Aaron Heston tipped us off about a huge "video games to movies" article at Videogames.com. There's a big feature about Wing Commander. The two biggest faults they come up with were the scene with the "sonar pinging" and the lack of development with the Pilgrim Cross. As all hardcore WC fans know, such sensor devices are nothing new to WC, Bear Bondarevsky aboard the Tarawa shared an almost identical experience in the novels, and the scene where Blair uses his Cross to kill the Pilgrim Traitor was cut from the film after test audiences reported it was difficult to understand. Nevertheless, it's a neat article. You can find the complete WC feature here.
Although Wing Commander has been primarily a PC game, its inclusion on several consoles allows it to fall under the scope of this article. The story is legendary: On the outskirts of the galaxy a series of Earth-spawned colonies have been attacked and destroyed by an alien race of sentient space-bound tigers named the Kilrathi. The background to the battles was significantly developed: Planets and ships had proper names, and the Kilrathi even spoke in their own tongue. While the gameplay was somewhat repetitive, Wing Commander constantly pushed the envelope of computer gaming technology. Each new title dated the previous ones, and it could be argued that one could trace the evolution of the flight simulator through Wing Commander alone.
Follow or Contact Us