#flight combat sim

Strike Commander

After the grand splash of the first installment, Wing Commander II had been a refinement for fans that wanted a deeper exploration of this new universe. Aside from its second mission pack, 1992 was a bit of a gap year for Wing Commander. The company’s focus seemed to be on the release of the ambitious Ultima VII: The Black Gate, and the Wing team was otherwise occupied. The series wasn’t forgotten, however. Ports of the first game were being released in multiple platforms. The first licensed Wing Commander novel, Freedom Flight, hit shelves, penned by Wing writer Ellen Guon. The universe was expanding, even as the games took a brief break.

As mentioned earlier, Chris Roberts’s attention was elsewhere during the development of WCII and its expansion packs. His new permanent position as Director of New Technologies meant he had to pursue projects that pushed the envelope for, well, technology. Strike Commander was that project.

A-10 Cuba!

In the early 90s, gaming enthusiasts in possession of an Apple computer were in a comfortable spot. As Mircosoft worked hard on becoming the dominant business software company in North America, the gaming market was very much divided and ports, often of varying quality, were ubiquitous. For many a home computer, this turned out to be quite the struggle, leaving demanding games either to their more powerful cousins or having them reduced to bland graphics and choppy frame rates.