Origin Wing Commander IV Simulation Review

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
1 votes

Price Paid:  $40.00 from Media Play

Summary:
The crudely done interactive movie gets in the way of game play. I don't want to get bogged down watching the actors move through predictable plot action. I knew the character, Vagabond was going to die when I first saw him. And the choices given to the player during the movie sequences have predictable results. Help out the broken down ex-pilot in the bar and he'll help you out later (As if I didn't see that coming). Chris Roberts is in desperate need of a seminar in film making. Just watch tyhe Wing Commander movie.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Summary:
I have played the wing commander series from the beginning. In my opinion there is no other series that compares with the mix of roleplaying and excellent flight simulation. This game caps off a great series it is unfortunate that Chris Roberts left Origin because this ended the saga.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Summary:
This game is nice. Great cinematics, great graphics great gameplay great sound great plot twist. Great everything! The only flaw is it's too short. Great game great strategy a must buy! mark Hamill reprises his role as Col. Christopher Blair very well in this game! All of the characters down to Vagabond are displayed very well. Vag dies which makes me sad but it only fuels your warrant to go on! The pilots don't die in this game but eject except for those that are scripted to die.. which is kind of bad.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Summary:
A wonderful space combat sim, with unbelievable graphics, fabulous sound checks, and an absorbing gameplay.
What's more? It has something that other sims don't. A story. A story that keeps you playing it all the way to the end. It even looks like a movie.
This is undoubtedly the best flight sim ever. Long live the Wing Commander legacy.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Summary:
Although this game is generally viewed as a space simulator, it is something between a simulator and an arcade game.
As with all of the wing commander series, there is a story line. And contrary to most games, here you are able to influence the way the story develops. To achieve this, the game consists of an 'interactive movie' and the simulator/arcade part.The movie parts are just what the name says, movies, recorded in a professional studio with professional actors and a professional script. A small part of these movies are intro and 'in between' sequences but the largest part of these consist of conversations you have with other crew members. To make life interesting, some, if not most, of these conversations stop halfway and you have to make a choice on the way commander Blair (you) is going to react on what just has been told. The results of these choices are not always clear, and they can range from no apparent effect at all to an entire other path in the game. There are several of these major choices, and it is up to you how you want to continue the game. Of course, you can always replay the game and make another choice :) . There are no correct-or-wrong answers for these splits in story line, and Origin has created them all till the end.So you have made your talks, you feel the atmosphere, it is time for some action. Attend a mission briefing and you know what you are up to. Pick a craft based on the mission (quick agile fighter for reckon and intercept, heavy fighter or bomber if there are any enemy capital ships expected) and pick the according weapon loadout. Launch your ship and you are in one of the best high res games I have ever seen. The engine is way better then in Wing Commander III. It is faster and more detailed and it just feels better. To keep some sense of simulation in this basically arcade game, you can configure the power distribution to your weapons, shields, engine and damage repair. As you don't want to get damaged (to get damaged you need to loose all your shields and armour in one of the four segments of your ship) since this means death anyway, power distribution to damage repair is pretty useless. Just redirect it to your weapons and shields.
When you are finished playing with you fighter, launch, hit 'a' (auto) and you are automatically delivered at your next waypoint, which may or may not contain any action. The fighting itself is more or less your average arcade game and requires, above all, good reflexes.Don't get this comment about an arcade game wrong, it is very, very good looking, and the atmosphere is superb. Above all, you still need to think before you enter a battle and make some quick decisions when entering a battle on what to attack and what not to attack (but never ignore).The verdict:
The graphics are superb and very smooth. No doubt about that. On the other hand, I am not overly enthusiastic about the sound. Not that it is bad, but the game just deserves better. On gameplay, ah this is a difficult one, since I have to judge two different things here. The arcadish fighter game deserve a 3 (the excellent graphics in the game are already awarded with a 5). The story and the overall feeling of 'being there' deserve a 5. There aren't many games which can competed with it. It is just to professional and well thought out to get anything less.