Wing Commander

aka: Squadron, WC1, Wing Commander: Der 3D-Raumkampf-Simulator, Wing Commander: The 3-D Space Combat Simulator, Wingleader
Moby ID: 3
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

The Confederation have been at war with the Kilrathi for the past 20 years, and you're just now joining the Vega campaign. You're a 2nd Lieutenant just out of the Academy, with some good work under your belt. You're posted to Tiger's Claw, the flagship of the Confederation Fleet. Will you help the Confederation to victory, or go down in infamy?

Wing Commander is a space combat simulator interspersed with shipboard dialogs. Onboard the ship, you can save/load game, visit the bar to get the latest gossip, or go on to the next mission briefing, and the 3D space combat part.

The 3D space combat has you sitting in the cockpit, where you control the craft like roll, turn, up/down, afterburner, as well as fire guns and launch missiles. There are four different crafts on the Confed side, each with different flight characteristics and armament. You will have a wingman on each mission, and you should keep the wingman alive as the wingman will help you if you issue the right orders. You can also taunt the enemy. You'll be fighting several different types of enemy fighters and capital ships, and even combat a few Kilrathi aces.

When the mission is complete, land back onboard the ship and get ready for the next one. The campaign tree has both winning and losing paths.

Spellings

  • ウイングコマンダー - Japanese spelling
  • 银河飞将 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 199 ratings with 17 reviews)

The one and only

The Good
Wing Commander is one of those rare games that comes once in a lifetime, and which forever will go down in history as a classic of classics, defining a new genre, standard of gameplay and technical excellence. Before WC there had been some attempts at making space sims, but they were all geared towards exploration/trading sims a-la Elite, and none had managed to capture the more military-oriented action extravaganza of that which remained in everyone's mind as the definitive space "flying" experience: Star Wars. It's WW2-inspired blend of fast, agile starships dogfighting in space against each other remains to this day one of the best contributions George Lucas's saga gave to our collective imaginations, yet over 10 years later no one had managed to really capture that in a videogame. Enter Origin, the company which was previously better known for it's Ultima rpgs and Chris Roberts who singlehandedly jumped to videogame stardom with this groundbreaking title.

The reasons for it's success are varied, foremost among them the fact that he got it right from the start. Due to innovative game design, sheer programming prowess and technical proficiency Roberts and co. were able to translate the basic layout of a classic flight sim with it's "sitting in a cockpit" first person perspective and take it into outer space with simplified game mechanics that accounted for a more action-oriented gameplay that basically boiled down to controlling a magic jet that didn't have to worry about drag or gravity and which incorporated the notion of regenerating shields that you had to take down before you could knock down a ship. Furthermore, the fact that the game was set in space was actually a blessing for the developers, as no terrain meant they only had to spawn the ships and objects in a perpetual "starry night" environment that allowed the engine to focus on faster action that for the first time mimicked the breakneck pace and excitement of those kickass dogfights we had seen on Star Wars! Heck, I vividly remember wildly yanking the joystick and leaning sideways as if trying to dodge the oncoming laser blasts when things got too intense!! :D Finally a game got it!

Another area where WC broke new ground was in the technical arena, before I'd took the "Tech crown", there was only one company that forced players to upgrade their machines for their games, and that was Origin with their Wing Commander games which always included the latest and most amazing technical improvements. I dare say however, that in those days it was worth the cash and even if you couldn't go all the way the games allowed gameplay on lesser systems by toning down certain features, unlike in today's games where you need to update your system every month because your videoboard only has pixel shader 2.546456 and you need 2.546457 for a stupid stencil shadows effect that you have no way of turning off and thus can't run the game... What's that? Me, resentful? Naaaaaahh!!

But I digress, I was talking about WC and it's tech achievements, which included 256 full vga graphics that looked like a dream in it's day, complete with such graphic details as multi-function displays in the cockpits that showed detailed info on your target, damage status and even allowed you to communicate with your wingmen (using a numbered menu system that has virtually remained unchanged to this day) and which even showed the faces of whoever you were talking to in a green-hued display! That alone made it extra special to taunt your opponents and see their reactions. For as good as the graphics were however, one of the most incredible features in WC and one that got it incredible praises was it's pioneering use of stereo soundboards with digital sound effects that rivaled those one remembered from the Star Wars flicks and a musical score that will go down in history as one of the earliest dynamic soundtracks ever to appear in a game, not to mention some of the most memorable collection of tunes ever written in it's day (that's right fanboy, take your Final Fantasy soundtracks and shove them, WC got there earlier and did it better). It is a testament to it's quality sound design that one of it's more well-remembered feats was the fact that it got thousands of gamers to dish out the staggering amount of cash required to get sound boards in those days, I even suspect that this game alone is responsible for establishing Creative Labs and it's Sound Blaster board as the gaming standard (does anyone remember how the Origin logo came up with a simulated orchestra overture? Now that's what I'm talking about!)

