Wing Commander (franchise)
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Wing Commander | |
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Space flight simulator | |
Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
Publisher(s) | Origin Systems Electronic Arts |
Creator(s) | Chris Roberts |
First release | Wing Commander September 1990[1] |
Latest release | Wing Commander Arena July 25, 2007 |
Wing Commander is a
Setting and gameplay
Set in the 27th century, the games tell the story of humanity's war against the Kilrathi, an alien species of large
The player represents the Terran Confederation, the primary human government in the Wing Commander series. The Terran Confederation is an alliance of systems and regional governments which provide unified protection and economic growth. Launching from carrier ships, the player fulfills various missions in space fighter aircraft. The games were all notable for their storytelling through extensive cutscenes. Starting with Wing Commander III, every game (excluding Secret Ops) contained cutscenes that incorporated live action filming, starring several major Hollywood actors, including John Rhys-Davies, Mark Hamill, Thomas F. Wilson and Malcolm McDowell, as well as Christopher Walken, John Hurt, and Clive Owen in Privateer 2: The Darkening.
Games
1990 | Wing Commander |
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1991 | Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi |
1992 | |
1993 | Wing Commander Academy |
Wing Commander: Privateer | |
1994 | Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger |
Wing Commander: Armada | |
Super Wing Commander | |
1995 | |
1996 | Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom |
Privateer 2: The Darkening | |
1997 | Wing Commander: Prophecy |
1998 | |
1999 | |
2000 | |
2001 | |
2002 | |
2003 | |
2004 | |
2005 | |
2006 | |
2007 | Wing Commander Arena |
The Wing Commander game series began in 1990 with Wing Commander. The newest addition to the series, Wing Commander Arena, was released for the Xbox Live Arcade service on July 25, 2007.
Wing Commander
The player begins his tour of duty as a young space fighter pilot on the carrier the TCS Tiger's Claw. The player can set this character's name and callsign in the first games in the franchise. As of Wing Commander 3, the protagonist is given the canonical name
Originally announced as Squadron, the name was changed to Wingleader shortly into development; however, trademark issues forced a name change to Wing Commander at the last moment. The development team's nickname for the otherwise-unnamed protagonist was "Bluehair", due to his unusual shade of hair. Perhaps in a nod to this in-joke, when the character was given an actual name in later installments, Origin chose "Blair", a shortened version of the old nickname. Wing Commander was ported to the
In 1991, Wing Commander won the
The Secret Missions
A new Kilrathi secret weapon destroys the Terran colony of Goddard. In retribution, the Confederation plans a daring raid, Operation
The Secret Missions was ported to the
The Secret Missions 2: Crusade
When the Confederation is just celebrating a new alliance with the bird-like native species of the planet Firekka, they learn that entire fleets of Kilrathi ships are leaving from other sectors and heading towards the Firekka system. Concerned, but massively outnumbered, the Confederation ships must retreat, but they soon learn from a Kilrathi
The Secret Missions 2: Crusade was ported to the FM Towns.
Super Wing Commander
In 1994, a revamped version of the original Wing Commander, entitled Super Wing Commander (SWC), was released for the 3DO. It featured new graphics, full speech and included a Secret Missions 1.5 campaign (between the original campaigns 1 and 2) with a follow-up to Thor's Hammer in which the Claw destroys the Kilrathi shipyards that constructed the Sivar.
Super Wing Commander was ported to the Macintosh in 1995.[3]
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
Shortly after the Firekka campaign, the Tiger's Claw attempts to attack the Kilrathi headquarters in the Enigma sector, but is ambushed by new Kilrathi "Strakha" stealth fighters and is lost. No one but Blair sees these fighters, so they are dismissed as an excuse to cover his cowardice. He is scapegoated for the loss of the Claw, is demoted to captain and transferred to a backwater space station. Ten years later, he is called back into action when he is able to save the Confederation's flagship, the TCS Concordia. Meeting many old friends there, he continues the fight against the Kilrathi, finally culminating in the destruction of their sector HQ, thus clearing his name and uncovering a traitor on the Concordia's flight decks, who was the mastermind behind the ambush and destruction of the Tiger's Claw.
Wing Commander II was ported to the FM Towns. In 1992, it won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1991.
Special Operations 1
Blair is transferred to the undercover Special Operations division, supporting Kilrathi colonies that are defecting from the Empire. But first he must solve the problem of a mutiny on a Confed cruiser.
Special Operations 2
Jazz, the traitor from Wing Commander II, has fled imprisonment and the Mandarin (the society of traitors) are also able to steal some of the Confederation's newest top-secret fighters. Blair must hunt them down and face Jazz in one final showdown.
