Memorable moments from WC series

[Lunitari]

I have followed several different series of games over the years. Naturally, the Wing Commander series has been my personal favorite. What caught your eye in each game? What do you remember most fondly about each of the games?

01) Wing Commander - I remember the first time I blew up an enemy ship...the awesome sight of that VGA explosion and the debris scattering. That was truly a moment for me. No one had ever seen anything like that outside of a movie theater.

02) Wing Commander 2 - The sweet animation of your character crawling into the cockpit of the Ferret. I thought that Wing 1 was great, but this truly left me breathless. Oh, and the reworked explosions. I remember getting really excited about the original exposions, but this looked so much more realistic.

03) Wing Commander 3 - I was working for Fred Meyer in Southern Oregon, and a customer bought a copy of Wing 3, but could not get it to work right. I made a house call (which I never did, but I had not gotten a chance to see WC3 in action yet ) and spent about an hour configuring his Pentium 60. When I saw the opening cutscene, I almost wept. Now, technology could produce something that could meet the expectations of my imagination. No, I did not want to leave his house. I spent the next three nights playing WC3 at my store after we closed.

04) Wing Commander 4 - Wing 4 was awesome....perhaps my personal favorite in the series. The thing about it though, is that it did not really do anything that had not been done before. The video was much improved, and the engine looked a little bit cleaner. I think the thing that caught my attention was the really great story. I also spent several nights playing this after hours at Fred Meyer.

05) Wing Commander Prophecy - When I installed my Voodoo Rush card in my computer, I was again left breathless. Seeing missile trails, lens flare, and the super-cool nebula was an awesome experience. What I remember most though was flying across the Midway. It was so gargantuan. Finally, carriers and capships looked like they should.

 

[luminon]

The thing that is great about wing commander is how it immerses you into the universe. But if I had to pick my favourite things about each game:

WC1 - I really liked the great characterisation of this game, as you really got know the other pilots. When my wingman died during a mission, I actually felt a bit sad watching the funeral scene. I often went back and did a mission again just to save my wingman.

WC2 - I remember being really impressed the first time I blew up a capital ship and saw that big, bright explosion. Although looking back at it now the voice work is really bad, it was good at the time to have actual speech during flight, as it added to atmosphere. How can we forget the infamous, "you cannot defeat the Drakhai!!!"

WC3- As well as the new 3D game engine, I got absorbed into the cutscenes and really enjoyed the interactive aspect of the movies. I also have to say that the kilrathi looked great.

WC4 - It was all about the story in this game. It had all the strengths of WC3 and threw an addictive storyline in the mix. I remember being surprised when Eisen defected and we find out about Tolwyn. I didn't see those plot twists coming.

WCP - To be honest, nothing about prophecy impresses me except just the graphics. I understand they were trying to move back to the style of the earlier games, but something still didn't feel right about the game. The nebulas looked really nice in the background, but I was disappointed that we didn't get to fly in a nebula, to make up for the poor attempts of simulating flying in a nebula from the previous games. All in all, prophecy was still good, but just failed to live up to my high expectations following the greatness of WC1-4.

 

[TheRedDuke]

I vividly remember the first time I allowed the Tiger's Claw to be destroyed in WC1. I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if I was truly responsible for the deaths of all those people. I was only 10 years old, but even then I knew that this game was something really special.

I also remember how turned off I was by Privateer when it was first released. I got it for Christmas in '94 instead of WC3 (like I asked for), which as I recall, was pretty impossible to find. Then right off the bat I had problems installing and running it. Finally got it running, only to realize how very different it was from WC1 and 2. I wanted to fly off a carrier, and attack captial ships, give orders to my wingman, all that good stuff. So I set it aside and bought WC3 a few months later and never really looked back. At least not until recently. I decided to pick up Priv again shortly after finding the CIC back in '03, and played it for the first time last winter upon completion of my WC Box. Boy, I was sure missing out all those years.

 

[AD]

WC2 ... looking back at it now the voice work is really bad, it was good at the time to have actual speech during flight, as it added to atmosphere. How can we forget the infamous, "you cannot defeat the Drakhai!!!"

Yeah... but I still like the Kilrathi voices in the intro. My first time through though I didnt have a sound card installed that could handle the voices. It's strange, even when I play the game today, theres something eloquent about the way WC2 was written, atleast compared to later incarnations.

Wing Commander's 3 and 4 both have a polished narative format along with a good story. It was amazing at the time, and sucked me into the universe further. And the Feel of all the games (wc 1 and 2 included) still holds up to this day.

I remember the day I installed a 3d video card (after playing prophecy with no acceleration) and being amazed by the visuals... I also enjoyed the mysteriousness and creepiness of the begining of that game, but unfortunately that aspect of the game disapeared quickly.

One of the best inovations in the wc series was secret ops. I loved blasting through the three or 4 missions in an episode and then having to wait a whole week to find out what happens next! I regret many never got to experience that when the game was first released. (Because of the download issue, and downloading illegal copies doesn't count).

 

[Delance]

WC1 - Playing it the first time.

WC2 - Same.

WC3 - Same.

WC4 - Same.

WCP - Playing it the first time after I got a 3D card.

 

[Marc]

Privateer, when the intro music kicks-in and you see the Tarsus for the first time, I knew then and there that I was going to have many years of fun with that game.

WC3, when I heard the jump point sound effect and saw that huge dreadnought come throught the jump. I had no ideal what wonders layed beyond... I mean litteraly beyond-there where five CD's to this thing and I was impressed about 15sec. into the prologe on the very first disk.

