Yeah i know, most people prefer WC 4 for it's FMV videos; i do too, they are epic but WC 4 gameplay is stiff, either with keyboard or mouse. I couldn't go on to finish the first mission because it's so hard to fly and aim, you either understeer or oversteer because 1 keypress or slight mouse motion translates into big moves on screen. In contrast WC 5: Prophecy is far smoother both with keyboard or mouse because it's the first and last one in the series that makes use of both Direct 3D api and 3Dfx glide api and you can use whichever you prefer. Storywise WC 4 is better because you get to pick a side and so the missions branches out into different endings. Here there's only one ending and it's not a completely good ending. There are difficulty spikes in 2 missions; one where you have to rescue an ejected pilot from Maniac's wing and another where you have to fend off waves of enemies at the comm station all by yourself until reinforcements arrive. On most missions i played at Ace difficulty; with the aforementioned 2 missions i had to drop 1 level down to veteran. Ace is in fact at mid level. There's Insane difficulty; you can try that on the first mission and see if you can cut it and how far you can go with it. Ships are more organic looking. Brought forth from WC4 is the Hellcat which is quite meh. Sadly the Arrow, a beautiful ship was retired and replaced by the ugly Diamondback. Enemy ship designs are more organic. The crab like thing enemy bomber has smaller ships dangling on it like earrings or frisbees; when destroyed the smaller ones fly in all directions and attack at all angels but they can be killed with 1 perfectly aimed shot. Aiming is easy with the lead target indicator. They are the easiest way to rack-up your kill scores and to elicit admiration from your wingmates. You can turn Victim Camera on which can show your confirmed kills in a short cinematic cutscene. Not many epic scenes but enough diversity and the aliens are more scary this time.
Wing Commander was the reason i upgraded to VGA, WC II - 80486 DX2-66, WC III - AMD K6-2 300Mhz. WC III is the first in the series where 3D combat is smooth not jerky like in the previous games up to Privateer. Also WC III is the first one in the series to use SVGA graphics. But here what happened? we're back to VGA? I'm a little disappointed 'coz it's low res and horribly pixelated, not the way i remembered it. Since we're on the topic of VGA, lets talk about gameplay. The in-game options; not all options are saved. For example, there are 2 check boxes for VGA and SVGA, checking SVGA does nothing. When you come back to Options, both boxes are empty. On the carrier though, Lexington, the option box for SVGA remains checked so i guess it proves that SVGA gameplay is non-existent or omitted. Flight control is a little or moderately worse than WC III. Where WC III is playable with mouse and/or keyboard, WC IV is barely playable with either; keyboard is slow and lack fine control ofcourse but at least it's stable. Mouse movement is rough and grainy making it impossible to have fine control in aiming. Just when you think you got it nailed, the crosshairs jumps about. So i'm left with keyboard as the only viable controller. Difficulty spikes: I don't remember what level i used to play on but on WC 1 & 2 it was Medium on WC III it was Veteran. Here i tried Ace on the first mission and Rookie on the 2nd. Cinematic FMV cutscenes are way better than III and V in its scale and stellar cast which is the main reason i bought this game - a reference standard. Audio volume is very uneven; barely audible in FMV and too loud in gameplay. No it's not the best; it's on par with III & V in overall score, especially in FMV wow factor, the difference here is the large cast of stars and extras and the huge sets. Prophecy has the smoothest mouse control making it more fun and exhilirating in combat. IV has epic FMV (5*) and branching story line but 3* for gameplay, overall 4*.
