Academy for a dollar

RiotAct218

Spaceman
I went to a vendor fair on Main Street in my little college town today, and one store had some old PC games for sale. Out of like the 15 games, I quickly spotted WC Academy, and asked the guy how much the games were. They were all one dollar, and as the game was brand new in shrink wrap as all the games were, I couldn't refuse. I had to install Turbo to slow it down a bit, and I'm still a little shaky on how to set up the missions, but I figure, heck, a dollar well spent.
 
I don't like Wing Commander Academy, but I still would've bought it for a dollar just to have an unopened copy.
 
Same here, I personally thought Academy was the weakest of the Wing Commander series...essentially it was just a mission creator the mere lack of a campaign plot quickly ruined it for me...in fact I think I only played it for one afternoon. I thought when I purchased it that it would be a throwback from Wing Commander 1 (Blair and Maniac referred to several missions they were on when they're back at the Academy) so I thought it would be a campaign for them outlining the experiences from the Academy...boy, was I wrong. Still, definitely worth a dollar to purchase it.
 
The game had some potential, but it was shorten by its lack of story nor any significant challenge.

And how come when I fight enemy Confed ships I still meet Kilrathi pilots?
 
Doesn't have a variety of heavier capships

missions were pretty simple

as long as you took to read this post is as long as I really played it for.

Huge potential but half-assed
 
I just felt like a plan to squeeze a few more dollars out of the engine. It could've had a great story if they wanted but apparently they didn't. That's all right though, we've got the cartoon to flesh out the academy years for us.
 
Eh, to enjoy Academy you really have to put yourself back into your 1992 shoes -- people demanded a mission builder for WC2, and Academy gave it to them. It wasn't a big budget, expensive affair like Privateer or WC3... but it was a specific answer to a very common demand at the time.
 
in retrospect it was fine for what it set out to do, but it would have been nicer to have been able to use the Concordia or Frathla in missions, along with kat starbases (IIRC it did have a confed base)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Eh, to enjoy Academy you really have to put yourself back into your 1992 shoes -- people demanded a mission builder for WC2, and Academy gave it to them. It wasn't a big budget, expensive affair like Privateer or WC3... but it was a specific answer to a very common demand at the time.


Trueness. It's the sort of thing a company might give away as a free download today or in an expansion pack.

If I recall, it retailed for less than the average game.
 
Trueness. It's the sort of thing a company might give away as a free download today or in an expansion pack.

It was originally developed as an addon disk for WC2 -- the fact that it was ultimately a stand alone game certainly predicted the far future trend for "expansions".
 
Loaf, you are right in that it was created to cover a demand of the time, but they still could have made a better mission maker.
 
Edfilho said:
Loaf, you are right in that it was created to cover a demand of the time, but they still could have made a better mission maker.

I second that! Granted I did like the game because... well I think in the short time ive been a part of these message boards its become quite obvious my favorite is WC2.
 
Spien said:
I just felt like a plan to squeeze a few more dollars out of the engine. It could've had a great story if they wanted but apparently they didn't.

Like LOAF said, you have to look at the context. It didn't need a story, because it was the mission builder people wanted. In the year+ previous they'd made WC2, SO1 & SO2 and in the year+ after they did Privateer, Armada & Righteous Fire. When Academy was made, we were in the middle of the most intense WC story making time ever.

TheFraix said:
The game had some potential, but it was shorten by its lack of story nor any significant challenge.

I played the hell out of Academy. The gauntlet was great and I spent many many hours trying to get higher scores on there. Liked the Ferret and Broadsword for that. And sticking seven Sabres, Wraiths, Morningstars, Crossbows or anything at a nav point was pretty tough.
 
Jump Drive - hyperdrive is Star Wars. :)

And yeah, finishing the two gauntlets (Academy and Armada) is the *true* test of what kind of pilot someone is.
 
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