Video games - Wing Commander I

Home > Listing Index > Video games > Wing Commander I

	Video games - Wing Commander I

Wing Commander (later retroactively renamed Wing Commander I) is the first, eponymous game in Chris Roberts's science-fiction flight simulator franchise.

Released by Origin Systems in 1990, the game was a marked departure from the standard formula, bringing space combat to a level approaching the Star Wars films. Set in the year 2654 and characterized by Chris Roberts as "World War II in space," it featured a multi-national cast of pilots from the "Terran Confederation" flying missions against the predatory, aggressive Kilrathi, a feline warrior race. Most impressively, cockpit performance affected gameplay: going above and beyond the call of duty resulted in medals, promotions in rank were awarded at regular intervals, and success or failure on certain critical missions would even decide the player's plot progress, "winning" or "losing".

Plot Synopses

Wing Commander

The player takes the role of a nameless, wordless pilot aboard the legendary TCS Tiger's Claw, a Bengal-class Strike Carrier. The player gets to name the pilot and choose his callsign. The pilot (known to Origin personnel as "Bluehair," after his most notable feature) quickly rises through the ranks of the flight wing, and (presuming the player performs ideally in the cockpit) eventually leads a strike on the Kilrathi High Command starbase in the Venice system. On the other hand, if the player does not perform optimally, missions become increasingly difficult and eventually the Claw is forced to retreat. Of the two endings, the "winning" path is established as canon by the game's two expansion packs, as well as the sequel, Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
. In 1994, Wing Commander was retroactively renamed Wing Commander I in a bundled re-release of both games, in preparation for the release of Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger.

Wing Commander: Secret Missions

Wing Commander: Secret Missions was an add-on campaign from Origin, notable for being one of the first, if not the first, expansion packs in video gaming history. It requires the WC1 software to run, but adds new missions, new ships, a new storyline, and an increase in difficulty.

The Tiger's Claw, on maneuvers in the Goddard System, receives an abortive distress call from Goddard colony. When the Claw arrives, though, nothing is left but wreckage and corpses; a quarter of a million colonists have been killed. Confed realizes that this is the work of a new Kilrathi weapon, the "Graviton weapon," which is able to increase the power of gravity by over a hundred times.. Clever work by the Claw's crew and pilots allows them to capture a Kilrathi courier ship, which reveals that this weapon is mounted on an entirely new class of ship; C-in-C codenames it the Sivar-class dreadnought, after the Kilrathi god of war. Bluehair leads the strike against the Sivar and destroys it in the Vigrid system; for unexplained reasons, ships of that class and armament are never seen again.

Unlike the original game, WC:SM1 does not feature a branching mission tree; every player plays the exact same missions in the exact same order.

Wing Commander: Secret Missions 2: Crusade

The second expansion pack for Wing Commander, Secret Missions 2 continued with the tradition of a new narrative, new ships and more difficult missions. It broke new ground by adding two new wingmen as well.

The Tiger's Claw is in the Firekka System, whose native intelligent lifeforms—the bird-like Firekkans—are negotiating to join the Terran Confederation. Tensions are high, and will only get higher. There is an unusual Kilrathi presence in the area, including their upgraded Dralthi II and ships that have never been seen before: the Hhriss-class heavy fighter and the Snakeir-class heavy carrier. This presence develops into a massive battle group, and though the Firekkans sign the Articles of the Confederation, the outnumbered Terrans have no choice but to retreat. Adding to the mess, a Kilrathi lord, Ralgha nar Hhallas, defects, bringing his Fralthi-class cruiser, the Ras Nik'hra, and word of a rebellion against the Empire on the Kilrathi colony of Ghorah Khar. Finally, almost overlooked in all the chaos, Captain Kien "Bossman" Chen is lost while flying on Jeannette Devereaux's wing; the nearby TCS Austin transfers over two pilots, Lieutenants Zachary "Jazz" Colson and Etienne "Doomsday" Montclair. All this happens in the first six missions of the game.

The Kilrathi presence in the Firekka sector is eventually explained by an all-channels transmission from the Crown Prince of the Kilrathi Empire, Thrakhath nar Kiranka: Firekka has been chosen as the site of this year's Rite of Sivar, a holy festival that involves feasting, worship, and lots and lots of live sacrifices. Seeing the chance to strike a heady blow to Kilrathi morale, the Confederation assigns its Firekka-sector resources the task of disrupting the ceremony. The Dralthi medium fighters from the Ras Nik'hra are put to work on reconnaissance missions, and Terran troops begin landing in secret. Between these, the Firekkans' warrior spirit and some of the Confederation's best pilots and tacticians, the Sivar ceremony is utterly wrecked and the Kilrathi forced to retreat, though they take a number of important Firekkans with them as hostages.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Wing Commander I ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Wing Commander I; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay