Wing Commander: Prophecy

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002EPYI
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 25, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,368 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

This installment of the Wing Commander series features a new space combat engine for unequaled visual excitement and tactical realism, a new and terrifying alien menace, a new story line that begins the next chapter in the series, new graphics, and a hard-edged soundtrack.

Product Description

This software is BRAND NEW. Packaging may differ slightly from the stock photo above. Please click on our logo above to see over 15,000 titles in stock.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the Wing Commander we fell in love with..., February 13, 2000

By 

Guy Wheatley (Salt Lake City, Utah USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wing Commander: Prophecy (CD-ROM)

Origin seems to be in the business of reinventing their trademark series that first gave them credit to the "We Create Worlds" slogan. However, in the process of making them 3D accelerator and masses-friendly Origin has also managed to undermine everything that had made the series great, namely its characters and compelling stories. Now this outing which puts closure on the WC series isn't nearly as bad as Ultima Ascension, but it's severely lacking nonetheless.

It makes sense to try to start anew with a fresh-faced protagonist who has yet to make the name for himself that previous legend Chris Blair forged in the last four games, especially with Mark Hamill entering his twilight years and whose heavy uniform pips and medals may alienate newcomers. That's all good. What's not all good is that the choice they made to take over the pilot's seat, Lt. Casey, has all the spine of a jellyfish and the verbal acuity of a junior high school wallflower at his first party. Even in the later half of the game when his piloting skills have started to beget him some respect from his peers, his attempts to affect the grizzled demeanor of a kid who had to grow up too fast and pull his own weight on deck is as laughable as his previously innocuous self. As for the rest of the cast, they even more annoying. All of the men act like egotistical frat boys, and all the women like snotty ice-queens. Even returning loose canon on deck Maniac looks unbelievably uncomfortable on-screen, and in the process hams up his role. You could care less about these superficial cardboard newcomers, in fact, the only relief comes from old comrades reprising roles and making cameos, namely Blair, Hawk, and even brief appearances of Admiral Wilfred and Col. Decker. Unfortunately, the former two end up dying during the game, leaving you to dogs of these petulant Gen-X-Wing jocks.

The plot is unapologetically formulaic: Evil aliens invade our space and its up to our heroes to thwart 'em. The missions cover familiar, if somewhat banal ground from previous WC installments along the escort/patrol/strike variety, though not nearly as innovative as the ones from WC IV. The new alien foes are fearsome enough in their sleek and reptilian splendor, actually bearing an uncanny resemblance to species 8479 from Star Trek: Voyager, but they are given no context. By contrast, they have none of the culture or history of the Kilrathi that was so captivating, even delivering a renegade in your midst in WC II, Hobbes. You really learn nothing about the alien race in Prophecy or the purpose of their invasion, merely some pseudo-theological drivel about they being the harbingers of a space-age apocalypse, but the premise falls flat. One gets the impression that they really exist to merely show off the new ship models. You'll find the one-sided design of the plot to be an enormous step backward from the complex conspiracies woven in WC 4's civil war.

The game ends on one of those portentous sci-fi sequel-promising notes ("They'll be back, y'know"). Except Origin is no longer creating straight-forward single-player epics, so one is forced to ask exactly what was the point of breaking all this supposed new ground if nothing is going to be done to evolve it and its new cast beyond their rote and insipid beginnings. Then again, since Origin seems to have been unable to churn a decent game since 1996, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Sure, the engine looks gorgeous, and all of the fighters and cap ships have undergone complete cosmetic changes, but all the eye-candy in the world can't cover up the lack of a compelling plot or characters, qualities that made the series endure eight years. In summation, the discriminating space sim gamer is better of with Descent: Freespace II, X: Beyond the Frontier, or hell, wait a few months for Chris Roberts of Digital Anvil to release Starlancer, he being the pre-Prophecy WC man who really knew what it was about.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable Plot; Awesome Gameplay, Graphics and Sound, February 2, 2001

By 

J. N. K "Esco" (Central Mass) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wing Commander: Prophecy (CD-ROM)

Just to let all you Wing Commander fans that even though I have never played Wing Commander's 1-4, a great plot is something I always look for in a game (I play a lot of RPG's). So yes, I would have to state for you all that the story was certainly not one of the greatest I have ever come across, but there certainly was a plot to this game. Well, a story anyway. However, I got this game because I wanted a good space sim, and CGW rated this one the highest.

The graphics, although not top of the line today, were superb when the game was released, and its graphics still work today, for they are full of imagination and feature a solid frame rate. The alien ships were incredibly well designed, and the enemy ship textures have cool, glowing, almost glossy textures. Makes the Kilrathi fighters (who you will see) look obsolete. I loved how this game didn't use just sprites for fighters like some other games I have played. Also, I love how the closer you are to an exploding target, the more you shake from the impact of its explosion.

Also, the gameplay is pretty much the same as NOW! That's right, I don't think a single space sim has actually played noticeably better than this. The control is tight, and unlike X-Wing, you can go diagonal. You can also taunt your enemies, and if the enemy you are taunting has a live alien pilot, he will usually move to attack you. This is good when his original target is pleading for help, and you won't fight any non-live pilots until later disc 2. I also loved how some enemy fighters are whole, and after you destroy the whole, they split up into three or six additional fighters. This adds a new fun level to the game as you fight a type of opponent that has never been conceived before.