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
The war is going very badly for the Confederation, far worse than what the public (or the player) generally knows. Battles are lost on all fronts, casualties are mounting, and the Concordia is destroyed. Colonel
Wing Commander III was the first game in the series to use
Wing Commander III was ported to the PlayStation, Macintosh and the 3DO.[4]
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
The war with the Kilrathi is over, but not all is well within the Confederation. Skirmishes in the Border Worlds destroy ships regularly. Both Confed and the Union of Border Worlds assign blame to each other and the skirmishes threaten to lead to all-out war. Blair is soon recalled to active duty and sent to the Border Worlds to confirm Confed's determination. But he finds out that a conspiracy of war-mongers with members in the highest Confed circles are responsible for the attacks. Defecting to the Border Worlds, Blair must expose the conspiracy to help restore the peace in a galaxy still torn over the events of the Kilrathi-Terran War.
The Price of Freedom retained the storytelling-style of its predecessor, using live-action cutscenes with an ensemble cast of actors. Many of the actors from Wing Commander III returned to reprise their roles. The story's final sequence was innovative in that dialogue choices made by the player affected the outcome of the hearing. However, only three endings were possible, and two of the outcomes depended on the earlier choices made by the player.
Wing Commander IV was ported to the PlayStation and Mac OS. To owners of the original MS-DOS version, Origin made available a Windows 95 DirectX port, free of charge.
Wing Commander: Prophecy
Peace has finally come to the Confederation, or so it seems. Still remaining vigilant, they commission the new megacarrier TCS Midway, which is soon needed when Kilrathi worlds are attacked by an enemy whose coming was foretold in ancient Kilrathi prophecies. The insectoid enemy, codenamed the Nephilim, soon begin attacking Confed space and the Midway is called in to stop their advance. As young hotshot pilot
As did Wing Commander IV, Prophecy incorporated live-action cutscenes with actors.[5] Prophecy was ported to the Game Boy Advance.
Wing Commander: Secret Ops
The Nephilim return, this time much closer to Earth. Transferred to the cruiser TCS Cerberus, Casey and his wingmates must repel the invasion once again.
Secret Ops was an experiment in game distribution. It was at first only available as a free download. In regular intervals, new episodes were released, each featuring several new missions with the storyline told through in-game cutscenes. The game was later available in a collection together with Prophecy, and sold as Prophecy Gold.
Spin-offs
Wing Commander Academy
A game where the player could build their own missions using ships from Wing Commander II.
Wing Commander: Privateer
Set in the border regions of Confederation space, the player takes control of a privateer (in Wing Commander, a "privateer" is a mercenary spacer) who may profit by trading, performing various missions, or pirating. Meanwhile, an ancient alien spaceship has been awakened and is on the loose, attacking ships at random, and the player-controlled privateer may be the Confederation's only hope in defeating it.
This game featured completely open-ended gameplay, with the player able to completely ignore the main storyline if they so desired.
Righteous Fire
When the player's priceless Steltek Gun is stolen, he embarks on a quest that will bring him into conflict with the Luddite-like Church of Man and their shady leader, Mordecai Jones.
Wing Commander Armada
Armada featured both an action and a strategy game mode and several multiplayer options. The game was ported to the
Proving Grounds
This add-on for Armada added numerous new features such as a new "arcade"-mode with powerups, radar-obscuring asteroids, and several new multiplayer options, including
The Kilrathi Saga
Kilrathi Saga was a limited-edition reissue of the first three Wing Commander games (Wing Commander, Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi, and Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger).
Kilrathi Saga also featured complete digital re-orchestrations of the original two soundtracks by George Oldziey, but the Saga did not include the Secret Missions and Special Operations packs of the first two games. The packs were instead made available for download on the Origin website. Due to the add-on packs not being on the CDs there is a bug that causes some music to not be played during animated sequences in the add-ons.
Privateer 2: The Darkening
Privateer 2 was launched in late 1996 by Erin Roberts.[8]
The game features live-action video scenes, directed by Steve Hilliker. The cast included Clive Owen, Mathilda May, Jürgen Prochnow, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Brian Blessed and Amanda Pays. Dani Behr voiced the onboard computer, also named Dani. The game also featured David Warner, and Jürgen Prochnow, who later played Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn and Commander Paul Gerald, respectively, in the Wing Commander feature film. The filming was done at Pinewood Studios in England.