 

[Dundradal]

WC3 when Hobbes killed Cobra....it was odd to imagine one of my best wingmen being an enemy agent

 

[Fellentos]

WC1
- The intro movie

WC2
- Seeing the Tiger's Claw blown up in the intro movie
- The first firing of the Phase Transit Cannon
- Shooting down Trakhath

WC3
- Seeing the Concordia destroyed on Vespus
- The betrayal of Hobbes (still pisses me off)
- The destruction of Kilrah

WC4
... nothing

WC5
... nothing

 

[Skanks]

WC1 - Finally learning what the c key did
WC2 - The intro!! Getting the voice addon and hearing people speak
WC3 - Really seeing everyone, the great graphics
WC4 - The story was great, never trusted Tolwyn
WC5 - Well I did like the fact it used my Voodoo 2

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

WC3- The choose your dialogue movie sequences were awesome. I was overwhelmed by the graphics in the movie scenes- like watching a movie rather than the simple digital graphics you'd usually get with comp. games. The first person perspective combined with movie quality made you feel like you were right there talking to them.
Memorable Moment: "Does he pat you like that?" ---Maniac

WC4- The intreguing story which allowed you to make game altering choices (i.e. defect or not?) while watching an all star cast act them out was the best gaming experience I've ever had. The more challenging Nightmare level made the game feel more realistic. Even top pilots like Maniac and Primate could get shot down by a lucky missile in a 1v1 battle with an average enemy pilot (though they would usually win vs. an ace, they didn't always and would rarely survive when greatly outnumbered). I found myself having to think about and protect my wingmen even on average missions. Seeing them survive the whole mission was an added challenge (a goal which was rarely acheived). To beat the game on Nightmare level took some creative thinking (i.e. going around the Banshee navpoints on the extract the scientist mission after failing the Recon- especially important since Maniac MUST survive to the extraction and the enemies were smart enough to go after the shuttle).
Memorable Moment: After destroying the turret and enemy fighters, the shuttle slowly went to the extraction point and I received the message "Proceed to next waypoint". Shortly after this message, the shuttle spontaneously exploded. I'm not sure why it happened, but something tells me Maniac had something to do with it (I was nowhere near it). Of course when I got back Tolwyn sent me packing- kind of reminiscent of the story I heard of Blair being blamed by Tolwyn for his carrier's destruction and sent to fly a desk.

 

[Fatcat]

Wc1- I picked up the PC Gamer Classic Game disc a month ago, and when I started Wc1, it had SOUND! It was the only Wing Commander game I ever played with sound except Prophecy. I beat Wc3 and 4 with no sound, just reading the subtitles.

Wc2- Finally getting to fly the Broadsword. That is one awesome ship!

Wc3- 1. Dropping the T-Bomb. I hat spent almost 4 months trying to get around a bug on the last mission, and when I finally beat it, I cheered out loud.
2. Watching the Behemoth blow away Loki IV.
3."Isn't that the guy from Star Wars?" (That blooper is played after the credits)

Wc4- 1. Pwning Tolwyn in front of the Congress.
2. Using the Dragon for the first time.
3. "What are you, my mother?"

Prophecy- The Adreneline rush from playing the "Lots of Kilrathi are attacking the Midway" simulator mission and getting over 30 kills.

 

[Shipgate]

WC1: The whole thing. When it first came out, it was unlike anything I had ever seen. I loved the graphics and especially the music and ambiance.

WC2: Out of the five Wing Commanders with that title, this one I played the least. It's the only one I still haven't beaten. I still feel it had great music and ambiance in it too. I really liked the cutscenes in WC2 and the greater variety of ships you got to fly.

WC3: My favorite moment with this game was when my dad and I went to Egghead Software and the game was brand new and they were playing the intro on all these different monitors throughout the store. I knew I was going to be going home and playing the game, but I just couldn't stop staring at the screen cause I was so amazed at the cinematics.

WC4: I felt this game was the strongest in story. So my favorite moments were the cutscenes. Especially the Telamon scene and the ending. I also loved it the first time I used the Stormfire.

Prophecy: Though I really love this game, there aren't a lot of moments that I were particularly special for me. I mostly enjoyed the new direction that the Wing Commander universe was taking. There is so much left to build upon the Prophecy story.

 

[Mordecai]

WC1 - Finally realizing that I could autopilot instead of taking the long way from nav point to nav point (don't laugh!)

WC2 - The intro, and the first time flying the Broadsword after being stuck in the lowsy Ferret for so long (actually I love the Ferret now but I wanted more then, hey I was only in high school)

WCA - When I played the Gauntlet for the first time I realized how hard the Kilrathi have it fighting Terran ships.

Priv - Still my fav game. I really felt it when Tayla installed the secret compartment.

RF - Shocked from the start when I found out my Steltek gun was ripped off.

Armada - The AI SUCKS, what else can I say?

WC3 - Angel's death, then Hobbes' betrayal....it was so depressing I had to stop playing for a day.

WC4 - The defection plotline was excellent. Plus getting to fly a real cloaked ship for the first time was quite a rush.

WCP - Realizing I could finally kill a phase-shielded capship with my regular gun (Devastator's cannon). That and the whole Blair thing really blew me. This one really needed to be continued, they left us hanging...

P2 - Figuring out the last clue in the Senator's daughter's mission riddle was pretty invigorating. Too bad she was already dead.