As for the game itself, Wing Commander: Prophecy features a totally redesigned engine (unlike WC4, which had a modified version of the WC3 engine). The graphics engine in the latest WC game is simply amazing: it can render ships with thousands of polygons, has excellent, high-detailed textures, and amazing 3d sound. If you have a 3D graphics card, you even get extra features such as colored lighting, textured space and lens flare. And it's very, very fast . . . while the box reccomends a Pentium 133, I found that it ran pretty well on my Pentium 90! I can't wait to see how it will run on my Pentium II at school.
Gameplay is equally amazing. I can safely say that Wing Commander: Prophecy is the best WC game in terms of gameplay. The game has literally dozens of weapons, and the engineers back on the Midway are inventing new ones and adapting alien technology. Some will work, while other experimental weapons will fire and fly around in circles. The basic design of the game has not changed since Wing Commander 1. You get your mission, which can be one of dozens of different kinds including recon, search and destroy, escort, defense, etc. Flying the mission involves proceeding to the nav points in order. In most missions, however, something unexpected will happen: for instance, you may be called upon to leave a battle and help a fellow wing defeat the enemy, or return to the carrier and find it under attack. And as always, success or failure on one mission affects the proceeding missions.
Music and sound effects are excellent as usual, with "The Fat Man" George Odlzey providing the amazing orchestral score, as he has done with every Wing Commander game. As an added bonus, the game also features eight or so techno/hard rock tracks from a band called "Cobalt 80," which accompany the several "Simulator" missions in the Midway. These tracks are really great, and Origin must think so too: they're planning a WC music CD to be released this week.
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