Wing Commander Successor

Dahan

Rear Admiral
I am curious of all the games come and gone
Is there a game worthy to be Wing Commander's successors
there are several that may come close
so far the games I have been thinking have been Freespace 1 - 2 and Starlancer there are probably more but I am scratching my head I have only play a few of the others but I would love to hear what other people think??
 
None are worthy as being listed as a Wing Commander successor. In my opinion you have to have character interaction as a vital part of the game in order for the game to even remotely approach the draw of Wing Commander. Neither Freespace or Starlancer had that...
 
I always felt Starlancer was intended to be the successor since it was made by Erin and Chris Roberts and all with Digital Anvil... but it doesn't deserve the title. In any case it's the only space sim I've ever played that came close to feeling like Wing Commander. Even the more limitted story had some interesting twists, Freelancer's story is pretty interesting as well but the control differences nullifies that game from feeling like Wing Commander.
 
Spien said:
I always felt Starlancer was intended to be the successor since it was made by Erin and Chris Roberts and all with Digital Anvil... but it doesn't deserve the title. In any case it's the only space sim I've ever played that came close to feeling like Wing Commander. Even the more limitted story had some interesting twists, Freelancer's story is pretty interesting as well but the control differences nullifies that game from feeling like Wing Commander.

Starlancer wasn't too bad, but Chris Roberts didn't have anything to do with it. It was kind of cheap putting his name and "Wing Commander" on the box. Freelancer also changed drastically after Roberts left Digital Anvil and was a bunch different than his original plan. Nevertheless, Starlancer and Freelancer are probably my two favorite space sims beyond Wing Commander titles.
 
I think Starlancer did a good job recreating and improving the space combat aspect of Wing Commander, and I enjoyed it for that.
 
Nomad Terror said:
I think Starlancer did a good job recreating and improving the space combat aspect of Wing Commander, and I enjoyed it for that.

Some of the missions were good, but a lot of them were really oddly tedious. Playing goalie against torpedoes got old fast, and simply spawning torpedoes at opposing sides of the ship you're defending over and over again isn't really great mission design. It was fun for a while, but not really much more evolved than Prophecy and Secret Ops. And the core of it is that you need a compelling reason to play the missions. This was the problem with Freespace. You get to a certain point in the game, and then you think, "Why am I doing all this?" As much as I liked Starlancer relative to the space combat genre, I still don't think I've ever mustered the stamina to finish it. I think I always get about 75-85% complete and get tired of it. Freelancer, on the other hand, was a bit different. I finished it so quickly that I couldn't believe it. Privateer was fun because it was neat just to run around and upgrade your ship for hours and hours before you even started the plot. Freelancer really held your hand the whole way. You pretty much just start the game. All the upgrades you need will be available as you progress through the story. As you go from region to region as the story progresses, the enemies get much harder and the tech improves, which is really lame. It doesn't make any sense. The German authorities and pirates are arbitrarily twice as powerful as the Americans because you reach their space later in the game. And the Japanese authorities and their pirates are likewise another step more powerful. Once you've been there, you can go back to American space and stomp on anything. And you don't really go there until the plot takes you there. That's not very good design. Privateer really nailed it by making the entire universe reasonable accessible. You could go everywhere along the established lines, and it got more dangerous as you got away from the urban hubs or neared Kilrathi space. Humboldt Quadrant wasn't arbitrarily stocked with harder enemies and better equipment because you were supposed to arrive there later.
 
Yeah, the balance of freelancer was strange design, especially because the Americans are supposed to be the strongest nation on the story. The plot was interesting as a political thriller until it became a generic invasion of the body snatchers.

Have you even seen the alternative intro? It was awful.
 
Yeah, I think the moment I stopped enjoying Freelancer's story was when Mr. Glowy Eyes came into the picture. What the heck? After that, the story simply sucked.

Also, I was bothered by some of the strangeness caused by the fact that the story forced you to deal with certain factions... you arrive to Japan, you're told to go earn some money. Ok, so you go and take on a whole bunch of missions against Japanese pirates. Next thing you know, you're meeting the leader of one of the gangs you've been decimating, and apparently he's very pleased to meet you.
 
I liked some of the games that are near to the genre, like...

