Wing Commander III
For some reason, I've now completed only the "odd" Wing Commanders, I, III and Prophecy (V) ... Kind of gives me a wish to fill out the two gaps, especially since the ride's been as good as it has. Wing Commander III, Heart of the Tiger, was one of those games released back when "interactive movie" was the big buzzword. "Interactive movie" usually meant an enormous budget, a few second-hand actors and movie-quality plot (if you were lucky) and gameplay (if you were unlucky). That meant the average interactive movie failed, games without gameplay just don't sell very well ...
Wing Commander III was the first "interactive movie" (what an annoying word that is anyway ...) in the Wing Commander saga, and one of the few of the games branded that way which actually were any good. The success wasn't as surprising when you consider the older Wing Commanders were among (if not the) first games to tie movie elements and tricks into gameplay, and did so very well indeed. Thus, this the third game felt like a natural, if very big, step from the first two games. A step up in graphics quality and storytelling as well as gameplay and, of course, production cost.
The game started with you, played by not-entirely-unknown Mark Hamill, being assigned to the old carrier TCS Victory for unclear reasons. The war against the Kilrathi is going the wrong way bigtime, and your girlfriend Angel is on a covert mission deep in Kilrathi space and hasn't been heard of for a long time. As you gain control after the extensive introduction movie you stand on the flight deck of the TCS Victory, the carrier where all the famous "interactivity" takes place. That means you move between different locations on the ship and have filmed conversations with the characters onboard. Most conversations give you the opportunity to make one choice about how to react or what to say. These choices, together with your mission performances, affects the course of the game, eventually leading up to one of the possible endings. Movie quality isn't what you'd expect from a new game today, but still pretty good. Acting and dialogue quality is, as usual, a pretty varied affair. You will get that feeling something is lacking from time to time, but it's definitely on par with any other game out there. And it still feels very good that movies and missions are as connected as they are, it's something for games like Tiberian Sun to look up to. And now, on with the missions ...
Briefings are completely filmed, of course, pretty concise and sometimes not quite as detailed as you'd like. After the briefing, you pick your wingman, ship and missile loadout and it's off into space (via a few more movie cuts of course)!
Space was polygonal for the first time in a Wing Commander game, and it looks a bit dated today. Being pre-3d-acceleration, there are lots of huge pixels everywhere and a distinct lack of coloured lights and/or shadows. You can't complain about the ship designs though, they all look distinct and feel very solid, and it's as satisfying as usual to blow them up. In all, gameplay has remained very similar in the Wing Commander seires, and that is a great thing. It's always been about action more than simulation, letting you be the hero and saviour of the galaxy, and it's as good here as in the others. Tailing your enemy, letting you guns eat through his shields and watching him blow up is just as good every time. You don't want to be Blair, you are Blair, and you'll be damned if you can't get that ship down! Immersion is the word ...
Sound is as good as you can ask for, but you don't think too much about it anyway. That's probably a good sign, if you thought about how the explosions sounded, they wouldn't be too good ... Music is good too, orchestral stuff of the usual type with fanfares when you shoot down enemies and so on. My favourite moment music-wise was realizing that the bit played during the clips before an emergency launch was the same as the music played pre-launch in Wing Commander I.
Overall, the Wing Commanders have always succeeded at creating immersive, action-packed sci-fi sagas, and number three is no exception. The story and movies really work in motivating you to complete the missions. And by the way, this isn't a lousy "interactive movie", this is a game with lots of movies, branching story and different endings to motivate your progress. A nice example of how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
