Any WC-like game you recommend?

T

tango-golf

Spaceman
Hello!
As you may have already know, Steam has started its 2020 winter sale.
I’m buying “Rebel galaxy outlaw” this time :)

And I need your advice here, do you know any other WingCommander-like game?
Steam, GoG, I don’t care platform.

Thank you!

======= LIST =======
Since I received a lot of games I didn't noticed, I made a list with links for a better view.
I'll update the list time to time.
  • Eterium, Steam
  • Descent FreeSpace, GoG
  • Descent FreeSpace2, GoG, Steam
  • Star Wars X-Wing Series, GoG
  • Star Wars Squadron, Steam
  • Tarr Chronicles, Retail only
  • Tachyon: The Fringe: Steam
  • Star Lancer, Retail only
  • Free Lancer, Retail only
  • Dark Start One, Steam
  • Independence War, GoG

Battleship-style, Flight simulators, etc. I don't want to miss
  • Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Steam
  • Star Trek: Klingon Academy, Steam
  • Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Steam
  • Strike Commander, Steam
  • Outer Wilds, Steam
 
Last edited:
And if you like combat with large ships, I also recommend the Star Trek games "Starfleet Academy", "Klingon Academy" and "Bridge Commander".
 
Starlancer can still be found relatively inexpensive on Amazon around 8.00 USD

Freelancer was going for around 40.00 USD last week again on Amazon.

Darkstar One should be on GOG as well as the X-Wing/Tie Fighter Series
 
Star wars: Squadron's with it's campaign gives a modern idea, but was not overly excited about the story. The multiplayer however is great and there are plenty of players.

Starlancer you can give some graphical/audio updates yourself, and you have to go find some friends to set up multiplayer with

Freespace and freespace2 are available on GOG, you can install fresspace open, and then open numerous fanmade games.
 
Mace said:
Starlancer you can give some graphical/audio updates yourself
Click to expand...
Please elaborate (or link me somewhere)

do you know any other WingCommander-like game?
Click to expand...
Strike Commander needs to be mentiond as well, unless a space-setting is a requirement.
Independence War is awesome too, but take heed, it does have a more "realistic" flight model.


-------------

Total unrelated but I am urging anyone to check out The Outer Wilds (not the Outer Worlds, beware!). Seriously, this game is a space-game experience like no other, just trust me here. The less said about it the better. To sell you guys and girls on it, here a just some tiny teasers of what you will do in this game:

* you will fly into a space in an accessible manner!
* you will land on and walk within a comet!
* you will enter the atmosphere of a gas giant!
* you will expore a derelict space station while it falls apart in a decaying orbit!
* you will hurl yourself into a realistically rendered black hole!
* you will never fire a gun!

Seriously, BUY THIS GAME. Do not read anything else, do not watch a playthrough, do not google. Just trust your fellow sci-fi fan and community member.
 
Last edited:
Vidmaster said:
Please elaborate (or link me somewhere)


Strike Commander needs to be mentiond as well, unless a space-setting is a requirement.
Independence War is awesome too, but take heed, it does have a more "realistic" flight model.


-------------

Total unrelated but I am urging anyone to check out The Outer Wilds (not the Outer Worlds, beware!). Seriously, this game is a space-game experience like no other, just trust me here. The less said about it the better. To sell you guys and girls on it, here a just some tiny teasers of what you will do in this game:

* you will fly into a space in an accessible manner!
* you will land on and walk within a comet!
* you will enter the atmosphere of a gas giant!
* you will expore a derelict space station while it falls apart in a decaying orbit!
* you will hurl yourself into a realistically rendered black hole!
* you will never fire a gun!

Seriously, BUY THIS GAME. Do not read anything else, do not watch a playthrough, do not google. Just trust your fellow sci-fi fan and community member.
Click to expand...
For Starlancer, to use multiplayer when not on a Local Network you'll need to use a Server Service Like Game Ranger to host the game. It's free to install. Another thing you'll need to do to get Starlancer running on a modern Windows machine is to install a No-CD Patch to bypass the Software Protection built into the CD. Windows 10 is incompatible with the built-in protection software.
 
Last edited:
The old Star wars games, XWA reeceived an impressive graphical update recently
Absolute Zero, also before someone says it, that one is abandonware as the late Domark and the ISO and rip is easy to get it running with DBGL and DosBoxECE
Star Rangers
Tachyon the Fringe, and good lord this game is great!
 
Star Rider said:
For Starlancer, to use multiplayer when not on a Local Network you'll need to use a Server Service Like Game Ranger to host the game. It's free to install. Another thing you'll need to do to get Starlancer running on a modern Windows machine is to install a No-CD Patch to bypass the Software Protection built into the CD. Windows 10 is incompatible with the built-in protection software.
Click to expand...
I was interested more in the "Starlancer you can give some graphical/audio updates yourself"-part.

Absolute Zero
Click to expand...
Yes, right, very good game!
 