Archimedean Dynasty (sci-fi submarines with a nice plot and great atmosphere)

Aquanox I & II (Sequels to A.D., nicer graphics, somewhat absurd story)

Crimson Skies (Alternate history flight sim featuring air pirates in prop machines, good flight model, funny character interaction)

Pirates! (Well, it's Pirates. Actually I like the old C64 version better than the new one)

And for space sims:

X-Beyond the Frontier (is boring, but quite nice if you aren't much for excitement)

Terminus (Old! - but great fun, with or without Newtonian physics)

..and I didn't enjoy Starlancer (gives a new meaning to cheesy) and Freelancer (story? what story?) at all. Even Battlecruiser Millennium was more fun than those - kind of professionally boring and confusing.
 
I-War 2 looks great. I haven't played the original (though I've heard good things) but I have managed to pick up the sequal for $5. If it wasnt for the fact that I dont have either a gameport or a decent joystick I would probably try to get past the first few missions. From what I've seen of it - it has a great graphics and physics engines and a decent story - try it out.
 
Quarto said:
Yeah, I think the moment I stopped enjoying Freelancer's story was when Mr. Glowy Eyes came into the picture. What the heck? After that, the story simply sucked.

Also, I was bothered by some of the strangeness caused by the fact that the story forced you to deal with certain factions... you arrive to Japan, you're told to go earn some money. Ok, so you go and take on a whole bunch of missions against Japanese pirates. Next thing you know, you're meeting the leader of one of the gangs you've been decimating, and apparently he's very pleased to meet you.

I remember that thing with the pirates, that was pretty ridiculous. One thing that really upset me was when the interesting ship designs went to waste at the end of the game because you were now fighting off those liquid looking and entirely uninspired alien ships. I think that kind of ruined the "Lancer" universe a bit for me because I originally saw Starlancer as a more realistic Wing Commander as in space travel was still pretty much limitted to the Sol system and the only people out there were human. Freelancer kind of threw it all into the future and ruined that feel.
 
I like Starlancer and for a brief moment almost would have said to be "almost worthy" to be a wing commander successor (notice i mention a, not THE) it was the classic good vs bad with the western against teh eastern coalition it all had a nice feel for it, with the news broadcast and the conflict between the two powers. I would agree with Chris Reid with teh goalie job with shooting down the torps, it got a tad bit annoying and not giving time to do the other bits and pieces. At the moment I am replaying the game and trying to see all three final scences.

I have heard about the alternative introdution movie scene to Freelancer, I saw screen shots to it something about an alien ship coming in during one of the space battles between the Western Alliance and Eastern Coalition and that it destroyed both fleets and there was a survivor from the western fleet I think and travel to the "freelancer" systems and warned them of the impending alien threat
Anyone know if there is chance to get those movie clip or something???
 
Starlancer: too much scripting during missions, torpedo hunting was boring. Very good engine for graphics and gameplay.

FL: Good Engine, gorgeous graphics, crap plot (it was fun until the conspirators turned out to be aliens), the balance between the countries was really stupid. Was to fun to play, though, and the mp online was fun along with friends.

FS: Good game, good engine, good gameplay, bland story... kinda mediocre.

IWar: really hard, not for everyone. Loved the second game. never finished it though.

Aquanox: very pretty, vary bad. horrid gameplay.

Crimson Skies: Excellent. Really Good. Outstanding.

X series: very good engines, very bad art direction, kinda too loose. I hope X3 rocks.

Manboy, you know that you can buy a decent usb joystick for peanuts, right?
 
Try these:

-Strike Commander (if you never played it when it came out)
-StarLancer
-Ace Combat Series (console games)
-X-Wing Versus Tie Fighter
 
Strike Commander - seen it but never played it, don't have a copy
Starlancer - got it and playing it at the moment
Ace Combat - never heard of it
Xwing verse Tie Fighter - Played and would love to find a copy of the Balance of Power Campagin...
 
Dahan said:
Strike Commander - seen it but never played it, don't have a copy
Starlancer - got it and playing it at the moment
Ace Combat - never heard of it
Xwing verse Tie Fighter - Played and would love to find a copy of the Balance of Power Campagin...


Ace Combat is basically a modern aviation meets wing commander. A lot like Strike Commander I personally think, minus the small strategy elements such as purchasing equipment/ordinance/etc.
 
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