Wing Commander 2

Wing Commander II - Vengeance of the Kilrathi
Studio	Origin Systems
Publisher	Origin Systems
Senior Developer	Chris Roberts
Erstveröffent- lichung	1991
platform	PC ( DOS )
genre	Space flight simulation
Game mode	Single player
control	Joystick , game controller
system advantages preconditions	CPU : 286/12 MHz 587 KB of RAM 15 MB free hard disk space VGA graphics with 256 colors
medium	3.5 ″ diskette , CD-ROM , download
language	English German
Age rating	USK

Wing Commander II - Vengeance of the Kilrathi is a space action simulation in the Wing Commander series by Origin Systems . It was released a year after its predecessor in 1991, exclusively for DOS . As before, Chris Roberts was largely responsible for the development of the game . For Wing Commander II, he put the emphasis on telling an interactive story. The game continues the story of the player character from the first part. In the defensive battle against the Kilrathi, it is necessary to locate the secret location of the Kilrathi headquarters in the Enigma sector. In addition to the aggressors, however, an unknown saboteur and spy among the occupation threatens the success of the mission.

action

After the first conflict with the Kilrathi, the "Tiger's Claw" 2656 operates in the Enigma sector and is planning a campaign to track down and destroy the secret Kilrathi space base "K'tithrak Mang". But she falls victim to an attack by a new type of stealth hunter . Only a few previously assigned pilots escape destruction. The player character, whose name can be determined by the player as in the predecessor - in later parts he is canonically identified as Christopher "Maverick" Blair - survived because he was on patrol at the time of the attack. But Admiral Tolwyn is of the opinion that he is a traitor and therefore responsible for the destruction of the carrier. When he refuses to sign a voluntary resignation, he is unceremoniously demoted and transferred to a remote outpost to hold the guard. In 2665 he has almost forgotten his past as a flying ace when Kilrath hunters appear in the sector and bring the "TCS Concordia", Tolwyn's flagship, involved in a battle of retreat, to the brink of annihilation. By rescuing the carrier, the player's character achieves his re-admission to active pilot service and is transferred to the “Concordia”.

On board the “Concordia” Blair meets old friends such as the pilots Jeannette “Angel” Devereaux, Mariko “Spirit” Tanaka, Zachary “Jazz” Colson or the defected Kilrathi Ralgha “Hobbes” nar Hhallas (see plot of the add-on Wing Commander - The Secret Missions 2 ). Angel and the player character get closer in the course of the game. The further action of the game revolves around the search for the space station "K'tithrak Mang", the new stealth technology of the Kilrathi and a traitor in the ranks of the "Concordia" crew who sabotaged the carrier's operation several times. Because although the player character encounters stealth hunters several times in the course of the campaign, he is unable to provide any evidence for his claims for a long time due to the destruction or malfunction of his flight recorder . In the course of the game, Jazz finally turns out to be the traitor who defends himself for the failure of the "Tiger's Claw" to save the Goddard colony from the Kilrathi attack (see plot of the add-on Wing Commander - The Secret Missions ), who also fell victim to his brother, who wants to take revenge on everyone involved. In the course of the missions, the player character can finally prove the existence of the stealth hunters, find the location of "K'tithrak Mang" and destroy the station in the game's finale. He also defeats Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka, who ultimately escapes alive.

In addition to this canonical end, there is an alternative end scenario with poor player performance, after which the "Concordia" jumps back into the Gwynedd system and destroys a large attack fleet that has set course for the solar system. "K'tithrak Mang" is not destroyed in this case.

Gameplay

See also : The game principle of Wing Commander

Wing Commander II largely corresponds to its predecessor in terms of play and technology. However, the game relies much more on the narration of a continuous plot than the first part. This eliminates the branched mission tree of the predecessor in favor of a linear script with little freedom of choice. Wing pilots can no longer die in combat, but rather use the ejection seat in the event of extreme damage. Exceptions are staged kills as part of the script. The promotions and awards as in the predecessor have also been removed from the game.

In the case of the space fighters, only one type was adopted from the predecessor. Instead, four new fighter types have been added, including a so-called bomber with three gun stations, which can also be operated by the player in battle. Torpedoes and so-called chaff pods were added to the armament. The latter serve to defend against enemy missiles, while torpedoes are the only effective weapon of attack against capital ships or space stations.

development

Wing Commander II was advertised as an interactive film, a designation that was retained for the subsequent parts. Roberts was already concerned with an even stronger staging of a film-like plot.