Lastly, the sound is awesome, and must be listened to loud or, at least with good base. The pilots' voices are well acted (more than the pleading cruisers you're supposed to save), the sound effects are cool, especially the boom, and the music is incredible. I would, if I could turn the music volume up to max and keep the sound effects to a lower level, for the music doesn't rattle any non-awesome speakers.

The plot, while not overly amazing, does feature some good moments and the background storyline is very epic. I loved how in the future, not just any prophecy comes true, but the prophecy of the aliens who for the past two decades was locked in total war with humanity. Simply put, the destruction of the Kilrathi home planet proved to their gods that they were not worthy of living, and so their gods began a process called "Kn'athrak" (I might not have spelled it right). This "Kn'athrak" is the brutal process of elimination of the Kilrathi, their defeaters, and all life in existence. Needless to say, this is a very bad thing to humanity, who are now more armed then ever before (it's 2681 already!) to fight the incoming menaces (a bug like species).

This game is short, and the cutscenes are really just character development OR plot. I did really like the characters, but they didn't fit into the plot except for a select few. I also didn't like how I wasn't gonna figure out who the bugs were until Wing Commander: Prophecy II, which is a project that was cancelled because Origin decided to from now on only make online games (like the Ultima Online disaster, Origin?!). It's sad, but, as long as I have this game, the future of alien menaces better watch out, for I have killed so many of you already!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning & Epic Story Wrapped In A Great Game!, May 30, 2000

By 

Mark Hills "Nobody gets me, I'm the wind, baby!" (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wing Commander: Prophecy (CD-ROM)

Wing Commander: Prophecy is without a doubt one of my all-time personal favorite games for the PC. Aside from the fact that it gracefully and heroically retires Christopher Blair (Mark Hammil) from the series, the game is an expertly crafted piece of entertaining with only a few (stylistic) flaws. It also improves greatly over Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom by making combat missions longer than the video cut scenes, something that dogged its predecessor greatly. Prophecy has such eerie underpinnings that work together with the game and live action cinematics to make for an awesome story. It is also the start of a new generation.

After the defeat of the Kilrathi by Blair in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, the Confederation finally has peace with regards to their once feline adversaries and the Cult of Sivar. But there in lies the crux of the matter for an ages old Kilrathi prophecy points to a time when darkness will descend upon the universe and the Kilrathi will die, bathed in their own blood and their once mighty claws no match for the coming evil, a time that they call Kn'Thrak, (A translation that means either `darkness' or `evil'). And it all begins with the destruction of a Confederation survey ship analyzing the destroyed Kilrathi homeworld in the Kilrah System by an unknown race.

There Shall Come A time

When one who has the heart of a Kilrathi,

but is not Kilrathi born, shall rain

cleansing fire down upon us,

and Kn'Thrak, a time of great darkness,

shall embrace us.

We are then taken to the TCS Midway, a gargantuan super carrier that will be the focus of the game and your home base for the duration. It is truly a magnificent ship and about the same size as Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer-about 8,000 meters in length. It acts as a mobile base for the Terran Confederation and designed to be the center piece of a larger armada. It is here that we meet Lance Casey-your character-who is fresh from the academy and son of a famous TCN pilot. We also meet up with old Wing Commander alumnus-Maniac (Tom Wilson) who takes every opportunity to belittle Casey until getting his comeuppance in the worst way and by numerous members of the Midway's crew.

Basically it's your job to figure out just who these new aliens are and what they want. What they apparently want is to slaughter everyone and everything they come across, which is great because that's why you're here! There are heaps of missions here and they are all a great deal of fun. Missions range from standard Combat Air Patrols (CAPs), to seeking out and destroying capital ships, taking down freighters and search and rescue missions. One of the most memorable moments of the game is a missile launch, especially the Swarms, which leave twisting contrails as they streak off towards their targets. Origin really did a fine job on the new fighter designs-they no longer have the blocky, slab-like look that Price of Freedom had, but instead have a more graceful, rounded look. Most of these ships are also a joy to fly, conveying a great sense of speed and maneuverability, though less so with bombers like the Devastator.

Sid Mead (of 2010 & Blade Runner fame) was hired on to design the alien Nephilim/Phylum fighters and capital ships, and produces true wonders! The fighters have a beautiful aquatic-insectile look to them while the capital class starships resemble nothing most people have ever seen. They are both fearsome and invoke no small amount of curiosity from the player and made me want to find out more about this dark and enigmatic race.

Mission designs seems to have been a priority at Origin, because they are expertly crafted and bear much resemblance to Freespace 2, and lack the time-sensitive nature that plagued many of the X-Wing & TIE Fighter missions from LucasArts. I also retract my title comment in my Freespace 2 review-Wing Commander: Prophecy is as good a game. The missions take priority over the cut scenes, the post flight ones become annoyingly repetitive, as there are only 2 or 3 to see and you see them often. Beyond that this is Origin's swan song as there doesn't seem to be any movement from them to sequel it beyond Secret Ops which only adds new missions, good as they are. This is a fantastic game-it both looks and plays great while possessing a solid and engrossing story. Superb!