The war between the Humans and Kilrathi can now be more than just a hot shot pilot fulfilling an assignment. Any war requires strategy- determining which ships go to which battle, and when. Wing Commander Armada provides this new level of interaction with a vengeance.
For the first time, players will merge their space combat abilities with strategic responsibility as they personally pilot the ships they've assigned to take on a variety of missions. From quadrant maps and information provided by recon ships, the player plans an expansion of his or her fleet and weighs a ship's ability to succeed against the available resources . At the end of each decision lies a battle....and you lead the wing.
In designing this game, we listened to what you, the player, asked for- multi-player head-to-head action with the element of strategy involved in conquering a galaxy. Beginning with just a single carrier in an unknown part of the universe, each player must explore the system, seeking planets rich in resources with which to build either a mining station, a defense fortress, or a ship construction facility. The player mines materials from planets, transports stockpiles by cargo ships or redirects materials for use in the current planet's shipyards. Resources gathered for constructing new spacecraft continue the cycle of exploration and combat as each player strives to build and maintain a fleet to take and hold territories. The universe is randomly generated each game, allowing for an infinite variety of paths to reach that final showdown.
Wing Commander Armada does not limit the player to a strategy game where the computer makes all enemy decisions. It incorporates head-to-head action and suspense as well. The multi-player aspect of the game includes three different options: modem, network and a new split screen view that allows two players to compete on the same computer. Throughout the course of the Human-Kilrathi War, we have received some complaints regarding the fact that you never get to play the Kilrathi. Here's your chance.
Being one of the first in a line of multi-player products from ORIGIN, we wanted to make sure that the game would appeal to not only the die hard Wing Commander fan, but also to the strategy gamer. With this in mind we started with a simple concept and added to it a multitude of options that would make all other space flight sims dim by comparison. In addition to having a fun game we wanted to ensure that as many people as possible could play. This meant it would need to run fairly well on a 386/33 and a 2400 baud modem. With this hurdle out of the way we concentrated on other things like a wide variety of sound card support, including GUS and General Midi.
Unlike previous multi-player games, Wing Commander Armada utilizes a next generation 3D engine complete with fully textured, light--source shaded objects. Some of the many, new features include the "Invisible Cockpit" that gives the player a larger viewing area, actual 3D shields that protect your ship from the inevitable onslaught, an intuitive "Starmap" navigation/deployment interface, and a "TauntMaker" option in which the user can customize digital taunts with other players. External camera angles, dynamic music and digital sound effects add to the depth of the experience.
With Armada, ORIGIN continues to bring the highest quality of gameplay to the players.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1994 by Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.