Wing Commander 4

Wing Commander IV - The Price of Freedom
Studio	Origin Systems
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Senior Developer	Chris Roberts
Erstveröffent- lichung	February 9, 1996 (DOS / Mac) June 1997 (PSone) December 22, 2009 (PS3 / PSP)
platform	DOS , Win , Mac OS , PSone , PS3 , PSP
Game engine	RealSpace
genre	Space flight simulation , interactive film
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse & keyboard , joystick , game controller
system advantages preconditions	OS : MS-DOS 5.0+ CPU : 486 RAM : 8 MB Graphics: VGA with 256 colors Sound card (optional General MIDI ) 2x CD-ROM drive Free hard disk space : 11 MB
medium	CD-ROM , download
language	German
Age rating	USK

Wing Commander IV - The Price of Freedom is a space action simulation by Origin Systems from 1996. It is still the last part of the series of the same name , which was created under the direction of the series creator Chris Roberts . Like its immediate predecessor , the game relies on the staging of its action through real-film acting sequences. The plot forms an epilogue to the previous Kilrathi trilogy. After the victory over the archenemy, the federation finds itself in a phase of political reorientation. Tensions between the core worlds of the federation and its outer worlds grow ever greater, which ultimately lead to a new war. Colonel Christopher "Maverick" Blair is therefore being taken out of his retirement and put back into active flight service. The game was released for DOS - and Windows - PC , Mac OS and PlayStation .

action

The Price of Freedom , the subtitle of the game, alludes to a quote from the character Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn in the course of the plot. It reads completely:

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"

This is a variation on a quote by Wendell Phillips that is often incorrectly attributed to US President Thomas Jefferson :

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"

"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."

It corresponds to the main theme of the game. The plot of the fourth part is again largely linear with a fixed end goal, but branches out prominently at one point in the course of the game and briefly offers two equivalent alternative paths, which soon come together again to form a solution. In the further course of the game there are further, short options with a certain influence on the outcome of the game.

In 2673 the war with the Kilrathi was about four years ago. After a long period of peace, however, a war is emerging between the main worlds of the Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds. The tensions are fueled not least by the attack on an unarmed ambulance, which was destroyed with the help of a previously unknown weapon. There are no survivors who could identify the attackers; both parties blame each other. The Confederation Council has to decide whether to declare war on the Frontier Worlds. Admiral Tolwyn is instructed by the council to investigate the situation and, with its report, to provide the council with a basis for its decision. From this Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall receives the order to bring Colonel Christopher "Maverick" Blair back from his early retirement into active flight service. Meanwhile, he tries to spend his old age as a farmer on a desert planet, but decides to follow Tolwyn's call. He and Maniac are transferred to the "TCS Lexington", which is under the command of Captain William Eisen. Winston "Vagabond" Chang is another character from Wing Commander III among the crew.

Colonel Blair is tasked with finding evidence of the Frontier Worlds guilt, but is unable to discover any. Meanwhile, Eisen is replaced by Captain Hugh Paulsen as commander without giving any reason, Blair is increasingly pushed to a siding and condemned to patrol flight. Depending on how the player acts, he may encounter inconsistencies on board the "Lexington" that he cannot explain. A little later, Paulsen and Vagabond commissioned him to find a deserter who wanted to overrun to the border worlds. This deserter turns out to be William Eisen, who is escorted by Maniac. Eisen speaks of a conspiracy of warmongers within the Confederation as the reason for his flight and tries to get Vagabond and Maverick to switch sides as well. Vagabond decides to join Irons, while at this point the player has to decide for themselves how to behave:

• If he decides against deserting, he has to fight Vagabond, who tries to protect Eisen and Maniac from him. After having to kill his old comrade, Maverick returns to the ship while Eisen and Maniac escape. Meanwhile, the crew of the carrier ship is growing by a new group of pilots. Among them is "Seether", a highly talented aviator, but also cold and unscrupulous. After a few missions, the "Lexington" is the target of an attack by the Grenzwelten. The attack is led by Maniac, who tells Maverick to change sides one more time. At this point the player must agree or the game will end with Maverick's death. Together with Maniac, Maverick destroys the “Lexington” and goes on board the Grenzwelten carrier ship “BWS Intrepid”, which is now under the command of Iron.
• If the player has already decided to overflow while Eisens escape, he will experience the circumstances of Eisen's arrival and assumption of command on the "Intrepid" instead. He conducts some reconnaissance missions with the aim of gathering information about the conspirators.