Set in a remote region of the Wing Commander universe in the Tri-System Confederation (a three system government that has almost three thousand-year history of its own parallel to the Terran Confederation history), a cargo ship Canera is attacked during landing and crashes into Mendra City on planet Crius in the year 2790 of the Tri-System calendar (the calendar appears to be longer than a Terran year with months that are about 40 days each). One survivor, As Lev Arris,
Wing Commander Arena
Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Gaia Industries revived the Wing Commander franchise with a downloadable release on Xbox Live Arcade called Wing Commander Arena. Dogfights take place in one of nine environments, and pilots are able to choose from 18 ships. There can be up to 16 players in a single match. The title was released on July 25, 2007. It is set chronologically after Wing Commander Prophecy Gold, and background information is included in the digital Star*Soldier manual.
Canceled games
Alien Commander
Around 1993, Warren Spector developed a pitch for a science fiction game called Alien Commander, which would be set in the Wing Commander universe. A concept document was produced, however the project was scrapped in favour of proceeding with System Shock.[9]
Privateer 3
Origin aborted several attempts to continue the Privateer franchise between 1995 and 2003, by either developing a sequel (Privateer 3) or an online game (Privateer or Wing Commander Online). Only one of these was formally announced.[10][11][12] The March 1998 issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus featured a cover story on Privateer 3. Origin confirmed that development of the game had been canceled shortly after the magazine was published.
Strike Team
Wing Commander: Strike Team was a planned sequel to Wing Commander: Secret Ops which focused on multiplayer gameplay. The title was officially announced in an EAUK promotional publication but was canceled early in development.
Novels
Several novels based on the games have been released by
Television series
Wing Commander Academy is a 13-episode animated series that originally aired on the USA Network between September 21 and December 21, 1996. The series is set before and during the events of the first game and features many familiar ships and characters. The cast featured Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, and Malcolm McDowell reprising their Wing Commander game roles.
Film
In 1999, Wing Commander hit the
Collectible card game
Mag Force 7 | |
Players | 2 |
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Playing time | approx 10 min. |
Chance | Some |
Skills | Card playing arithmetics |
The Wing Commander: Collectible card game was an effort to combine the franchise's rising fortunes with the rising interest in card games, as Magic: The Gathering was revolutionizing gaming centers the world over. The collectible card game (CCG) was based exclusively on the WC3 intellectual license and contains no characters found elsewhere.
The game supports two players, one as the Kilrathi Empire and one as the Terran Confederation (rules modifications may be made to allow teams of players instead). In the pre-game phase, players set out five "Nav Point" cards in an X pattern, with a Terran and Kilrathi carrier at either end (to form a hexagon). During gameplay, players may deploy fighters, and then deploy pilots and equipment upon those fighters. Every card has its own "Power Point" cost; players start with 30 Power Points and gain two each turn. The designers recommend pencil and paper for the keeping-track of Power Points. Finally, certain cards feature "Medals", which also feature as a resource, as some elite cards require the "tapping" of Medal-bearing cards to deploy.
Fighters, with pilots and secondary armaments potentially attached, move among the nav points, fighting with each other and attacking the enemy carrier. During combat, either player may play "Maneuver" cards to fortify their fighters (assuming the targeted craft has a high enough Maneuver statistic) or "Battle Damage" cards to cripple their enemies; both have Power Point costs. Attacks are then resolved by comparison of the aggressor's Attack value with the defender's Defense value (with Support values from allied ships augmenting as appropriate). Each card lost results in the loss of one Power Point as well. There are two ways to win: to destroy the enemy carrier (with the successful use of Torpedo cards) or to reduce the opponent's Power Point pool to zero.
References
- ^ "The Figures". The Wing Commander Universe Bible. Origin Systems: 8. February 5, 1995.
- ^ "Origins Game Fair Awards 1990". June 4, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
- ^ "Super Wing Commander". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
- ^ "Wing Commander III". www.origin.ea.com. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30.
- ^ "Wing Commander IV". www.origin.ea.com. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30.
- ^ "Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga". www.origin.ea.com. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30.
- ^ "The Kilrathi Saga - Maximum PC". Maximum PC. October 2004. p. 104. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
- ^ "Privateer 2". www.origin.ea.com. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30.
- ^ "40 years and I'm still here".
- ^ "The Grand Daddy of Privateer 3 Concepts". wcnews.com. 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
we have an exciting new Privateer 3 document available! [...] Historically speaking, this is the first Privateer 3 proposal, put together by the Loose Cannon team during the development of Wing Commander Prophecy in 1997. This version of the game is very different from the Privateer 3: Retribution story and concept you may be familiar with.
- ^ "Privateer 3 Pitch Document Restored". wcnews.com. 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
- ^ "Document Archive: Privateer 3 Pitch". wcnews.com. 2013-08-11. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
This glossy pitch for Privateer 3 was crafted in 2000 for the eyes of Electronic Arts executives. Printed in full color, this massive document was signed by the entire team. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to convince EA that the team with ten years of space combat experience was a better match for building an online space game than the team responsible for Command and Conquer.