Wing Commander: Armada

The Good
The multiplayer was fun, if you could get the modem routines to work. (which I never managed to at my own computer) The graphics were a revelation, considering we were coming off of the scaled & rotated bitmaps of all the other versions. And the music was good.

The Bad
Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay! The actual dogfighting is the worst I've seen in a flightsim since the NES Top Gun. Due to tweaked recharge rates and different gun powers, it's virtually impossible for a smaller ship to take out a bigger one. His shields will recharge faster than you can shoot him, while he wipes you out in a couple shots. Further, the comptuer only knows one move - the afterburner slide. He'll AB by you, turn, spin, and start shooting, then hit the 'burners, turn, etc. This is bad enough. What's worse is that, as WC fans well know, there's pretty much no countermove to keep him from doing this. Every fight simply becomes a slugging match between the two ships, with no way to stay on the computer's tail for long enough to kill him. The bigger guns win every time. The campaign mode was just as bad. It played like the original Star Control except that, again, it was impossible for a lighter craft to take out a bigger one. Luckily, the strategy AI was even more retarded than the dogfight, or the game would be difficult. Finally, while the graphics were nice at the time, it was painfully obvious the point of the game was more to tantalize you with what was to come - WC3 and it's high-res glory.

The Bottom Line
For the love of god, avoid it. These days, when the chances of getting a modern modem to work in DOS are virtually nil, there's no reason in the world to actually play it.