Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom

aka: Wing Commander IV: Mekhir ha-Khofesh, Wing Commander IV: O Preço da Liberdade
Moby ID: 343
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Christopher Blair, "Heart of the Tiger" had retired to a farming planet after the war, content with retirement, so he says... In the depths of space, a new menace has surfaced. Some unknown attackers are killing civilian ships. The tension between the Confederation and the Border Worlds is at an all time high, as both sides accuse the other of staging the attacks. Admiral Tolwyn has recalled Blair back to service, where he will make the most difficult choice of all... And contemplate action he had never dared before, in the name of justice...

Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is a mix of interactive movie and space sim. The game has a dynamic mission tree, which means the player's behaviour will determine the next mission. The videos feature real actors, like Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, John Rhys-Davies and Malcolm McDowell. Before the start of each mission, the space craft can be equipped with different weapons. Sometimes the mission objectives change during flight, and the player has to make decisions what he wants to do next, e.g. help out his friend or destroy an enemy fighter.

Spellings

  • Wing Commander IV: מחיר החופש - Hebrew spelling
  • 银河飞将4:自由的代价 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 81 ratings with 6 reviews)

Great production values, extremely low play value

The Good
The cinematics are great. In terms of style, writing, directing, and acting, they're probably still the high-water mark of computer movies. (that's really not a slight, this one truly is feature-film quality - better than the official movie by far) It's worth playing the game just to watch the film, especially Malcolm McDowell getting to chew the scenery with a glee he hasn't shown since A Clockwork Orange.

The Bad
The gameplay sucked. Period. Just about every mission was dull and generic - just swarms of bad guys all over you again and again. The difficulty level at "normal" is actually quite high, which would make it challenging, but you just can't care about the missions like you could in the old days. Even the new fighters were generally uninteresting. At least it didn't have 5-minute mission loads like its predecessor - I read entire books while playing that one.

The Bottom Line
If you have a chance to pick it up for cheap, snag it, set the difficulty to its lowest level, and spend a few days watching a sci-fi miniseries with brief pauses for carnage in-between. In that respect, it's still more entertaining than a large number of the sci-fi films at Blockbuster.

DOS · by WizardX (116) · 2000

This is a game?

The Good
Be aware, that when you buy Wing Commander IV, you are not getting a game trying to be a movie. You are getting a movie trying to be a game. So let's talk about the movie.

The plot follows Christopher Blair (nee Bluehair) as he is called out of retirement to put down a rebellion by the Border Colonies. Eventually, he winds up joining the terrorists and attempting to stop the mad General Tolwyn, and his secret force of pilots wielding devastating bioweapons.

The game essentially features about 20 minutes of 'choose your own adventure' type interactive movie watching, followed by a briefing, and then a mission. Overall, the transition between movie and game is obvious (no MGS-style smooth cuts here) and it's easy to see where the production values went. A cornucopia of B-list sci-fi actors are assembled, including Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, and Tom Wilson, all playing the only characters they ever seem to play (weary hero, psycho, well-meaning ally, annoying moron). And while the sound is excellent stereo, the video quality is, well, CD-level.

I must say, the movie is not bad by any means, the plot isn't original and Chris Roberts' direction seldom moves past the 'competent' level, but it would be a good popcorn flick if you didn't have to grab a controller every few minutes to make a decision or fly a ship. And it's definitely better then Wing Commander the movie (that movie NEVER HAPPENED, you hear me?)

The Bad
Game? Oh yes, the game. As I said, it's easy to see where the money was spent, and the end result is a gaming experience that is just plain bad, the console equivalent to Ultima IX. But here it's not bugs, it's simply a very poor engine. The low-resolution of the PSX results in a grainy HUD that could have been done better on a Vectrex. All the ship models are laughably pixilated and have ridiculously low polygon counts, especially the cap ships. And trying to map a game designed for a PC keyboard onto an eight-button controller just does not work. Cockpit communication is almost impossible thanks to the lousy control, very frustrating because two of the game's most major plot decisions have to be made in-flight.

To add insult to injury, invulnerability is not a cheat, but a gameplay option right off the top, which is Origin admitting the only reason we would play through the game would be to get to the next bit of movie, and letting us stroll trough these sections as quick as possible. Ugh.

The Bottom Line
If you want to see Mark Hamill in a B-grade sci-fi movie, save yourself $36 and go rent Guyver. This series peaked in it's second iteration, and it's sad to see another Origin franchise go out with a limp.

PlayStation · by Anatole (58) · 2001

Best in the series

The Good
It was a fantastic space simulator and has a fantastic choose your own adventure storyline where every choice can effect the outcome. It has the feeling of both a game and a movie, all welled into one. Much more than it's predecessor. It also has amazing music.

The Bad
Not a thing. It was fantastic.

The Bottom Line
A fast paced and action packed space simulator where you control a fighter wing and a ship's crew, every choice you make effects their lives.

DOS · by Brent Barker (1) · 2005

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
How do I run this game in WinME?? Darkon Jan 22, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cast

  • Now well-known actor Casper Van Dien ("Sleepy Hollow", "Starship Troopers") got his first non-TV role in a bit part for this game. Officially dubbed "Confed Pilot #3," he can be spotted during one of the early cinematics as Blair and Maniac first board their new carrier.
  • The non-speaking pilots on the roster are mostly Origin employees on the WC IV project. For example, Anthony "Yaeger" Sommers (QA Project Lead), Frank "Turbo" Roan (Lead Programmer), and more.

Extras

Creative Labs included a special DVD version of this game with their original DVD drives that included higher quality recompressed video.

Novelization

There is a novelization of the game published by Baen Books.

Production cost

As of June 2000, WC IV held the record for most expensive video game ever made. Dissatisfied with the blue-screened video of #3, Chris Roberts decided he wanted to build full-sized sets for the game. The end result was around $10 million dollars spent. By comparison, that's roughly what the original Star Wars movie cost. As of 2002, WC IV is the second most expensive game after Shenmue.

Removed content

One scene got cut out of the final game. The scene, which shows Wilford telling Blair to board a Black Lance Transport was never released in any official form, but can be found around the net. Be warned that since the scene was cut out at the last minute it is already encoded, meaning you'll need Xanmovie to play it, just like any other WC IV movie file (Xanmovie can be found on Origin's Crusader: No Regret).

Story issue

In a rare "script ignore" for the Wing Commander series, if 2nd Lt. Troy "Catscratch" Carter (played by Mark Dacascos, also of several movies including "Le Pacte des loups" (Brotherhood of the Wolf), survives his final mission, he absolutely disappears from the rest of the game. No mention is made of his fate at all and he is no longer available as a wingman. Lt. Velina Sosa, who is his love interest and is quite upset should he die, never mentions his mysterious disappearance from the ship. Also, his name disappears from the killboard. Normally, when a pilot is killed, "KIA" is written next to their name and their stats remain. But Catscratch, for all intents and purposes, is erased from existence if he actually survives the one mission he doesn't complete properly.

Windows 95 Patch

A Windows 95 patch is available that makes the game run smoother and look better when playing under Windows 95.

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Jason Musgrave, John Chaser, Kasey Chang, WizardX, and Zovni

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by robotriot.

PlayStation 3, PSP added by Lance Boyle. PS Vita added by Charly2.0. Windows added by 80. PlayStation added by Adam Baratz. Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Olivier Masse, Unicorn Lynx, chirinea, Alaka, CaesarZX, Picard, FatherJack.

Game added November 1, 1999. Last modified March 19, 2024.