However all of these features would have translated into just a really nice looking and sounding dogfighting sim set in space by themselves, with nothing to separate it from the boring pseudo-military games that appealed to the hardcore simmer fanbase and which have nothing but loosely arranged campaigns that just call for you to blow shit up and earn medals. Taking it's cues from space operas like Star Wars itself, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Roberts dedicated as much of his design focus on the gameplay in the cockpit as outside it, and crafted a believable gameworld thanks to superb character development and cinematic techniques. You didn't just tackle missions over and over in Wing Commander, instead, you took on the role of a new pilot in the terran carrier Tiger's Claw and mingled with your fellow pilots on board the capital ship by talking to them. While the interactions were relatively straightforward, they were filled with well-written tidbits that built up each character's background were they talked about their reasons for fighting in the war, their fears, doubts and even discussed between each other and argued about the way the conflict was being resolved. Come mission time, you would attend a briefing room where the character interaction continued as your CO assigned you your mission and often joked or made special comments regarding your upcoming assignment or who you had to take with you (Maniac took most of the flak in these scenes if he was assigned as your wingman); the characters would then scramble to their fighters in cinematic cutscenes and off you went! The result was that you weren't just blowing shit up for blowing shit up's sake like in most sims, but you were instead taking an active role in a space conflict in which the earth forces faced off against the alien forces of the Kilrathi empire (a cliche I know, but what the heck) and flew with actual characters you cared about and had a "life" outside the cockpit. Losing a wingman meant something more than just losing fire support for a mission, as that character was gone for good, with even a funeral cutscene for each one to drive the point home even more strongly. Furthermore the entire conflict went hand in hand with your campaign and if you completed your missions, you would see "victory" cutscenes that painted a bigger picture. Interestingly enough, should you fail your missions you got completely different cutscenes that branched the plot towards a "failed" conflict! How's that for added replay value?

No review of the "good" about Wing Commander would be complete however, without a mention of the amazing documentation. Games like Wing Commander are the reason I can't help but curse publishers when I see a flimsy, 6-page pdf manual when I get a game nowadays. Origin made a name for itself by including extensive documentation with their games that introduced everything you needed to know about the game while keeping the context of the gameworld. WC is one of the best examples of this, as the entire manual is written as an issue of the onboard magazine of the Tiger's Claw, complete with strategy tips disguised as ads., character bios and lots of subtle info that helped build the gameworld even before you played the game!

The Bad
Are you kidding me? Move along dork!

Ok, ok maybe in retrospective some missions were too repetitive (something which would eventually become the mantra of Chris Roberts) and the storyline in the end isn't that amazing. Actually I think WC is a lot like Half-Life in the sense that both excel at storytelling, but neither tell a particularly amazing or innovative story per se. Anyway, that's all I can think of.

The Bottom Line
Wing Commander is one of those titles that will forever grace Halls of Fame and "All-time best" lists. It is one of those rare cases in which everything comes together in sync. and the result just becomes a massive breakthrough in technology, gameplay and storytelling. A game that has spawned entire cloned series (even including the famed X-Wing games), imitators, sequels and spin-offs that continue to be respected titles to this day.

Wing Commander is a masterpiece of masterpieces, and it's also a game that will forever be linked to fond memories of my childhood as it was one of the few games I vividly recall playing with my dad, who managed to beat that final mission against the main Kilrathi base where I failed, forever gaining my neverending admiration. WC is required gaming for anyone that wants to call himself a game buff. You never touched it? Then stop reading this and get a copy n00b!

DOS · by Zovni (10504) · 2005

The best space combat sim of it's time, and my favourite still.

The Good
The first thing that grabbed my eye when I spied it on the shelf were the graphics. Simply ubelievable for the time. As I drove home with it I found myself guessing that the graphics on the box must all be from cut sequences and was AMAZED to find out they were the graphics from the simulation itself.

The character interactions were wonderful. I really had a sense of getting closer to the other pilots.

The combat was just difficult enough to make it challenging. I'm one of those freaks who, if he dies, starts the game over from scratch and replays. I finally did beat this series front to back without losing a single man and felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

One aspect that hasn't been mentioned in other reviews - the branching storyline. This, to my mind is a MUST in games of this nature, but is so seldom implemented. I HATE games that, if you fail in a mission force you to replay it. There's no sense of cohesive story there. This game actually altered the storyline based on your success or failures, but NEVER made you replay a failed mission. Absolutely brilliant.

