Wing Commander Prophecy - A quick review

Archived from groups: alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance (More info?)

I've had a go at the game some time ago.

I agree about how hard it is. I played the PC version many years ago and
had no problems in the beginning. But the GBA version I got killed right
away, leaving blinking in surprise.

This game should have been saved for the NDS. It woudl have given them more
time to iron out the bugs that have been already pointed out.

But this is probably the best Space Sim possible on the GBA, and same
nothing like this wasn't tried with the SNES.

"CK" <zsimo64@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:2owPc.606$_o3.518@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
> Since I asked about this game earlier, I thought I'd write a quick review
> since I bought it (for a fiver!).
>
> My main question is.... Why didn't they do Wing Commander 1 instead? It
> would've introduced the series to a new platform, and allowed the sequels
to
> come in order. There are other reasons for WC1 to be the more ideal game
for
> the GBA, which I'll come to.
>
> Graphics
>
> It's hard to fault the graphics, very impressive for the GBA, fully 3D
> flight engine, reasonable detail, and the capital ships do look big. Even
> the missiles leave trails, and small animated video's for when people use
> the comm. However, Prophecy on the PC used FMV, which doesn't make it onto
> the GBA version, instead using text boxes, which don't quite capture the
> same mood. Don't get me wrong, you can still follow the story, it just
loses
> some of its impact. If it was WC1 they had remade, they could've easily
> remade the flight engine, the animations, the talking at the bar, and
> include the flight simulator which isn't in this version.
>
> Sound
>
> The worst part of the game, poor soundtrack looped over every minute or so
> (possible less), poor sound effects, no big explosions. But the Speech,
the
> insults, and death screams, are pretty good. But I would prefer explosions
> and better laser and missle sounds. Again, with WC1, as its a smaller
game,
> the full soundtrack could've been included (which is an excellent
> soundtrack) and the sound effects would've been slightly improved.
>
> Gameplay
>
> Good grief this game is hard. I'v played a lot of Space sims, and this is
> the hardest. If you don't hit Select (counter measures) as soon as lock
come
> on, and hit the burners and turn, you're sheilds are gone, and if you
don't
> find who's shooting at you and turn to meet them, you'll be dead in around
> 10 seconds. Maybe I'm rusty, but I don't remember Freespace or earlier WC
> games being that hard. Also, you're wingmates are pretty useless, rarely
> killing anyone. But by far the worst thing is the obscure Mission
briefings,
> which are now just text due to cart size, making some missions incredible
> hard because you don't really know what you're supposed to do. (P.S if
> anyone can tell me what to do on "Treasure Hunt" I would be really
> grateful!). Another annoying thing is the simplication of taking out
Capitol
> ships, its rediculously easy! You can't target seperate systems, or
weapons,
> it just keeps taking damage, allowing you to take a capital ship in about
30
> seconds, since they can't really shoot back. Final thing is the Targetting
> is hopeless really, it automatically targets the first thing in your front
> view and keeps it, whether its friend of foe. This can be extremely
> frustrating when there are a lot of allies on screen between the foes. But
> despite these short comings, the game is playable, it does capture the
> essence of space dogfighting.
>
> But I'm still lefting wondering, why choose Prophecy? And, has the GBA got
> enough buttons to accurately portray a Space sim? Could really use another
> button, just for targetting...
>
> Comments welcome!
>
>