Wing Commander (CD32)

Title		Wing Commander (CD32)
Game Type	3D Combat Sim
Players		1
Compatibility	CD32 (AGA with a fix)
Submission	slice@xgw.fi

Review
Wing Commander is a space combat game following the exploits of a daring
young fighter pilot (you) against the evil Kilrathi empire. The game is
not only set in your fighter but also in your base, where you attend
briefings, practice your skills and interact with the other members of
your squadron.

Wing Commander was a big hit on the PC when it hit the stores and Amiga
owners were delighted with a rather grindy 32 colour version some years
later - and even AGA owners had to play the A500 version as no special 256
colour version was ever made. The speed might have been finally decent,
but the rather pale graphics kept PC users still laughing at it. Then,
when Commodore released the CD32 they managed to get someone to write a
special version of the game that was bundled with some of the consoles,
thus making WC rather hard to get for anyone else.

What was so special about this CD32 version then? Well, the biggest
enhancement was probably the blazing AGA graphics. Yes, Wing Commander
CD32 has  all those 256 colours in it and this is why it uses the special
Akiko chip of the CD32 to gain a more playable speed (and is AFAIK the
only game ever that uses the Akiko). Other enhancements are few; according
to the credits there should have been a CD-audio tracks, but there aren't.
That doesn't really matter as the actual 3 channel soundtrack is still
very nice and suits the game really well. There are some additional sound
effects included, but that's about it.

The biggest improvement is of course the AGA graphics, but does it suffer
a speed decrease? If you play it on a bog standard A1200 the answer is
yes, atleast without the excellent fix that has been released to Aminet.
The game refuses to work on normal AGA Amigas unless you disable fast mem
and then it'll become so jerky that you want to reset even before the
briefing is over. After installing the patch, which lets you play with
various different options the game is easily comparable with the PC
version and at least on my 040 it even runs too fast if you select the
"wrong" c2p :).

All in all, the CD32 version is all you can ask from the game. It's what
we all wanted to see on AGA Amigas as well, but never did. If you like the
game, then you'll love this one - Assuming you still manage to find a copy
of it.

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