Wing Commander: Prophecy

The Good
At the time of publishing this game by Origin has set new standards for graphic quality in space shooters (at least the Glide version). Dozens of missiles each with its own tail of smoke homing in on a target destroying it in a caleidoscope of colors (it was the first game to feature that famous "expanding space ripple ring"-effect nowadays found in most space action games). Add cool looking detailed space ships, a very rich background (with star nebulae, suns, planets) and many special effects and you get graphics that are extremely impressive even by today's standard.
Every ship has it's (sometimes very special) advantages and disadvantages.
The storyline is interesting enough to keep you playing, without 100s of MB wasted on mediocre acting.
And the aliens? They (actually their ships) have some very unique features. Some ships combine to form greater more dangerous opponents and if you try to destroy those ships, they fall apart and you are confronted with a horde of smaller drones. The biological look reminds a bit of some ships in Babylon 5.

The Bad
That you had to use a cheat to activate the (much cooler) industrial sound track by Cobalt 69 in the normal game (otherwise you could only listen to it in the simulator).
It's simply more fun blasting aliens with a syntetical techno throb in your ear :-)

The Bottom Line
Top style dog-fighting in space. Great graphics, great sound and nice handling.