Wing Commander (1990)

By Andrew Ross

Wing Commander does not require much of a computer, it ran perfectly on my family’s 386, but was unplayable on our Pentium 166. Despite being a relatively low-tech game, Wing Commander is still one of my favourite games of all time. This game was the reason to own a joystick.


What was so great about Wing Commander? It had good controls, interfaces, missions and handling. But those didn’t set it apart from the pack (nor did its stunning graphics). The real reason why I spent way too many hours of my youth playing Wing Commander was because it drew me in and got me emotionally involved with the characters.


I cared about my wingmates. I liked Spirit and Iceman, and hated Maniac at first–although eventually he became my favourite. I got nervous every time the Colonel called me into his office–where he would either chew me out or tell me I was getting a medal or a promotion.


To this day, I don’t think I have played another game I cared about as much as Wing Commander.

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