It is what it is, a mission generator without any kind of plot attached. If you like the combat of Wing Commander 2 and just want more of that, you'll get some enjoyment out of it though it's probably not worth its full price. It should have been part of Wing Commander 2 back in the day as the in-game simulator like in other entries of the series and it probably should have been released alongside Wing Commander 1&2 on GOG as an extra. It's a fun distraction especially because the sprite graphics Wing Commander games are my favorites but it doesn't really stand on its own as a full game.
Wing Commander V: Prophecy is a game where you have to take the good with the bad. It's still a classic Wing Commander title with great dogfights and cinematic storytelling but it's quickly apparent that the same kind of love and care didn't go into the story as it did in previous installments. This time around you play as the son of the legendary Iceman from the original game in an attempt to pass the torch to a younger actor. Since Prophecy is much lighter on cinematics than the previous installment there's not as much meaningful character and plot development as there should be. The new alien threat, the Nephilim, is similarly underdeveloped. They're generic, bug like and poorly explained making them mostly just an uninteresting, faceless enemy comparing poorly to the Kilrathi and the Black Lance. To make matters even worse this game had planned sequels that never materialized and the game ends on a cliffhanger. While the cinematic-less expansion Special Ops does continue the story somewhat it doesn't really resolve anything. But it's not all bad, the story, while forgettable, is passable and the acting is still fine with Tom WIlson as awesome as ever in his role as Maniac. The actual gameplay is improved over Wing Commander IV with a completely new engine. The space flight is fun here and in some missions your radar will be swarmed with enemies leading to some of the most chaotic fights in the series. This can be a little strange as it doesn't feel quite like a Wing Commander game while you're fighting off hordes of inferior enemies instead of small wings of ships that are closer to your equal. The game is also generous with missiles making it simple to mow down opponents. Your mileage will vary on whether or not you view this new emphasis on action as good or bad, I think it's simply different. In the end it still has all of the hallmarks that make Wing Commander great and despite being a disappointing swan song it's worth owning for fans of the franchise.
While not strictly the first FPS, it was the genre defining entry that would lead to Doom. While some people may be complaining about it being $10 you're getting the original six episodes, Spear of Destiny and the Lost Episodes in this pack. Maybe I'm just old and nostalgia blinded but the game is still a lot of fun to play today. The arcade simplicity really works in its favor. If you have any interest at all in the genre then Wolf-3D is a must play for historical perspective.
It's Star Trek meets Wing Commander 3, one of the best games of the FMV era. This remake of the SNES/32X game was the best Star Trek simulator of its day. While many missions involved combat, many more offered peaceful solutions. On top of the simulator itself is an entertaining interactive movie where you have to manage your simulator crew while uncovering a conspiracy in the academy and solving a mystery that will earn you the chance to take the real U.S.S. Enterprise out for a spin. While it's showing its age this is a classic game in every sense. Hopefully Chekov's Missions will be added in a future update but they didn't add much to begin with.
Wing Commander has been missing in action as of late except for the extremely mediocre Xbox Live Arcade game. At one time however it was one of the most popular PC gaming franchises. Wing Commander 2 was the first game I ever played with such an engrossing and cinematic story and has continued to be one of my favorite games of all time. It stands along with Wing Commander 1 with fantastic arcade gameplay, great artwork, sound that defined the generation and a sci-fi universe as rich as any movie or TV series. In my opinion the 2D graphics of the original games stand up better than the early 3D work of the later titles though all of the Wing Commander games are absolute classics the first two remain my favorites. Unfortunately GOG left out the incredible expansion packs. Hopefully those will be available someday but their absence is no reason to skip out on this deal.
