Wing Commander IV Retrospective/Review

Here's are my thoughts on the first Windows Wing Commander game. Technically there's a DOS version as well, but that's not the version I played. I had trouble with the videos on that version under Linux as well, so I just stuck to the Windows DVD version. The only guide I used came with the game on GOG.com. I didn't dock the game any points for this, but I really do miss shooting furballs...

[roguerifter]

This is my favorite game in the main series. I always hit Speradon though because the Bearcat is my favorite fighter in the game.

[igorokinamujika]

I agree about your complains about the missiles. Certainly, they are very annoying, plus, I think that even when they work in your favor, they make the combat less interesting as I find it more enjoyable to tail enemies with guns than oneshotting them with missiles.


That said, I didn't find the game to be that dificult. Once I learned to recognise the missile lock sound and to be allways ready to push the afterburn and decoy buttons, the game became quite manageable. Although, ocassionally, I still got oneshotted by a missile. At least most of the missions were shorter and involved less enemies than in WC3. The fact I used a HOTAS (mapped via Joystick Gremlin and vJoy) instead of joystick + keyboard may have helped too.


Peleus I found impossible to beat with an Avenger (which for some reason was the recommended craft in a gamefaq guide) as I suffered what you describe about being obliterated from behind right after autopilot. But it wasn't that bad with a fast Banshee. Plus, not having to worry about guided missiles inside the jamming field was a plus.


In any case, it has been the WC I have enjoyed the most thanks to its great plot and mission variety (still have to play Prophecy and both Privateers).

[badwolf]

i think a win/loss mission tree will always be a better, more concise way to structure a video game, especially one as plot/fmv heavy as wing commander 4, they really made their jobs far harder than it needed to be here, especially since the development timetable for this game was horrendously short. don't get me wrong, the ability to pick missions is neat, but resulted in them having to film 3/4 different versions of the same briefing depending on what track you were on & what order you picked the missions in, and must've been a nightmare for the actors to film. also the way some of the tracks recombine just feels a bit clunky and immersion breaking, particularly with ella, since if you nuke the base, sure you get the darker ending but everything inbetween is the same, which doesn't really much sense. and aside from the final showdown with tolwyn & few other honorable exceptions, the conversation choices feel a bit superfluous & hollow, required massive reshoots & break up the rhythm of a scene all just to give you the opportunity to have blair be a jerk for no reason, and in many cases i'm left thinking "what would blair have actually said here?" overall a great game & the best plot of the series but i think wing 2 edges it out for the way it's executed.