The two storylines then reunite and the storyline again follows a mostly predetermined course of action. Blair gathers more evidence of a conspiracy and it is suspected that the pilot Seether is behind the attacks. Eisen leaves the "Intrepid" for Earth, giving Blair command of the ship. In the further course, Blair finally comes across the traces of the secret military unit of the "Black Lance", whose operations are actually led by Seether. Blair learns the secret location of their operations center and eventually reveals that the "Black Lance" are under the command of Admiral Tolwyn. Armed with sufficient evidence, Maverick pushes the "Intrepid" towards Earth to present it to the Confederation Council. In a final battle in space he first destroys the Federation's new major carrier, the "TCS Vesuvius", and then defeats Seether in a hand-to-hand fight.

The conclusion was a longer film passage in front of the Confederation Council, in which the player has to make certain decisions at several points. These are ultimately decisive for the positive outcome of the game. Blair arrives in the Chamber as Tolwyn, recently promoted to Space Marshal, presents his supposed evidence of Frontier Worlds warmongering. After a verbal battle between Blair and Tolwyn, a council vote takes place, which in a positive, canonical case leads to the declaration of war being rejected. In this case, Tolwyn is arrested for his offenses and sentenced to death by a court. He eventually evades execution by suicide in his cell. The progress of Blair's career is shown in the form of a film sequence and in this case is decided on the basis of the game successes (number of failed missions) and the various decisions made by the player in advance. If the player cannot convince in the final, Blair will alternatively be appointed and the process will be started.

Gameplay

See also : The game principle of the predecessor

In terms of play, Wing Commander IV differed little from its predecessor. While the film sequences were expanded and shot with greater effort, the gameplay that has been prevalent since the first part remained unchanged. Wing Commander IV is based on the optimized program code of its predecessor and did not add any significant new functions to the simulation part of the game. With the later assumption of command on board the Intrepid, in addition to control over wing pilots, ship type and armament, the player also had the option of choosing between different missions. In addition, there were increasingly smaller decision-making options in the context of cutscenes, which can influence the behavior of characters towards the character or have an impact on the equipment. A floor plan of the ship that could be called up at any time on board the carrier made it possible to switch between the individual ship's rooms more quickly. Colored markings on the plan highlighted the necessary and optional interlocutors before the next mission start. The cockpit view of the flight missions has been abolished and completely replaced by the first person view .

development

production

Although series creator Chris Roberts originally considered the series with Wing Commander III to be completed, he was asked by Origins parent company Electronic Arts to develop another game to make up for an expected loss of revenue for the group elsewhere. Roberts agreed, but only received a relatively short period of one year for implementation. For this he received a significantly larger budget, the production costs ultimately amounted to twelve million US dollars. Since it was not possible to program a new graphics engine during this period, the focus of development was on optimizing the existing program code, the game content and the narrative. Instead of relying exclusively on blue screen technology, as in the previous version , the film sequences for Wing Commander IV were recorded with 35 mm film in the Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood / Los Angeles and over 40 film sets were created for this . Among other things, this allowed the use of different camera angles and effects such as smoke. The directing work was again done by Roberts himself, the actors Mark Hamill , Malcolm McDowell , John Rhys-Davies , Tom Wilson and Jason Bernard returned to their roles. Roberts spent several months on the set of filming while the actual programming work at Origin in Austin was done without his direct involvement.

Mainly the space flight was optimized, while the maximum screen resolution was increased and the textures improved. The ground missions in particular came up with a greater variety of details than before. In the conception of the new plot, Roberts relied on an adult theme that should differ from the comparatively simple good / bad scheme of the predecessor. In addition, the player should have more choices than in the predecessor. When asked whether Wing Commander IV was a movie or a game, Chris Roberts replied in an interview with the UK game magazine PC Zone while filming:

“Well, I think it's best described as a story. The Wing Commander games were always stories, this is just better told. Sure, it borrows bits from different genres: film, adventure and space shoot'em up, but it's not any one type of game. What we've tried to do is take the best elements of each and blend them together to make something really extra special. "

"Well, I think it's best described as a story. The Wing Commander games were always stories, this one is just better told. Sure, it borrows from different genres: film, adventure, and space shoot'em'up, but it's not any particular type of game. We tried to take the best elements from each area and mix them together so that something really special emerges. "

