Wing Commander article at Den of Geek

I glanced over it. Not much of an article, really - just basic descriptions of each game, hardly any historical background, no discussion of the series' impact. There isn't even a mention of its connections to other games - I would have thought it impossible to write a summary of Wing Commander without mentioning Chris Roberts going off to make Starlancer & Freelancer, and with all the hype about Star Citizen, kinda strange not to see it mentioned either.

In a word, boring. For fans, this article is just a recap of everything they already knew. For non-fans, it hardly says anything that could really grab anyone's attention. I guess it's nice someone is talking about Wing Commander, though.

One thing did intrigue me, however: why take an Amiga screenshot for WC1? Was it to create a bigger visual difference between WC1 and WC2? Slightly weird.
 
Maybe it's just me, but these articles never get old. It's kind of like a compliment every time someone wants to do a retrospective piece to share an overview of the franchise with today's generation. When they're slapped together, sure, that's not so great, but this one is a relatively comprehensive look back. I always give them props when they mention things like Super Wing Commander and Arena.

And I also prefer my articles purely WC. I don't need them to do some obligatory nod to X-Wing, Freespace and Chris Roberts' other stuff. Write an article about those franchises, if they're worthy.
 
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Yeah, but the point here isn't to give a nod to other franchises. It's to place Wing Commander in a greater context, by making a note about one of the most important behind-the-scenes event that shaped the series: Chris Roberts' departure from Origin. They could very well not provide a single detail about those other games, but if you discuss the series as a whole, it's just important to explain why WCP suddenly reversed course in the evolution of the series. And as for Star Citizen - well, it bears mentioning for the exact same reason, in that Star Citizen exists thanks to Wing Commander.
 
I'd say that's a subtly different article. If I want to show a friend what's up with the Wing Commander series, I'm not really interested in giving them much of the historical context as well. "These games outclassed the Star Wars games of the '90s is plenty." You could do a whole piece just on the transition to Prophecy (or Privateer 2, or Academy, etc) too. It gets much bigger. The gaming media certainly doesn't mention Star Citizen without mentioning Wing Commander, and the reverse is also almost always true - it's almost refreshing to not have that obligatory footnote hanging under the article.
 
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