander 1, in particular, was notable because it offered a branching campaign, with different paths and endings depending on one's degree of success or failure in various missions, but, while Wing Commander 2 did away with most of the story's malleability, the second game is where the plot really came home to roost. The degree to which you empathize with your character will vary depending on how such things affect you, personally, but you will doubtless find his situation galvanizing and the enemy, the cat-like Kilrathi, fascinating and terrifying. In particular, I remember playing what must have been one of the final dogfights in Wing Commander 2. I don't want to spoil the encounter in any detail, just relate that the combat was so heated and intense that, after what felt like an eternity of bobbing and weaving to avoid each others' fire, our poor 486 gave up the ghost and crashed, demanding a hard reset. That's right: this game was so intense it crashed the computer I was playing it on. That's hardcore. Later space sims would add new layers of complexity to the formula, like the X-Wing series with adjustable energy, shields and engine output. Freespace would outdo it on scale alone, though Wing Commander 2 had some of the tensest bombing runs on capital ships I've ever undertaken in a game. In the end, however, it's the sheer simplicity of these games that wins out. They distill the joy of space dogfighting down to its core elements, eschewing excessive bells and whistles in return for a tight, polished experience that holds up even today. I really can't recommend a title more highly than I recommend these two (seriously, $6 for both? I paid twice that to get the original on floppy a few years back!)

One of the first few games I know of that didn't have a real 'Game Over' title. Oh, its there but you gotta actually die. If you eject, you COULD die, or get picked up by the enemy, or SnR gets you and you play some more. Failed the over all objective? Failed to save that system? Guess what, the war still rolls on! Just because you fail, doesn't mean you lost the whole darn thing. Oddly, experencing the 'losing' path is something few people have experienced. Some missions you'll just fail, partly because your system (what it's limited to) won't be able to proccess so when you got 4 or more in the field of combat its gunna get slugish. If you know some DOS Box commands you can aliviate this, but I'd suggest only temporaraly. (Like that one where Confed steals a Kilrathi cruizer). Throw insults to get enemies to target you, give your command to wingmen to help you out (or send em home) and the best part, they can die! Watching a funeral still gets me nearly every time, and has been a staple in the WC series. If anything, it scratches that nostalga itch. If other reasons, it's IMO how games should be. Not always winning, isn't always bad.

Ugh I ignored the other reviews citing performance issues with this game. I should have listened. Unplayable, choppy, laggy; all the bad things.