- Chris Roberts : Interview in PC Zone 10/1995

Wing Commander IV was with six CDs (limited edition with a DVD) more of an interactive film than a classic action game and, like its predecessor, was advertised as such. In addition to the PC, the game was also ported to the Macintosh and a year later to the Sony Playstation. In addition, a single-sided PC-DVD edition was released identical to the CD version, and later a double-sided DVD with extras was also released. The DVD-ROM Edition from 1997 contained the video cutscenes in full DVD quality. However, since most PCs at that time did not have enough power to decode and play MPEG-2 DVD videos in software, the game relied on an included hardware decoder card. The dependence on this specific card makes this version of the game incompatible with non-Windows PCs without this card. However, the gaming community later developed a fan patch that allows the game to be used with current PC hardware and without the MPEG decoder card. There was also another DVD release with video sequences in reduced quality, which could be used on all PCs that could handle the CD version.

Blair's callsign "Maverick" was not yet known during filming (it wasn't clearly confirmed until 1996 in Wing Commander Academy (TV series) ), so it is never mentioned in the game. While all pilots are usually addressed by their callsigns (Maniac, Hawk, Panther, Catscratch, Vagabond), Blair is always mentioned in dialogues by his normal name. The first time the player clicks on the main terminal, they will be prompted to enter a "code name". If he now enters "Maverick", this callsign will appear next to the other pilots on the killboard, and it will also be visible when a wingman is selected. However, the player is free to choose which callsign he gives Blair.

Re-release

In April 2012, Wing Commander IV was republished on GOG.com as a digital distribution . This is the version with the videos in DVD quality and a download size of more than 6 GB. The same version is also available on Origin .

Source code

First page of the Wing Commander IV source code given to the wcnews.com community.

The source code of Wing Commander 4 , believed to have been lost due to the dissolution of Origin Systems , was made available to the fan community in April 2012 by a former developer in order to prevent permanent loss via long-term archiving .

occupation

role	actor	Voice actor
Christopher "Maverick" Blair	Mark Hamill	Frank Röth
Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn	Malcolm McDowell	Jürgen Jung
James "Paladin" Taggart	John Rhys-Davies	Manfred Erdmann
Todd "Maniac" Marshall	Tom Wilson	Jan Odle
Captain William Eisen	Jason Bernard	Fred Klaus
Winston "Vagabond" Chang	François Chau	Claus Brockmeyer
"Seether"	Robert Rusler	Michael Schernthaner
Jacob "Hawk" Manley	Chris Mulkey	Reinhard Brock
Tamara "Panther" Farnsworth	Elizabeth Barondes	Maria Boehme
Troy "Catscratch" Carter	Mark Dacascos	Manou Lubowski
Velina Sosa	Holly Gagnier	Claudia Lössl
Lt. Col. Gash Dekker	Jeremy Roberts	Thomas Rauscher
Chief Engineer Robert 'Pliers' Sykes	Richard Riehle	Norbert Gastell
Vice Admiral Daniel Wilford	Peter Jason	Willi Roebke
Capt. Hugh Paulsen	John Spencer	Klaus Guth
Melek nar Kiranka	Barry Dennen	Ulf J. Söhmisch

reception

Wing Commander IV received very good reviews and was praised, among other things, for its significantly improved and more varied mission design compared to its predecessors. However, many testers were disappointed about the little game development of the title. The improvements to the film sequences and the program optimizations were recognized, but the plot and characters continued to be described as superficial. The lack of novel game content was also criticized. German magazines continued to criticize a deterioration in the translation quality of the German version compared to Wing Commander III .

Evaluation table PC PC Action 4/96: 92% PC Games 4/96: 93% PC Player 4/96: 87% Power Play 4/96: 85% Computer Gaming World 4/96: 4.5 out of 5 PC Gamer 03/1996: 66% PC Zone 02/1996: 85% PC format 04/1996: 77% CD-ROM Magazine 04/1996: 3.5 out of 5 PC Guide 05/1996: 4 of 5 PC Home 04/1996: 94% GameSpot : 8.5

PlayStation rating table Fun Generation 7/97: 9 out of 10 NeXt Level 6/97: 75% Video Games 6/97: 75% GameSpot : 8.1 IGN : 4.0

Novels

→ Main article : Wing Commander novels

Several novels on the Wing Commander universe were published by the US publishers Baen Books and Harper Entertainment , some of which were published in German translation by the German Bastei Lübbe Verlag . Explicit thematic reference to the fourth part of the series has:

• Ben Ohlander & William R. Forstchen: The price of freedom , Bastei Lübbe, 2000. ISBN 3-404-23226-7
  The novel for the game Wing Commander IV . He deviates significantly from the plot of the game in that he trivializes many significant characters and storylines and places them in the background, while the border world technology established in the course of the games is presented completely differently.

