Jdawg
Rear Admiral
I had to work early today, and most of the guys I work with are huge gamers like me, and we started talking about our favorite franchises of all time, and series like final fantasy, and metal gear solid came up and when it got to me, I said Wing Commander was the best to me. A lot of them have heard of the games but none have ever played them, and they asked me what was so great about them, So I started listing off things left and right, and it got me thinking I should make a post on the forum and go in detail of why I really love this series, so here it goes.....
Wing Commander 1- the game that started it all, like I said in other post though, my introduction to wing commander actually was wing commander 2 in about 93 maybe early 94. I didnt play wc1 until much later when I came across a retro pc at a yard sale lol. But even then I could tell why so many people loved it when it came out back in the early early 90s, great art, cool music, the start of blair's career, and the beautiful tiger's claw. The story was pretty basic and the kilrathi had no personality or motivations yet beyond they are the bad guys so kill them but it was so much fun
Secret mission 1 and 2- I never played any of the expansions until last yr bc they were included in the gog bundle for the games. I thought thats where the story started to get really fleshed out and the stakes were raised. The combat was a lot harder and you got to fly a kirathi ship, I mean really how cool can it get. the expansions were fucking awesome lol. I just wish we could have seen a firekkan in the later games aka wc3 and wc4, (yes I know they play a huge role in the books)
Wing commander 2- The tale is old as heck, great warrior falls from grace only to come back and achieve even greater glory. Yes the story of wc2 is full of cliches but it is still awesome. they give the kilrathi personalities and expand the universe, and add interesting characters, while building on previous characters and relationships. The only real problem I have with the story is it seems everyone is a spy or a double agent, it seems anytime they needed to move the plot forward they used the traitor angle this carried forward the rest of the series including the expansions and wc3 and wc4. I found the gameplay to be much harder and the kilrathi to have much better ships in wc2.
Special operations 1 and 2- 2 more great expansions, this is the first and last time you see "Bear"( aka the protagonist in many of the wing commander novels), actually in any wing commander game, but his story arc is amazing in the game, and the missions in the expansions are hard I mean really hard, the final mission in SO1 might be one of the hardest levels ever in any video game. Plus its time for Jazz to die OH YEAH!!!!
Wing Commander 3- I think this is the weakest in the main wc storyline aka wc1-wc4, but still its a great game with some awesome gameplay and story. I think my problem with this game mostly revolves around the story and what they do with certain characters, first off I feel like in wc3 all the actors are trying to figure out who their characters are and there motivations, so sometimes the acting is a little off, plus im sure it was not easy acting against nothing but a green screen the whole time. The gameplay for the most part was still rock solid, and the ending was spectacular in an over the top scifi way ha ha.
Wing Commander 4- As I have stated multiple times this is my fav game of the series, mostly bc of the story, I loved the twist and turns and I felt like all the returning actors fit into their roles smoothly and the acting was top notch across the board. I loved the growth of tom wilson as maniac and Malcolm owned the role of an admiral gone mad as Tolwyn. I thought it was the perfect send off to the wing commander franchise. The combat I will admit was a slight let down and the one missile instant death was over the top.
Wing Commander Prophecy- This is my least fav game of the entire franchise, I thought all the actors were either mis cast, couldnt act, or sleepwalked through their role (Im looking at you Mark Hamil) the only one who seemed to care and try was ginger allen. I like the premise of playing the Iceman's son, it was a great nod to the original game, and the combat was pretty awesome, but a little easy. I didnt like the fact that they regressed maniac's character to something worse than what he was in wc3, and while I thought hawk's sub plot had great potential it never really gave the impact that the writers obviously wanted it to. I do feel bad about being so harsh on the game especially bc the story was never fully finished, but I just didnt like it, plus the bad guys while looked cool, had no real personalities and were one note villains and that bores me.
wing commander expanded universe
fleet action and false colors- I have not read all the novels but the two I have read were both awesome, I have read both fleet action and false colors. fleet action was more immediate and had a lot more action, while false colors was like a slow hot burn that burst into action at the last second kind of like a Tarantino film. Both were good but I like false colors better, if you love the universe like I do you should read some of the books
Wing commander Academy (tv show) I thought this was a really good show that had about 2 or 3 really really great episodes, the cast from the games are back, the animations are pretty good and the plot had some adult story lines to them. too bad it only lasted a season
Wing Commander movie- not going to lie I hate the movie with a passion, the story is incomplete (maybe the director's cut would make it better) the acting is atrocious, freddie is a fine voice actor but his acting on real film is wooden and stiff. Matthew lillard is one of the most annoying actors on the planet and I cant stand watching him. Plus the kilrathi looked well............... I will just say ridiculously bad. Plus I didnt like the whole lets add the pilgrim sub plot that was not in the original games. Just not my cup of tea.
