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.
