The first reviews are in! The August issue of Official Xbox Magazine has reviewed the finished version of Wing Commander Arena... and they are impressed! In fact, its 8.5 score has been surpassed only once by an Xbox Live Arcade marketplace title - a port of the arcade classic Street Fighter 2. What's more, Arena ties with Forza Motorsport 2 as the highest ranked title of the month - and Forza is a major release which is one of the biggest Xbox 360 titles of the quarter! Here's the word: The article also includes four new screenshots, scanned below! A scan of the entire article is available here (2.4 mb). The fact that a print magazine has reviewed the game means that the release is just around the corner... -- Original update published on June 30, 2007
Great! I like it that they don't overemphasize comparisons to the classic WC games, it makes Arena stand out more on its own. They're a bit harsh on the single player mode I think, even though the MP part is the heart of the game. I certainly do look forward to reaching wave 20 of Meteor Swarm! Two questions though: Are, besides the bombers, other crafts limited in their maneouvers? (if we know anything about it) What is that supposed to mean, I don't get it.
Gratz to GAIA INDUSTRIES and all on working on this project. Lets hope this will be 1st of many new WC to come. As was said "eternal vigilance is the price of fandom."
"- Light on personality and "Wing Commander-ness." ? C'mon...not even one shot of the goofy alien race of Kilrathi felines?" My thoughts exactly even this guy doesn't think it has a Wing Commander feel which was my biggest argument in the other forums.
I think you - and the magazine - are wrong on that count. How can you see Rapiers, Broadswords, Dralthi and the like and not think it's Wing Commander? Giant logos and banners in the hangar? All the classic guns?References to thngs like the Black Lance in the ship descriptions? What's more, the game plays like Wing Commander. It's not some point-and-kill arcade game... you have extended battles taking down your opponents shields and armor. A dogfight in Arena is like a dogfight in the original game. When magazines and non-fans say that this isn't "Wing Commander", they mean it doesn't have over-the-top full motion video. Well, boo-hoo - hurray for the series for surviving that... something which neither started nor ended its original run.
I guess it was more due to the fact that a lot people were expecting single player campaign. Then again it was announced what kind of game it was going to be, so I dont see any reason to whine. Personally Im just hoping for Privateer 3 it would fit rather well into settings that Arena has created.
Every single review in OXM has that +, - and ? thing at the end. They have to think of something to say there. All they're saying is that Arena does some things differently, but the actual text, tone and specifics of the review make the game sound excellent (and the ? comment is always silly and meaningless). Leave it to Naféasonto to find a way to twist their top-rated review of the month (and second highest Live Arcade review score of all time).