I know this was a long read but I just felt like telling why I truly love this series so much, so to denis and everyone else who ever worked on it thank you. it was amazing that across 4 games and changing technology yall were able to keep the high quality and awesomness of the games up, yall kept 1 uping yourselves and thats no easy feat and should be commended.
Wing Commander 1- the game that started it all, like I said in other post though, my introduction to wing commander actually was wing commander 2 in about 93 maybe early 94. I didnt play wc1 until much later when I came across a retro pc at a yard sale lol. But even then I could tell why so many people loved it when it came out back in the early early 90s, great art, cool music, the start of blair's career, and the beautiful tiger's claw. The story was pretty basic and the kilrathi had no personality or motivations yet beyond they are the bad guys so kill them but it was so much fun
Secret mission 1 and 2- I never played any of the expansions until last yr bc they were included in the gog bundle for the games. I thought thats where the story started to get really fleshed out and the stakes were raised. The combat was a lot harder and you got to fly a kirathi ship, I mean really how cool can it get. the expansions were fucking awesome lol. I just wish we could have seen a firekkan in the later games aka wc3 and wc4, (yes I know they play a huge role in the books)
Wing commander 2- The tale is old as heck, great warrior falls from grace only to come back and achieve even greater glory. Yes the story of wc2 is full of cliches but it is still awesome. they give the kilrathi personalities and expand the universe, and add interesting characters, while building on previous characters and relationships. The only real problem I have with the story is it seems everyone is a spy or a double agent, it seems anytime they needed to move the plot forward they used the traitor angle this carried forward the rest of the series including the expansions and wc3 and wc4. I found the gameplay to be much harder and the kilrathi to have much better ships in wc2.
Special operations 1 and 2- 2 more great expansions, this is the first and last time you see "Bear"( aka the protagonist in many of the wing commander novels), actually in any wing commander game, but his story arc is amazing in the game, and the missions in the expansions are hard I mean really hard, the final mission in SO1 might be one of the hardest levels ever in any video game. Plus its time for Jazz to die OH YEAH!!!!
Wing Commander 3- I think this is the weakest in the main wc storyline aka wc1-wc4, but still its a great game with some awesome gameplay and story. I think my problem with this game mostly revolves around the story and what they do with certain characters, first off I feel like in wc3 all the actors are trying to figure out who their characters are and there motivations, so sometimes the acting is a little off, plus im sure it was not easy acting against nothing but a green screen the whole time. The gameplay for the most part was still rock solid, and the ending was spectacular in an over the top scifi way ha ha.
Wing Commander 4- As I have stated multiple times this is my fav game of the series, mostly bc of the story, I loved the twist and turns and I felt like all the returning actors fit into their roles smoothly and the acting was top notch across the board. I loved the growth of tom wilson as maniac and Malcolm owned the role of an admiral gone mad as Tolwyn. I thought it was the perfect send off to the wing commander franchise. The combat I will admit was a slight let down and the one missile instant death was over the top.
Wing Commander Prophecy- This is my least fav game of the entire franchise, I thought all the actors were either mis cast, couldnt act, or sleepwalked through their role (Im looking at you Mark Hamil) the only one who seemed to care and try was ginger allen. I like the premise of playing the Iceman's son, it was a great nod to the original game, and the combat was pretty awesome, but a little easy. I didnt like the fact that they regressed maniac's character to something worse than what he was in wc3, and while I thought hawk's sub plot had great potential it never really gave the impact that the writers obviously wanted it to. I do feel bad about being so harsh on the game especially bc the story was never fully finished, but I just didnt like it, plus the bad guys while looked cool, had no real personalities and were one note villains and that bores me.
wing commander expanded universe
fleet action and false colors- I have not read all the novels but the two I have read were both awesome, I have read both fleet action and false colors. fleet action was more immediate and had a lot more action, while false colors was like a slow hot burn that burst into action at the last second kind of like a Tarantino film. Both were good but I like false colors better, if you love the universe like I do you should read some of the books
Wing commander Academy (tv show) I thought this was a really good show that had about 2 or 3 really really great episodes, the cast from the games are back, the animations are pretty good and the plot had some adult story lines to them. too bad it only lasted a season
Wing Commander movie- not going to lie I hate the movie with a passion, the story is incomplete (maybe the director's cut would make it better) the acting is atrocious, freddie is a fine voice actor but his acting on real film is wooden and stiff. Matthew lillard is one of the most annoying actors on the planet and I cant stand watching him. Plus the kilrathi looked well............... I will just say ridiculously bad. Plus I didnt like the whole lets add the pilgrim sub plot that was not in the original games. Just not my cup of tea.
I know this was a long read but I just felt like telling why I truly love this series so much, so to denis and everyone else who ever worked on it thank you. it was amazing that across 4 games and changing technology yall were able to keep the high quality and awesomness of the games up, yall kept 1 uping yourselves and thats no easy feat and should be commended.
