The May 2007 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, on news stands now, includes a brief preview of Wing Commander Arena! It's strangely hung up on the Wing Commander movie, but it does offer a nice look at how the game's controls work: -- Original update published on April 20, 2007
Funny. I think veterans of the series will note that the Kilrathi were playable in Armada and we got to fly a Drathli in SM2. Other than that it's nice to get a control layout. Interesting how both triggers and bumpers fire weapons. LOAF any insight to exactly how that works? Is each button mapped to a certain weapon type? It seems odd to have all of them shoot something unless guns are divided along with missiles and torps?
As shown in the screenshots in this update, each of the shoulder buttons controls a missile type, and each trigger controls a gun type.
Thanks Death, must have missed that. Makes for interesting gameplay as you can either pump both for full guns or alternate for possible longer fire.
You think these guys from XBOX magazine even know the history of Wing Commander? As pointed out, you play as the Kilrathi in SM2 AND in Armada. Notice how they didn't mention anything about any one particular game. Wonder if they know that Mark Hamill and Thomas Wilson were in 3,4 and Prophecy?
No, you only ever play *as* the kilrathi in Armada. There are a number of times we get to fly Kilrathi ships, but the only time the player actually plays as a kilrathi is Armada. The magazine people seem to be quoting from the early press releases. We talked to Sean Penney shortly after the initial Arena announcements and he quite sheepishly admited to forgetting about Armada.
There might be additions to arena and possibly followups, but I'm fairly certain this isn't the direction they intend for the entire series. If arena is a wild success, I'm certain well see something on a larger scale.
Yeah... Arena isn't a conscious decision to change the Wing Commander dynamic for all time... it's an opportunity to get Wing Commander out to an entirely new audience. If... rather, *when*... there's another ten million dollar Wing project in development, I'll bet a thousand twixes that it'll be an "interactive movie" of some sort.
