Almost like Star Wars: Wing Commander and Privateer. Best space games to play waiting for Starfield
Table of Contents
- Year of creation: 1990
- Developers: Origin Systems, Chris Roberts
A Kilrathi in gloves kills no Terrans
In the XXVII century, humans are part of the so-called Terran Confederation, bringing together many different systems and local communities in space. Working together ensures military power and economic growth. At the time, this is very important, as the war with the hostile Kilrathi Empire has been going on for years. They are an alien race of humanoid cats inhabiting the planet of the same name. Kilrathi are born warriors - they can't live without fighting. When they were still unable to make space travel or lacked an outside opponent, they became embroiled in local conflicts stemming from a strong sense of clan affiliation. They often act in large groups, even showing suicidal tendencies. No wonder the war against them lasted so long. It was not until the fifth part of the series that a new enemy was introduced - the insectoid Nephilim.
Meanwhile, we could take on the role of one of the Confederacy's brave pilots - Christopher "Maverick" Blair - and follow his military career until the end of the Kilrathi feud and his attempt to stabilize the situation in the troubled times following the Great War. The second option is the complete opposite of the military rigor aboard the TCS Tiger Claw aircraft carrier - a free life in the Gemini sector, provided, of course, that we managed to survive as a pirate, merchant or mercenary in a galaxy swarming with Confederate patrols, Kilrathi reconnaissance groups and common bandits.
Epic saga, Hollywood momentum and open-world sandbox
In 1990, Chris Roberts brilliantly capitalized on the enduring popularity of the then-completed Star Wars trilogy and allowed any gamer to feel like Luke Skywalker in his x-wing. He created a similar saga of a great conflict, the essence of which was space dogfights. While the genre was not new to the gaming world, Roberts gave it a completely different quality with his then-stunning audiovisual design and engaging storyline with cinematic narration in cutscenes. It didn't matter that Wing Commander ran at 10-15 frames on the Amiga - the game was mesmerizing and mellifluous!
I, however, have even better memories of its spin-off of, namely. Privateer, which at the time was a full-fledged sandbox. The player had total freedom as to where he would fly and what he would do - full of worries about whether he would fall prey to space corsairs along the way, take cargo for trade, or hunt down pirates himself in a light fighter as one of the mercenaries. Visits to backwater bars, where orders were collected, were brimming with atmosphere - it felt like we were somewhere in the forgotten regions of the galaxy, everyone was suffering the hardships of the Kilrathi war, and the cosmos was endless. And alongside all of this there was still a cinematic storyline, after the end of which you could still engage in your craft - retro-style endgame!
So it's not surprising that when the game industry became enamored with the possibilities of FMV sequences, Chris Roberts easily recruited such celebrities as Mark Hamill, John Hurt, Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Walken, John Rhys-Davies and Clive Owen for subsequent games in the universe. Thanks to Wing Commander Hollywood has entered the gaming world! There was also a reverse excursion, in the form of the movie Wing Commander, but it should be forgotten forever. Aside from this slip-up, the series continued throughout the 1990s. provided fantastic adventures in one of the most interesting science fiction universes.
