Remember the last time we reported on the Wing Commander IV mod for Homeworld 2? It seems like it was only a few days ago... but a lot of progress has been made! Czacen has added a grand total of five new ships to the project, and screenshots are available en masse! The first two pictures are the game's smaller assault shuttle (which carried Decker in Wing Commander IV). Quote the project: "these guys are going to play a important role for the BW side".
The following four are the shared transport model, which will appear in your choice of either Confederation Blue or Union Red.
Then comes four pictures of the Coventry-type Destroyers first introduced in Wing Commander III. This version is bares the Confederation's livery - a Union variant is in the works.
Next comes four pictures of the Confederation shuttle, which will be used as that faction's assault transport in the game.
Finally comes the biggest ship of the bunch, the Confederation starbase complex. These bases were seen at Jupiter in Wing Commander Prophecy, L5 in Wing Commander IV and Torgo in Wing Commander III... and now they're back! Viewers should be cautioned that this model is, at present, only half completed -- but it's still pretty neat.
That's the kind of momentum we like to see!
IGN PC has posted a preview of DarkStar One. The reviewer compares the game very favorably to Privateer, Freelancer and X... as well as "MegaTraveller 2", which may or may not be a real thing. Regardless, DarkStar One sounds pretty nice! You can find the preview here, or just read the carefully cropped Wing-relevant portions quoted below:
I suppose my affection for space-based action adventure games started with Wing Commander, but WC was, at its core, a flight simulator. Being based in space allowed for some unique tactical options, but it wasn't reinventing any wheels. Then came the spinoff, Privateer. Now this was a cool game; a galaxy so big that you actually had to hunt down the beginning of the storyline. While not as ambitious as MegaTraveller 2, it had its own charms. You could be a mercenary, trader, or bounty hunter, or a combination thereof. Unfortunately, this type of action adventure game never really took off. Another Privateer came out, but it was an FMV adventure, and not particularly good... Then DarkStar One arrived in my mailbox...
Privateer had some tedious trade routes and some vicious spikes in difficulty. Freelancer felt repetitive and arcadey. MegaTraveller 2 was perhaps too big of a game for its own good. X2: The Threat too often devolved into being an energy cell merchant, and its story wasn't particularly well told, or its characters very interesting. While DS1 has its problems, it manages a balance between guiding the player through a complex story and giving them freedom to wander around.
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