While forgotten by newer players, the Wing Commander series was a major affair for ‘90s PC gaming. Spanning five entries, a dozen expansions, an ambitious Super Nintendo port, novelizations, an animated series and a steamy Freddy Prinze Jr. vehicle, the space flight sim has remained more or less untouched since the millennium. Now it seems like something finally stirs amongst the stars’ citizens, as an EA producer announced an upcoming remaster of Wing Commander’s most revered entry.
At the massive Portland Retro Gaming Expo, a retrospective panel delivered some shocking good news to Wing Commander fans. Not only had longtime EA producer Jim Vessella unearthed master tapes from Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger’s production, but they will apparently be put to work. Vessella told the crowd that a 30th anniversary remaster is in the pipeline. On top of brushing off the video compression, the game itself will run at 60FPS, implement post-release community enhancements and include “the Kilrathi Saga,” suggesting it will include all three of the initial trilogy.
In the brutal space war between humans and the Klingons-but-big-kitties Kilrathi Empire, you play as pilot Christopher Blair. Now infamous in both battalions, you’ve been transferred to the TCS Victory, an older vessel almost as crusty as its captain. With news of environmental instability on the Kilrathi homeworld, and intel that former squeeze Angel has been captured, you spearhead a secret campaign to fatally wound your alien enemies. The live action sequences feature performances from Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, Tim Curry, John Rhys-Davies and Ginger Lynn Allen (well that’s neat). Combining the now refined game design with some of the best implemented FMV sequences outside of Sierra, Heart of the Lion is considered by many fans to be the peak of the series.
The announcement is a little curious, however. While undoubtedly the proper crowd, it seems unusual for an Electronic Arts reveal at a retro gaming expo. EA isn’t exactly the most nostalgic publisher either, with fans basically having to drag out anything related to Skate or Command & Conquer. While plenty experienced, Vessella wasn’t directly involved with the Wing Commander series either. The original creator, Chris Roberts, has been leading the development of Star Citizen for over a decade, giving that long gestating project a load-bearing amount of credibility.