Web links

• Archived Origin website for the Wing Commander series (March 30, 1997) ( Memento of March 30, 1997 on the Internet Archive )
• Wing Commander 4 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. ^ Wendell Phillips: Speeches Before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society . Boston 1852, p. 13 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dennis Scimeca: The History of Wing Commander: Part Two ( English ) In: G4TV . NBCUniversal . August 11, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Jörg Langer : Wing Commander 4 . (Article scan) In: PC Player . No. 04/1996, April 1996, pp. 45-59.
4. ^ ^{A b c} Jeremy Wells: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom - Freedom Rings True . (Article scan) In: PC Zone . October 1995, pp. 28-30.
5. ↑ Dennis Scimeca: Back On The Flight Deck: An Interview With Wing Commander's Chris Roberts ( English ) In: G4TV . NBCUniversal . August 12, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
6. ^ Origin Systems : ORIGIN Systems Announces Wing Commander IV Lift Off; PC CD-ROM Interactive Movie to Make History at Planet Hollywood Event. ( English ) In: Press release . The Free Library. February 7, 1996. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
7. ↑ DXMCI WC4 DVD Patch 1.5 Released ( English wcnews.com). January 4, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2013: " gulikoza has released one final update to the dxmci patch which allows Wing Commander fans to play WC4 DVD without the required hardware decoder board that the game originally shipped with. "
8. ↑ Wing Commander 4 published by GOG . Gamers Global. April 4, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
9. ↑ Wing Commander IV: Source Code ( English ) wcnews.com. April 3, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013: “ As with Wing Commander I and Wing Commander III, we are pleased to announced that an extremely kind former EA / Origin employee has provided a copy of the Wing Commander IV source code for our preservation efforts! We can't offer it for download at this time, but it is now preserved for future use. "
10. ^ ^{A b} Dean Evans: Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom . (Article scan) In: PC format . No. 55, April 1996, pp. 76-77.
11. ^ ^{A b} Richard Longhurst: Wing Commander IV . (Article scan) In: PC Gamer . March 1996, pp. 96-98.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Sascha Gliss: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom . (Article scan) In: Power Play . No. 04/1996, April 1996, pp. 16-19.
13. ↑ ^{a b} PC Games Database: Wing Commander IV - Press Review . Retrieved April 2, 2012
14. ^ Scott A. May: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom - Freedom Rings True . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 141, April 1996, pp. 78-80.
15. ^ Charlie Brooker: Wing Commander IV . (Article scan) In: PC Zone . February 1996, pp. 50-54.
16. ^ Charlie Booker: Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom . (Article scan) In: CD-ROM Magazine . April 1996, pp. 84-85.
17. ↑ Paul Pettengale: May the fourth be with you . (Article scan) In: PC Guide . May 1996, p. 56.
18. ↑ Darren Evans: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom . (Article scan) In: PC Home . April 1996, pp. 96-97.
19. ↑ Ron Dulin: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . May 1, 1996. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
20. ↑ Julian Ossent, Holger Gößmann: Tests: Wing Commander IV . (Article scan) In: Fun Generation . No. 07/1997, July 1997, pp. 86-87.
21. ^ Christian Henning: Tests: Wing Commander IV . (Article scan ) In: NeXt Level . No. 06/1997, June 1997, p. 75.
22. ↑ Dirk Sauer: Tests: Wing Commander IV . (Article scan) In: Video Games . No. 06/1997, June 1997, p. 92.
23. ↑ Trent C. Ward: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . June 2, 1997. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
24. ↑ IGN Staff: Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom ( English ) In: IGN . News Corp . May 21, 1997. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
25. ^ Wing Commander . www.origin.ea.com. March 30, 1997. Archived from the original on March 30, 1997. Retrieved July 30, 2011.