The Bad
My main gripe with this game is that it doesn't run on my 400 mhz machine. I'd play it before I'd play it's more modern aspects like WC IV.

There is a small flaw in the game logic - as long as you survive the final mission, you win. Therefore (although I didn't win this way my first time through) if you really want to beat the game, just eject as soon as you leave the Tiger's Claw on the final mission. You survive and somehow remain responsible for destroying the Kilrathi base.

The Bottom Line
An amazing feat of technology for its time, a whole lot of fun, and my favourite simulator in any genre ever.

DOS · by Jeff Sinasac (391) · 2000

One of those all-time classics everyone should play.

The Good
I bought this on my 11th birthday, less than a week after it came out, based solely on a preview in a magazine I liked, to go with my dad's brand-new 386/16 speedster. (old computer gurus can chuckle now) Now, a decade later, I still play it, and despite going through four computers, it's stayed on the hard drive of every one. The gameplay is still possibly the best of the series, with slower-paced, more realistic dogfights. (instead of the two-hits-and-they're-dead mentality of the sequels, you had to really WORK to take out the ships in this one) The music was incredible for its day (and still extremely good if you're lucky enough to have The Kilrathi Saga and its reorchestrated, digital soundtrack) . This and the Secret Mission addons probably still have the most interesting missions of all of them. (my all-time favorite may be the "escort the friendly Dralthi" mission) Finally, this seems to be the most overall immersive of the games. Just from talking with fellow WC fans, we've got tons of great war stories from this (and some from WC2) but few (if any) from any of the other games. (mine is when I took out a space station in a Scimitar with every system down, no missiles, and only one gun)

The Bad
Not much. The AI wasn't that great, but it was probably the best of its day. I'm probably the wrong person to ask, though - I've played it so much, I can predict what the AI is going to do 90% of the time. The Secret Mission disks were incredibly difficult at the time (old WC fans still get a cold sweat if you mention the Gwenhyvar) but seem easy if you've managed to pull yourself through Privateer.

The Bottom Line
Probably one of the top-10 best games of all time. This is one any fan, especially one raised on new games like Freespace, owes it to themselves to play for the sake of history.

DOS · by WizardX (116) · 2000

[ View all 17 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Save the destroyer. Victor Vance (18072) Jul 30, 2014
Amazing non-linear story from a space simulator? Indra was here (20756) Nov 11, 2008
Need help landing. Indra was here (20756) Nov 8, 2008
How Many Floppy Diskettes? mobiusclimber (235) May 21, 2008

Trivia

Amiga version

The standard Amiga version of Wing Commander has only 16 colors, as it was released just before the Amiga 1200 which added the 256-color AGA version. Some early demos were made in 32 colors, but the number of colors had to be reduced as the game was too slow on not accelerated Amigas. The only 256-color version is the one bundled with the CD32 system, which also runs on A1200s with CD drives.

Auto pilot

Due to the way the game has you auto-piloting to different nav points where the action takes place, most gamers would think that the engine simply has a generic "endless" space and it simply spawns the required objects when you use the autopilot feature. In reality the game actually generates the entire area you see on your nav computer with all its objects. This can be seen when actually flying to each of the nav points manually.

Campaign

Wing Commander features a full "winning" and "losing" branches of a campaign tree, with some "neither" branches where you can turn yourself around. Unfortunately, most players simply replay each mission until they win (or else they eject and reload the old savegame), thus NEVER experiencing the "losing" side of the campaign, thus wasting all the effort put in by Origin. Origin simplified the campaign flowchart in all later games (and the mission packs) so that they no longer need completely separate campaign paths for the "losing" branch, to save on development costs.

Copy protection

The original package came with blueprints for the 4 Confed fighters in the game: Hornet, Scimitar, Raptor, and Rapier. The copy protection ask you questions from those blueprints.

Cutscenes

Most of the major cutscenes are random in themselves (e.g. every time the briefing starts people sit down and stand up in different order).

Development

This game was almost canceled the quarter before it shipped. The sales & marketing director Marten Davies at Origin did not believe it would sell. In an interview with the German magazine GameStar (issue 05/2016), Roberts refutes this claim and replaces it with a different anecdote: Roberts believed the game would sell 100.000 units, Davies calculated with at least 200.000 units. So Roberts did bet his car (Porsche 944 Turbo) on it - and lost because the game sold 250.000 units in a short time frame. However, with the royalties he could easily afford a new car of the same model...

