Wing Commander III - Heart of  the Tiger 
An Origin Interactive Movie


	The last warning screams of your wingman resound through your helmet as you descend upon the now hapless Kilrathi cruiser. A couple remaining turrets spitefully send red streaks of laser fire in your direction, but they are too few and too late. A grim chill spreads through you as the torpedo lock signal begins to buzz. Your face contorted in a savage snarl fit to make a Kilrathi jealous, you savagely depress the firing trigger and the torpedo arcs away, destined for the bowels of the cruiser. Then another tone sounds through the cockpit just before the enemy fighter's last missile breaks down *your* depleted aft shields and armor as you join the cruiser in the eternal void.

	Sure, go grab your milk and cookies, it's just a game, right? It may be, but Wing Commander III is one game that will be occupying your CD and hard drive for a long time to come, so you might as well just jump right back into the action.

	For those of you not familiar with the Wing Commander universe, the premise is that in the year 2629, an exploration vessel of the Terran Confederation comes upon a strange ship at the outer edge of explored space. The exploration vessel sends a greeting message, waits approximately twenty minutes, and is then summarily destroyed by this unknown ship. The purveyors of this ship turn out to be Kilrathi, a race of large, cat-like beings that live by a deeply ritualistic honor code. Of course, this honor code really doesn't have much honor relevant to humans, but is unique in that the Kilrathi language has no word for "surrender" or several other diplomatic, thoroughly human ideas. They believe themselves supreme to all other races and use other races for labor, sport, and food. Suffice to say, tensions soon erupt and the Confederation is thrown into a bitter war that has been ongoing for forty years by the opening of WC III.

	Your part, played by Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame, is that of a hero turned suspected traitor turned hero. In the first Wing Commander game you helped the Confederation beat the Kilrathi out of the Vega Sector. Soon after this victory, however, you carrier was destroyed by mysterious "stealth" fighters and you were blamed for negligence, even collusion, resulting in its destruction. Banished to a backwash station flying security for garbage scows, you languish for ten years until rejoining the flight squadron of another carrier that surprisingly jumps into the system pursued by Kilrathi. Through out Wing Commander II you fight a new Kilrathi incursion and join  a special forces unit commanded by an old friend of yours who goes by the callsign of Paladin. You also fall in love with fellow pilot and squadron commander Angel.
 
	Wing Commander III opens in the year 2669 with a visually stunning eleven minute bonanza of full motion video and cinematic photography. Assigned as flight commander to the Victory, a Confederation carrier with a rather, uh, long history, you begin your assignment wondering just where in the heck your girlfriend is (she was assigned to Special Ops and no one will say a word about her status, which is making you rather uneasy to say the least) and trying to get to know the pilots of your squadron. You are doing all this, of course, while flying against the Kilrathi menace.

	The game is played on a mission-by-mission basis, each consisting of two parts. In the first part you are free to wander through the decks and rooms of the Victory, all done in SVGA rendering and video. To talk with a crew member, you simply sweep the cursor over their image. If it is possible to talk, a "hotspot" message will appear at the bottom of the screen and a full-motion video conversation is just a click way. For the most part, the acting is well done in these scenes and you are  often given a choice between different responses that are subsequently acted upon. Your choices will affect pilot moral, which is related to how well they fly in combat against the Kilrathi. Once you have talked to everyone it is time to have a chat with Captain Eiesen, who will bring you up to date on the current situation and outline your mission objectives. From there it is on to the briefing room, where you basically repeat what Eisen said and choose your wingman from any pilot you have spoken too in your wanderings through the Victory.

	Now it's time to get your grubby little hands on some of the most destructive weaponry in the galaxy . Given basic choices as to what kind of fighter to fly and it's mission payload, you suit up and hop into your waiting fighter, ready to kick some serious Kilrathi butt. With a fully scalable three dimensional navigation map, you can choose your course or simply follow the pre-assigned mission path. Either way you will happen upon some enemy fighters in a hurry, and it is at this point that Wing Commander III really starts to show its stuff.

