Wing Commander IV

Review by Richard Brindley

Name:         Wing Commander IV
By:           Origin/EA   
Format:       CD
Available:    Out now

*Requires*

O/S:          DOS 5.0+
Processor:    486/DX4-75+
RAM:          8MB+
Graphics:     VGA+
CD-Rom:       Double Speed
Soundcard:    All major cards supported

*Tested on*

O/S:          DOS 7.0
Processor:    Pentium 133MHz
RAM:          24Mb
Graphics:     2Mb Matrox Millenium
CD-ROM:       Hitachi IDE Quad Speed
Soundcard:    Soundblaster AWE32
Controls:     MSSidewinder Pro Joystick + Keyboard

The war against the Kilrathi is over. Peace has reigned for many years, and for Colonel Christopher Blair, life has moved on from hero of the Kilrathi Wars to desert farmer. But all is not well...

Increasing reports have been coming in from distant outposts of unprovoked attacks upon civilian and merchant ships by attack forces claiming to be from the Border Worlds - a loose cooperative of the inhabitants of outlying planets and asteroids - and the Federation has had to start looking at gearing up for war. Admiral Tolywn, commander in chief of the Federation Navy has put out a call to arms, and Colonel Blair is being called back to active service.

Now you may think, like me, that reading background intros from manuals is one of the most tedious and onerous tasks known to man. Don't worry - it's all done by WC4 in glorious SVGA FMV with 16-bit CD quality soundtrack in Dolby Surround sound (where permitted). The intros 15 minutes (yes, 15 minutes) has been painstakingly created, and if you're a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, et al, you will be neither bored nor disappointed. The intro re-introduces Col Blair (superbly played by Mark Hamill) to Maniac (Tom Wilson), who is once again playing at Mr. no-good flyboy.

Wait for it, will you, I haven't finished yet (nor has the intro)! In this introductory section you get to grips with the decision-making part of the game (there are distinct and separate threads which are followed depending on choices made in the game, some which converge, and others which result in different endings), get to choose your own characteristics (bloodthirsty bitter veteran or humanitarian "do what's right" sort of person), and get your first background information about the main villain. In addition, you get to re-awaken your piloting skills with a head-to-head against good ol' Maniac and some friendly Border World ambushers. It was reported that WC4 cost over 8 million dollars to make, and it shows in the superb quality of the intro, cut scenes, music and special effects.

But what about the gameplay??

Alright, keep your hair on! The gameplay is really very good indeed. OK, satisfied?

Attention to detail has been paid to every aspect of this game, from the installation up. There were no problems installing under Windows95, and the installation process checked SVGA compatibility and speed, CPU speed, joystick/mouse configuration, sound card installation, the lot. You are given a choice of installations varying in size (0, 12, 16, 36Mb HDD) and obviously the more you install, the faster things load. You do need a ninja PC, however, to run in SVGA 16-bit sound, everything turned on, full-screen video, etc, but if you have the hardware, the result is superb. The combination of the majority of the video footage being shot against real sets using 35mm cameras rather than the usual blue-screen video camera affairs makes a huge difference. With the lights off, a large monitor, and the stereo up loud, you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a big-budget movie rather than playing a game. And I'm sure that this particular facet is something which may well turn a number of people against what is actually a very good game.

At last, I hear you say. Those of you who are familiar with the WC series so far will be unsurprised by the control methods; they have generally not changed since Wing Commander, just undergone some minor additions. As before, the game is mission-based, with the now welcome addition of ground-attack, reconnaissance, and rescue missions being added to the standard fare of space battles. One thing that does make WC4 stand out over previous incarnations, however, is that the space-flight model has been significantly enhanced. Although at first glance it looks pretty much identical to WC3 in the combat scenes, the enemy craft have undergone a major overhaul with regard to graphic quality, especially close-up, and they seem to my amateur eye to conform much more to what I would expect a space craft to be able to do. The most annoying thing about combat in previous versions of WC was the uncanny ability of enemy craft to turn on a dime and start firing at you. There you'd be, sitting on some kitty's tail blasting away, and suddenly the damn thing's turned round and is firing back at you! Referee! It's nice to see that ships have a turning circle nowadays. Some of the missions are damn hard, even in "big girl's blouse" mode, though, so saving before each mission is recommended. Having said this, if you do die in a mission, you have the opportunity to replay it, so saving all the time is not essential.