Maniac

When you fly a mission with "Maniac", there's the name "Joker" written on his helmet, however if you fly with the other pilots, the right name is on their helmets. Probably Origin changed this before the final release. At least this happens when you play the original Wing Commander Missions with the sm2.exe from Secret Missions 2: Crusade.

Manual

The game manual, like other Origin games, is written inside the universe and titled "Claw Marks: The Onboard Magazine of TCS Tiger's Claw". Inside is various stories and articles that might be interesting to an active pilot, including a set of ship's schematics under the heading "Joan's Spacecraft". This is a various obvious nod to the Jane's Information Group which for years published encyclopedic specifications of ships, aircraft, tanks and other machines of war. In the video game world, the Jane's branding has been attached to multiple products.

Novels

There have been eight novels written and published set in the Wing Commander universe; unusually, most of them have been at least partially written by the same author, and hence for game novel adaptations can be considered to contain extraordinary degrees of internal continuity:1. Freedom Flight (1992), by Ellen Guon and Mercedes Lackey; 2. End Run (1993), by William R Forstchen and Christopher Stasheff; 3. Fleet Action (1994), by William R Forstchen; 4. Heart of the Tiger (1995), by William R Forstchen and Andrew Keith; 5. The Price of Freedom (1996), by William R Forstchen and Ben Ohlander; 6. Action Stations (1997), by William R Forstchen; 7. False Colors (1998), by William R Forstchen and William H Keith; and 8. Pilgrim Stars (1999), by Peter Telep -- a novel specifically inspired by the WC movie.

Packaging

There's a large blurb on the back of the original box that says "Every screenshot taken from this game - What You See is What You Play!" However, that's incorrect. Most of the shots on the back were taken from a beta version of the game, featuring weapons, names, and graphics not seen in the final version. Isn't it ironic?

PC Gamer release

A complete version of Wing Commander is available on Classic Games Collection CD featured in the July 2000 issue of PC Gamer Magazine.

Player character

In Wing Commander, the player character has no name and when he was created, his black hair was "highlighted" with lots of streaks of blue (there was a limited color palette). Within Origin, he came to be referred to as "BlueHair" when discussing him. It is possible that this was the basis when he was named "Blair" in later installments of the series.

References

If you look at the "weapons ratings" you will notice that some are rated in "ESK's". This stands for "Earth Shattering Kabooms!", as per the Marvin the Martian cartoon.

SEGA CD version

The Sega CD version of Wing Commander features voice acting for all the dialogue in the game. There are not even any subtitles.

Soundtrack

In 2002 Team Fat announced the release of a completely redone Soundtrack-CD. The bonus track of this CD - a surf-version of the WC-Theme - can be found at http://www.gamasutra.com/galleries/audio/george_sanger/index.htm

Technology

Unique for its time, Wing Commander used a hybrid 3D system that took place in true 3D space, but used bitmaps drawn from different angles for sprites. The end result was a 3D system that was fast without the speed penalty of rendering polygons in realtime (bitmap scaling and rotation was employed instead). A similar method was used in Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, but not until several years later.

Title

The game was originally going to be called Wingleader and had that name until very shortly before it was shipped. It was changed at the last minute when it was discovered a board game had the same name and they didn't want to risk trademark infringement. Some beta-test pictures can still be found which contain that name.

Awards

  • ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)
    • March 1991 (issue #42) - Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time in category Simulations (editorial staff choice)
  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1994 – Best Simulation in 1993 (Readers' Vote)
  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1991 (Issue #88) – Game of the Year
    • April 1992 (Issue #93) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #7 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #10 Best Way To Die In Computer Gaming (receiving a funeral)
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #12 Most Rewarding Ending of All Time
    • 200th anniversary issue - #4 in the "Best Game of All Time" list (Readers' vote)
  • FLUX
    • Issue #4 - #20 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #34 Top Game of All Time
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #4 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • Power Play
    • Issue 01/1991 - Best Action Game in 1990 (DOS version)

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Big John WV, Felix Knoke, IJan, Kasey Chang, Martin Smith, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, quizzles7, rstevenson, Steve Cantrell, Thomas Perl, weregamer, Windowskiller, WildKard, WizardX and Zovni

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Trixter.

Amiga added by Rebound Boy. SNES added by Satoshi Kunsai. FM Towns added by Terok Nor. SEGA CD added by quizzley7.

Additional contributors: Brian Hirt, Kasey Chang, monkeyislandgirl, formercontrib, Ricky Derocher, 梦迪 高, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST.

Game added March 1, 1999. Last modified February 20, 2024.