	The graphics once in combat are, simply, incredible. Once the explosions start, it's hard to convince yourself that you are not sitting in a movie theater watching one of the Star Wars movies with a large bag of popcorn nearby - it's that good! Instead, you are desperately holding onto the joystick, barking out commands to your wingman and trying to ignore lock tones, weapon fire, enemy taunts, asteroids, mines, and a plethora of other nasty things as you maneuver into that sweet number six position on the enemy's tail. Once you're there, a couple of missiles or a concentrated weapon barrage and it's bye-bye for kitty. Of course, there's usually more than one and a capital ship or two thrown in for fun, ships that you occasionally have to fly *through* to take out.

	In space flight, you have several different views selectable by the function keys and the option of a "virtual cockpit" that removes the cockpit graphics in order to give you a better view of the action. Each ship generally has a variety of guns and weapons, which are selectable all at once, in combinations, or by themselves. There is also a power distribution feature that enables you to increase reactor power to shields, weapons, engine, or repair systems depending on your current needs. Communication with your wingmen can be accomplished with simple key combinations, and they usually act intelligently on the orders you give them.

	It does take a little practice to become associated with the number of options and keys for using them, but after a few missions you should be able to finish off most of what you encounter. There are even multiple difficulty levels for those who either have hyper (caffeine induced) reflexes or none at all. Upon your return to the Victory, you are greeted by various members of the crew who react depending on your overall mission success. It is important to remember that the outcome of each mission effects the storyline. If you do well, the Confederation follows a winning path. If you constantly fail to meet your mission objectives, the Confederation may be beaten back to a desperate battle for control of Earth. While there are vagaries as to one pilot having such a large effect on the war, the plot is handled nicely nevertheless.

	Of course, there are some major disadvantages to the graphic and sound quality. To experience the game in full SVGA, a Pentium is a must. Some 486DX2's with high quality video cards are able to run at full detail with minimal slowdown, but they are few and far between. To run on less power-intensive machines, the VGA setting is more desirable. Surprisingly, however, there is little loss of graphic quality at this setting and it does not detract from the overall enjoyment. As to the video scenes, a double-speed CD-ROM will handle well, but there are still the occasional pauses and sound distortions that beg for a quad-speed. On the sound front, there is support for all of the popular sound cards and support for many of the 32-bit, wavetable cards.

	Documentation is well done, consisting of an installation guide, play guide, reference cards, and a "Personalized Guide to the T.C.S. Victory" that updates you on the current situation, ships and weapon systems, history of the war,  your current e-mail, etc. Game installation is handled nicely and even recommends various settings based on system benchmark tests, as opposed to you taking hours trying to determine just how far you can stretch your system resources.

        On the whole, Wing Commander combines the best of both worlds in its video presentation and subsequent gameplay. While it does not quite make a solid claim on the title of "interactive movie", it comes close and is a major step towards such a medium. Anyone interested in space combat or a good story should definitely consider adding this to their software library.

F.A.C.T.F.I.l.e  
(Five Absolutely Crucial Tidbits For Interested literatia electronicus)

Minimum System Requirements:
IBM 486/50+ or compatible, VGA video card, 20MB free hard drive space, 2x CD-ROM, 8MB RAM

Recommended System:
Pentium, VESA-compliant video card for SVGA (640x480x256), 20MB+ free hard drive space, 2x CD-ROM or better, 12MB+ RAM, 16-bit Stereo sound card, Joystick

System Tested Upon:
Pentium 90, local bus (VESA compliant) video card (DRAM w/ 1MB), 540MB Hard Drive, 2x Sony CD-ROM, 8MB RAM, 16-bit stereo sound card, Standard Flightstick

Purchasing Information:
ORIGIN Direct Sales: 1-800-245-4525 (24 hrs./day)
Questions: ORIGIN Customer Support 512-328-0282
MSRP=$79.00
Street Price:$50-$60

Tech Support/Guarantees:
14-day trial period (full refund from ORIGIN if not satisfied)
ORIGIN Product Support (toll call/weekdays)
AOL, CIS (GAMAPUB), ORIGIN BBS (512-331-4446), Internet Support (e-mail support@origin.ea.com + marketing@origin.ea.com - FTP:  ftp.ea.com)	


---Tom Smith 75537,2202
Please e-mail if you find any of the above information to be incorrect or misleading so that it can be corrected. I have tried to verify all information to the best of my ability, but there is always the possibililty of mistakes. Recommendations and/or suggestions for future reviews would also be greatly appreciated.	