“With the first game we had ideas about real characters and cinematic conventions, but the story arc and character development were pretty basic. Based on the success of WC1 we realized we could exploit the medium to take the story to another level - essentially tell a good old-fashioned space opera inside the game. That's what we set out to do with WC2. "

“For the first game, we had ideas for real characters and movie conventions, but the story arc and character development were very simple. However, based on the success of Wing Commander I, we realized we could use the medium more extensively to take the plot to a new level - mainly to tell a good old space opera within the game. That was what we had set ourselves as a goal for Wing Commander II. "

- Chris Roberts

Origin had revamped the engine again, which, however, required significantly more computing power than the first part. The game was originally shipped on 14 3.5 " floppy disks or seven 3.5" HD floppy disks . The most noticeable new functionality was the option, available separately, so-called Speech Accessory Pack , to optionally replace the screen text in the game and the cutscenes with digital voice output. However, in this case the subtitles were hidden.

The cutscenes were generated with the help of the rotoscopy method. The recordings were made with a camcorder , with Origin employees acting as a movement double. The recordings were then painted over by hand using Deluxe Paint . The music for the second part was also from George Alistair "The Fatman" Sanger .

reception

Wing Commander II was rated as a good continuation of its predecessor and received very good ratings. The long installation times from floppy disks, which could amount to 1.5 to 2 hours depending on the hardware performance, were particularly negative. Because of the spoken dialog, Wing Commander became a key selling point for Creative Labs ' Sound Blaster audio card.

Evaluation table PC

• ASM 12/91: 10 of 12

• PC Joker 6/91: 86%

• Power Play 12/91: 83%

• Computer Gaming World 11/91

• Dragon Magazine 01/92: 5 of 6

• PC Plus 12/91: 5 out of 5

Add-ons

Special Operations 1

The first expansion contains 16 missions with a separate storyline and appeared in the same year as the main game. The player character is transferred together with "Hobbes" to the Special Operations Division under the direction of his former pilot colleague James "Paladin" Taggart to support the renegade colony of Gorah'Khar and several other rebellious planets in their independence efforts. The experimental and heavily armed fighter-bomber "Crossbow" is used for the first time. The character Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky is also introduced, who plays a leading role in several later Wing Commander novels . Ultimately, the Federation succeeds in protecting the renegade colonies from the attacks of the Empire. The player character also kills Khasra "Redclaw" nar Kiranka, a cousin of Prince Trakath and leader of the attacks on Gorah'Khar. But by concentrating the confederation on the area around the Kilrathi colony, the Kilrathi under Prince Trakath succeed in conquering the confederation headquarters in the Deneb sector and decisively weakening the confederation forces in this area.

Special Operations 2

The second expansion also consists of 16 missions and a new, independent storyline. It was released in 1992. Zachary “Jazz” Colson, the traitor exposed in the base game, is sentenced to death and his prisoner transporter “Bastille” is escorted by the player character. However, the "Bastille" is attacked by a human faction, the Mandarins, and Colson is freed. The mandarins are Confederate apostates supported by the Kilrathi. They manage to steal the prototype of a new fighter named "Morningstar", which they intend to hand over to the Kilrathi. The player goes on the hunt for the traitors, destroys the base of the Mandarins and finally defeats Colson in the last mission. Despite the player's success in fighting the renegades, the Confederation loses control of the Deneb sector to the Kilrathi.

Web links

• Archived Origin website for the Wing Commander series (March 30, 1997) ( Memento of March 30, 1997 on the Internet Archive )
• Wing Commander series at MobyGames (English)
• Wing Commander News . Extensive archive for the Wing Commander series.
• German-speaking forum with current news reports, an extensive database and download area for all things Wing Commander

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Dennis Scimeca: The History of Wing Commander: Part One ( English ) In: G4TV . NBCUniversal . August 10, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Guido Alt: Wing Commander 2 . (Article scan) In: Current software market . No. 12/1991, December 1991.
3. ^ Richie Shoemaker: Games That Changed The World: Wing Commander . (Article scan) In: PC Zone . No. Games That Changed The World, Vol. 1, pp. 18-21.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Carsten Borgmeier: Wing Commander Deluxe Edition . (Article scan) In: PC Joker . No. 02/1991, February 1991.
5. ↑ Allen Varney: In Spaaaace! Wing Leader ( English ) In: The Escapist . Themis Media. July 18, 2006. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
6. ↑ PC Games Database: Wing Commander II - Press Review . Retrieved April 2, 2012
7. ^ Alan Emrich: Sequel Sans Equal: Reviewing the World of Wing Commander II . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 88, November 1991, pp. 30-35.
8. ↑ Hartley Lesser, Patricia Lesser, Kirk Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon Magazine . No. 166, January 1992, pp. 57-66.
9. ↑ John Minson: Wing Commander II . (Article scan) In: PC Plus . December 1991, p. 307.
10. ^ Wing Commander . www.origin.ea.com. March 30, 1997. Archived from the original on March 30, 1997. Retrieved July 30, 2011.