Vidmaster said:
I was interested more in the "Starlancer you can give some graphical/audio updates yourself"-part.
Click to expand...

Starlancer

AlexanderDeath, I still have all of the files listed earlier in the thread. PM me an address and tell me exactly which ones you want. Also, I did FTP all of the StarLancer files to a WC CIC server using an account LOAF had one of the staff set up for me back in August 2009, but I have no...
www.wcnews.com
 
I have not played Tarr Chronicles but I attempted to play the sequel (which is a prequel) named Dark Horizon and it was bad. No idea if the original release was cool but the second entry was a confusing, crashing mess on my PC.

Most other choices on your list like Dark Star One, Starlancer and especially Freespace are superior.
If you actually did not play Freespace 2 to this day, you have not yet experienced the pinnacle of the genre. Go play it *NOW*.

The only thing to come somewhat close to it is Tie Fighter, which in turn is followed by WC3 or 4 (depending on which one you prefer).

By the way, purchasing FS2 is enough. Visit this community for awesome graphic mods, a free version of Freespace 1 running on the new open-source engine (and an improved expansion for it), as well as tons of additional content.
 
tango-golf said:
Hello!
As you may have already know, Steam has started its 2020 winter sale.
I’m buying “Rebel galaxy outlaw” this time :)

And I need your advice here, do you know any other WingCommander-like game?
Steam, GoG, I don’t care platform.

Thank you!

======= LIST =======
Since I received a lot of games I didn't noticed, I made a list with links for a better view.
I'll update the list time to time.
  • Eterium, Steam
  • Descent FreeSpace, GoG
  • Descent FreeSpace2, GoG, Steam
  • Star Wars X-Wing Series, GoG
  • Star Wars Squadron, Steam
  • Tarr Chronicles, Retail only
  • Tachyon: The Fringe: Steam
  • Star Lancer, Retail only
  • Free Lancer, Retail only
  • Dark Start One, Steam
  • Independence War, GoG

Battleship-style, Flight simulators, etc. I don't want to miss
  • Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Steam
  • Star Trek: Klingon Academy, Steam
  • Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Steam
  • Strike Commander, Steam
  • Outer Wilds, Steam
Click to expand...
It's not finished yet, but given that it's CR's next project and the spiritual successor to Wing Commander, you should probably look into Star Citizen and Squadron 42 at some point.

robertsspaceindustries.com

Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.
robertsspaceindustries.com
 
I would give Rebel Galaxy Outlaw a shake... very very very fun romp in space and it manages to be pretty, complex but true to the wing commander spirit. Imagine if prophecy were allowed to evolve to be less arcadey in terms of combat, and put that in a wide open sandbox.
 
Perhaps Archimedean Dynasty could be considered as similar. It's german game (original name is Schleichfahrt), made in 1996. It is submarine simulator set in postapocalyptic post-nuclear Earth, where only seas and oceans could be habitable. The main hero is mercenary named Emerald Flint. Despite being sub-sim it actually almost directly copies gameplay of Wing Commander - you can maneuver and outmaneuver your enemies (in VERY similar ways to WC), use torpedoes (analogue of WC missiles), guns.

I would say that in terms of world and mission structure, game lies somewhere between mainline Wing Commanders (1-5), Fallout (because post-apoc topic) and something like Privateer: there's no open-world (like in latter), but the game divided into dozen of hubs - and in each of them you have side missions (in addition to main objectives), which can bring you some additional coin, so you can buy or repair equipment. It could be quite hard in the late game though. Some fans made so called Augmented Mod: https://www.gog.com/forum/archimedean_dynasty/augmented_mod_12 Also there are its sequels - Aquanox series, which I haven't played. Also I've heard about Independence War 1-2 and Freespace games but also haven't played them all.
 
Last edited:
Mace said:
Star wars: Squadron's with it's campaign gives a modern idea, but was not overly excited about the story. The multiplayer however is great and there are plenty of players.

Starlancer you can give some graphical/audio updates yourself, and you have to go find some friends to set up multiplayer with

Freespace and freespace2 are available on GOG, you can install fresspace open, and then open numerous fanmade games.
Click to expand...
I agree the campaign was very lackluster and so was the writing and voice acting for star wars squadron. I also found the difficulty spikes to be weird like sometimes the game would be extremely easy and then other times it would spike to almost extreme difficulty out of nowhere, it was odd.
 
Jdawg said:
I agree the campaign was very lackluster and so was the writing and voice acting for star wars squadron. I also found the difficulty spikes to be weird like sometimes the game would be extremely easy and then other times it would spike to almost extreme difficulty out of nowhere, it was odd.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it really was weird as a Wing Commander fan. All those decades later and the art of camera work has been utterly forgotten. And it's not like you could move freely around the ship.
Just one static camera, dull dialogue and acting with no investment really hurt the single player for me; I never completed it.
Put in a fair few hours on the multiplayer; but also not enough variety there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top