invenio: I am going to slightly disagree. I really enjoyed this game, but the actual gameplay is "ok". Graphics don't stand up to day's games in any way. Controls are quite simplistic. What sells this game is the story and the acting, and that's purely through the cutscenes. Actually, the majority of the budget for this game went to the actors as well as the sets for the live action filming. If your viewing the "CD version" your basically selling yourself short. Of course that's just my opinion but I think the developers felt the same as they put more money into the live action than into the "programming."
Of course having the choice of CD vs DVD is still a good idea. Two choices are better than one. However, I would definitely recommend the DVD version if this is your first time playing.
kronx: i like the cutscenes but i would prefer having the blocky pixely interlaced movies so i can get that nostalgic mid 90s Dos game feeling. The poor video quality of early to mid 90s FMV games give me a warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia which i didn't get from playing the version with better video quality.
The gameplay of Wing commander is certainly better than just "Okay" and the controls are certainly not simplistic.. there are like a million different keys.
I think you make some good points. I can't argue with the "nostalgia" perspective. That will come down to personal taste.
Perhaps calling the gameplay merely as "okay" is not accurate. It has good solid gameplay and obviously is one of the best space shooters ever made.
I however did find the controls pretty simplistic (this is not necessarily a bad thing). In the vast majority of missions it's basically unload my guns into the enemy (one button), target next enemy (one keyboard key), and then repeat. Yes there are all kinds of targeting commands, wingman commands, view options, but you don't have to use any of them. Other than asking for permission to land at the end of the mission, I don't think I ever brought up my communication command menu through the entire game. Maybe fire a missile here and there, also optional? They included power management which adds something, but frankly it consists of opening it in the beginning of the mission prior to enemies, then bringing "damage power" down, and "shield power" up. After that it's rarely touched during the mission. In comparison to the X-wing/Tie fighter series I was constantly managing power to get extra speed, shields, rotating front band back shields etc. I guess it's what you make of it.
I still agree that it's better to have both versions available for user choice.