Before each mission comes the inevitable briefing with the ship's captain, Captain Eisen (Jason Bernard). I'm sure I've seen this guy in things before, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Never mind. Er, where was I? Oh, yes, the mission briefings. Very nice 3D-type "we're here, they're there, and we need to look here and attack them there" sessions abound. Later on in the game, you have the opportunity to plan some of your own strategies in a mini-campaign scenario, and things can get pretty hot quite quickly. After the mission briefings, you have the opportunity to choose your Wingman (Wingperson, actually) or Wing, er, persons for each mission from a pool of pilots. You soon get to know which pilots you want flying with you and which you don't - as in previous incarnations, you have the ability within flight to send messages and orders to Wingmen, and the last thing you need when you've got a bogey on your six is for Maniac to disagree with direct orders to help you out. In addition to Wingmen, you have limited control over ship and ordnance configuration, with a large range of cannon, laser, and missile choices. It is vitally important that you choose the right tools for the job. If you're mission is to take out a Capital Ship, the last thing you need is a fast light fighter with little or no missile power, rather a heavy fighter with bast-bug missiles!

This is what it's all about. Right from the Battlestar Galactica style launch from the mothership, the in-space dynamics are very impressive. A good joystick is essential for this game; the investment pays off in ease of control, and most joysticks, flightsticks, and their derivatives are catered for in the installation screen. Ideally, you should have a 4-button stick with a coolie hat; the coolie hat gives you access to the padlock views without having to press function keys, something which is extremely useful when you don't know where your enemy's coming from. The only down side is that this game eats processor power for breakfast. On the test machine, a P133, with everything turned on the gameplay starts to have its fps count decrease when in heavy combat situations. In addition, it is extremely annoying to shoot a ship and then have to wait half a second for the explosion to load off the CD-ROM, although this doesn't happen often. I found the prequels to WC4 somewhat lacking in something or other during combat; I found the combat in WC4 more akin to that experienced in X-Wing than WCI-3, and that can't be all bad can it? Mind you, I had X-Wing running on a 486sx25 and it was fast, so I guess that faster processors is the price of progress.

Well, it has to be said, there is actually a Plot, and it's interesting. Several times, I hurried through less taxing missions at the start to find out what happens next. Just think of it - movies on Video CD usually come on two CDs. WC4 comes on six! And it's not a case of "forget the quality, feel the width" either; Origin's compression routines have made the PC able to spool full-screen (well, postbox view) video in 16-bit colour and 16-bit stereo at an impressive rate of knots. The test machine was running a quad-speed IDE drive, and I encountered no stutter or slowdown whatsoever. There are some nice plot turns later on as well, and the introduction of new weaponry and new ship technologies throughout the game mean things don't get boring after a while. In fact, if you consider that I spent over 40 hours playing the game before I finished it, and I was playing it for the most part on "don't kill me, I'm a Pussy" mode, you'll get to see that there's a huge amount of game in this movie.

But all I really want to do is play the game.

OK, so hit escape every so often, you'll skip all the FMV. Satisfied?

But is it a game, or a movie?

Yes. Well, it's both. I really enjoyed the movie part; well acted, good cinematography, great special effects, great sound. All in all a good "pro-movie" feel. And I enjoyed the game parts; the combat was varied and exciting, the graphics and sound very well executed. My only moan would be that depending on your mood, each can get in the way on the other. At times, when you're in the middle of a tense battle situation, what you really want to do is get stuck into the next battle. At these times, the "meanwhile, back in the Delta quadrant" stuff can get in your way. At other times, the plot's scurrying along at breakneck pace, and the last thing you want is "bandits have been spotted in this sector, go and polish them off before you can carry on". All in all, though, the different aspects gel well into an overall gaming experience.

Is it worth the six CDs, the quad-speed CD-ROM and the P90?

Yes. It's a very good, very well designed and implemented game/movie, Movie/game, whatever. The variety of missions and weaponry combined with the superb FMV sections and pumping soundtrack make it a very satisfying experience. Oh, and Jason Bernard was in Herman's Head, apparently. No, I'm no wiser either, but there you go.

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Rating: 8/10 (Recommended)
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