I would like to be the first person to express my grave reservations about Wing Commander: Arena. Before assaulting over the Internet me with the fury of a thousand burning suns, please, hear me out.
This game is a step in the wrong direction for the Wing Commander Universe. EA has finally played their WC card, and they played it from the bottom of the deck. I feel that Wing Commander has every right and need to be reborn, but not in the form it has taken today. Wing Commander games are famous for their engaging story, filled with loss, victory, and general kick-ass storytelling, graphics, and gameplay. In my opinion, Arena has thrown those out the window. Arena's focus is purely on arcade-style action, with a 2D plane of movement, emphasis on 'frag' counts, and little to no story. While many of you will say that this opens up the possibility for more Wing Commander Games, I feel that the next games will be more of what we are seeing. There will be no more Mark Hammil or Tom Wilson, no more flying Excaliburs over the molten fault lines of Kilrah, no more flying on the ragged edge of destruction to deliver that torpedo and save your entire carrier, no more Maniac (*sniff*), no more of what we have all grown up playing and loving. I am not willing to throw in the towel just yet, but this is a dark day for Wing Commander. I may sound overly pessimistic to many of you, but I have seen this all happen before, with Mechwarrior becoming the bastard Mechassault games. At least Wizkids has revived the Classic Battletech storyline, a great thing indeed.
Many of you will be quite dazzled by this news, but I beg you to look ahead, down the path that Wing Commander has been consigned to. What future does it really have, as EA is more interested in producing games that will make money quickly, at the expense of the franchise's history. I know, I shouldn't expect much more from EA, I am well aware of how business works.
Despite this, I would like to personally thank people like Quarto, PopsiclePete, and Eder by giving us the magnificent Standoff, and the rising star Howard Day, who has bent over backwards to make Pioneer everything that we hoped and more. And of course Chris and Loaf and everyone else for making this all possible.
Until then, I await the game's release and the initial optimism to wear off.
This game is a step in the wrong direction for the Wing Commander Universe. EA has finally played their WC card, and they played it from the bottom of the deck. I feel that Wing Commander has every right and need to be reborn, but not in the form it has taken today. Wing Commander games are famous for their engaging story, filled with loss, victory, and general kick-ass storytelling, graphics, and gameplay. In my opinion, Arena has thrown those out the window. Arena's focus is purely on arcade-style action, with a 2D plane of movement, emphasis on 'frag' counts, and little to no story. While many of you will say that this opens up the possibility for more Wing Commander Games, I feel that the next games will be more of what we are seeing. There will be no more Mark Hammil or Tom Wilson, no more flying Excaliburs over the molten fault lines of Kilrah, no more flying on the ragged edge of destruction to deliver that torpedo and save your entire carrier, no more Maniac (*sniff*), no more of what we have all grown up playing and loving. I am not willing to throw in the towel just yet, but this is a dark day for Wing Commander. I may sound overly pessimistic to many of you, but I have seen this all happen before, with Mechwarrior becoming the bastard Mechassault games. At least Wizkids has revived the Classic Battletech storyline, a great thing indeed.
Many of you will be quite dazzled by this news, but I beg you to look ahead, down the path that Wing Commander has been consigned to. What future does it really have, as EA is more interested in producing games that will make money quickly, at the expense of the franchise's history. I know, I shouldn't expect much more from EA, I am well aware of how business works.
Despite this, I would like to personally thank people like Quarto, PopsiclePete, and Eder by giving us the magnificent Standoff, and the rising star Howard Day, who has bent over backwards to make Pioneer everything that we hoped and more. And of course Chris and Loaf and everyone else for making this all possible.
Until then, I await the game's release and the initial optimism to wear off.