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[RRS]

"[...]Where so many flight simulators are simple shoot-'em-ups like TIE Fighter and X-Wing[...]"
Whaaa...? Did the reviewer actually play those games? I did. It's WC series that is more like a space shooter rather than simulator, as the sprite-based world is "less 3D" (much harder to "lead" your shots or to track position of other objects), requires less "situational awareness" (WC splits action into waypoints that contain usually 1-2 our ships to be escorted and few waves of enemy fighters, or an enemy capital ship for us to blow up, while X-W gives us tactical challenges of hunting bombers while being chased by swarms of fighters to save our convoy, as that damned frigate made a nanojump and spit out bombers on both sides of the convoy etc.) and has simpler controls (where is complex energy management from X-W or T/F or a dozen of radio commands for our wingmates).

What the author meant was that WC is more movie-like, more story driven - this applies also to presentation (instead of dry de-briefings after a mission: conversation between characters or even a cinematic).

[red_avatar]

Originally Posted by RRS

"[...]Where so many flight simulators are simple shoot-'em-ups like TIE Fighter and X-Wing[...]"
Whaaa...? Did the reviewer actually play those games? I did. It's WC series that is more like a space shooter rather than simulator, as the sprite-based world is "less 3D" (much harder to "lead" your shots or to track position of other objects), requires less "situational awareness" (WC splits action into waypoints that contain usually 1-2 our ships to be escorted and few waves of enemy fighters, or an enemy capital ship for us to blow up, while X-W gives us tactical challenges of hunting bombers while being chased by swarms of fighters to save our convoy, as that damned frigate made a nanojump and spit out bombers on both sides of the convoy etc.) and has simpler controls (where is complex energy management from X-W or T/F or a dozen of radio commands for our wingmates).

What the author meant was that WC is more movie-like, more story driven - this applies also to presentation (instead of dry de-briefings after a mission: conversation between characters or even a cinematic).

Yes, TIE Fighter was a straight "missions complete, here's the next mission" game. That said, TIE Fighter had more complex combat than Wing Commander 2. If you like a story, there's no contest but you can't call TIE Fighter a "simple" shoot em up. She should have said "a straightforward shoot em up".

[Zalamel]

One of the best games of all time!

[Fruit Pie Jones]

Combat was indeed more complex in the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series, and the graphics were "truly" 3D rather than 2D sprites. Let's not forget, however, that X-Wing, the first game in that series, was released in 1993, two years after Wing Commander II. I remember both of them fondly.

[Todbog]

I may be a little fuzzy, but I always thought of the Wing Commander games as ordinance games, where your missiles were indispensible. I know this for sure with WC3 and WC4, at least till you got the advanced tech fighters.

X-Wing/Tie Fighter were primarily gun games, where your guns could be used fairly reliably and your ordinance was usually reserved for capital ships (and those pesky A-Wings.)

[Fruit Pie Jones]

Originally Posted by Todbog

X-Wing/Tie Fighter were primarily gun games, where your guns could be used fairly reliably and your ordinance was usually reserved for capital ships (and those pesky A-Wings.)

You didn't even need missiles for cap ships, as I recall. They got the job done a lot faster, but as long as you weren't afraid to get in close, didn't mind dodging quite a few lasers, and could keep enemy fighters off your back, you could knock out a cap ship's shield generators in one or two strafing runs, then use your guns to administer death by a thousand cuts. If there were no enemy fighters in the area and you were feeling particularly sadistic, you could even knock out a few of the cap ship's defensive turrets in a particular area, cut your throttle, and sit in a blind spot where the cap ship couldn't hit you at all. Fun stuff...

[grumps]

finally managed to get this in one piece. fyi these extra files available for download on the game page, Manual & SpecOps Manual, are also included in the game download.

so save yourself some bytes and just download the game.

[Eleima512]

Actually, yes, I *did* play TIE Fighter and X-Wing, or I wouldn't have quoted them in my review! I stand by what I said though, I still think that those two feel like missions that just pop up one after the other without the gripping storytelling that the Wing Commander's have. Now I like a nice space simulator in which you get blow up bad guys as much as the next gamer, but llike I said, I found myself playing Wing Commander as much for the storytelling as for the flying and hunting for kilraths.

But of course, this is only my review, and of course, my opinion. Its only purpose is to give you a taste of what the game might be like, and make you want to check it out for yourselves, and thus, make your own opinion.