Computer Graphics Memory
Minimum: 486DX/33 320x200x256 VGA 8 MB
Max/Rec: Pentium 640x480x256 SVGA 16 MB
Control: Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick
Sound: Music = SBPro, Roland LAPC-1/MT-32/CM-32
Sound = SBPro, Roland LAPC-1/MT-32/CM-32
Notes: Does not utilize math-coprocessor
Requires a double speed CD-ROM
All specifications are tentative
Wing Commander, released in 1990, made popular a specific genre of games. It consists of a combat-flight simulator interspersed with cinematics. It has proved extremely popular, and has been seen in Strike Commander, Wing Commander II, Privateer and the many add-on episodes for these games. The combat simulator runs in 320 by 200 resolution mode. The cinematics are "hand-drawn" with semi-synchronized speech (if a speech pack is installed). The story line is determined by results of combat as well as decision made during the cinematics.
Chris Roberts has decided to take the ambitious jump to take this type of game to the next logical step. Incorporating a higher resolution for the combat and including live action (i.e., with actors). If the blend is smooth enough, it will give Origin a appreciably larger share of a very competitive market. As added ammunition, Origin has hired some "big guns" as actors. Starting down the list; Mark Hamill (of Star Wars fame), John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones movies), Tom Wilson (Back to the Future's Biff), Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show), Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange), Ginger Lynn Allen (Silk Stalkings), and several others. This is rather surprising, in that these actors are taking a risk in an unproven form of media entertainment.
The premise of the game is that you are in the twenty-seventh century as a pilot for the Confederation, a terran based military organization. The opposition is an alien species known as the Kilrathi, a feline, aggressive and expansionistic race. The game should pick up approximately where WING COMMANDER II left off. The main character is reunited with some fellow pilots from the earlier episodes in a final show-down with the Kilrathi, who are driving toward Earth. The progression of the story will depend upon whether you are victorious in combat, and upon decision made in the cinematics (which was a feature not available in WC1 & 2) This determines whether you ultimately win or lose.
There is a possibility that the game will result in a sort-of-win/sort-of- lose ending. The game has had the player fly a variety of ships as the story progresses, and this particular chapter is no different. Each ship type is unique in that it has differing characteristics like weapons, speed, jump-ability, armor, shields, etc. Some are superb, other are dogs. Ship choice by the player will play a significant role in Wing Commander III, as will weapon loadout. This adds to the uncertainty to the already numerous variables in the game.
This is a CD only game, and it has the strictest system requirements to date. It will NOT run (or be playable anyway) on any 386, and an ideal system is a Pentium. It requires at a minimum a double speed CD-ROM, and any other system enhancements (such as VL/PCI video card with extra VRAM) will only help. This is only significant stumbling block that I see, but 486's are so cheap I think that it may not even matter in the long run. It is shipped on two CDs; (ED. - At the time of this publication, the latest news is that this game might increase to *4* CD-ROMs in the box!!) this means you have a game which occupies around a gigabyte of space (on the CD's). In short, I think OSI & Chris Roberts are going to have a winner here -- it is certainly very ambitious (rumored budget is over 4 million dollars) and innovative. It does place rather stringent requirements upon the customer, but the reward is a form of entertainment which has never been experienced before.
This preview is Copyright(C) 1994 by Scott Sumner for Game Bytes Magazine. All Rights Reserved.