Arena Meets the Press (July 26, 2007)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
The first professional web review of Wing Commander Arena is in... and it is glowing! TeamXbox wins the award for fastest review. We'll see what elder statesmen like Gamespot say in the next few days. In the meantime, we can't help but smile at this summary:
All-in-all, Wing Commander Arena is what an Xbox Live Arcade game should be about- fast-paced pick-up-and-play action with a dash of depth. If you can live with being lost in space, and in only one plane of such a vast expanse, then download Wing Commander Arena post-haste.
Read the whole thing here. Arena was previously reviewed by print magazine OXM, which also gave it high marks.

Update: a second review is in! Ars Technica is also very positive:
As mentioned, there are a good number of different ships from the game's two factions, each of which is fitted with four different weapons and powers. The default control takes a little getting used to—moving in one direction and shooting in another is a little disorienting at first, though ultimately really satisfying—but is simple enough and becomes a blast once you get accustomed to the game's pace. It's all a bit more accessible to the mass market than a more traditional space sim would have been. The only downside? No live action FMVs. Well, that and the general lack of licensed content from the Wing Commander franchise used outside of the manual. I sincerely hope this game doesn't become the next Shadowrun but, judging by early reactions, I'm afraid such will be the case as the purists cry foul over this "dreadful abomination."
You can find all their comments here.

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Original update published on July 26, 2007
 
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Yeah, it's a shame - we'll mention that and some other reviews in the morning. The IGN one is especially weird since a lot of the things it says just aren't true - you can get pretty much all the information he rages against the game for lacking by hidding start/back in combat.
 
Yeah, it's a shame - we'll mention that and some other reviews in the morning. The IGN one is especially weird since a lot of the things it says just aren't true - you can get pretty much all the information he rages against the game for lacking by hidding start/back in combat.

Heh, in that case I guess that at IGN accuracy in reviews is considered over-rated.

Pretty much all the other reviews I've read so far have been very positive, so im looking forward to picking up those MS points in the next couple of days and jumping right in.
 
Yeah, it's a shame - we'll mention that and some other reviews in the morning. The IGN one is especially weird since a lot of the things it says just aren't true - you can get pretty much all the information he rages against the game for lacking by hidding start/back in combat.

The gamespot one is just as bad...

I went ahead and did a reader review... not that it will make a difference.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sim/wingcommanderarena/player_review.html?id=479280&tag=readerreviews;continue
 
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