''Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' is the first sequel in
Chris Roberts' ''
Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
''
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
space combat simulator
A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.
Overview
Some games in th ...
franchise of
computer games, produced by
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...
.
Released in 1991, ''Wing Commander II'' retains much of the first game's core conventions: an interstellar war between the
Terran Confederation and the
felinoid warrior race called the Kilrathi, multiple allies as wingmen, and a wide variety of ships on both sides of the war. However, ''WCII'' places a greater emphasis on storytelling, providing various sprite-animated cutscenes and some of the industry's first examples of
voice acting
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
. The storyline is also somewhat less open-ended: the game's campaign tree is much more structured and the
player character can no longer be promoted or awarded medals. Wingmen can no longer be killed during normal gameplay; when their fighters are damaged beyond repair, they eject (though some die in scripted sequences). Finally, because the story is a direct sequel to ''WC'', many Kilrathi ships have names similar to the ''WC'' ships they replace (for instance, the "Sartha" replaces the "Salthi", and the Confederation uses an upgraded version of the Rapier medium fighter).
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
s ''Special Operations 1'' and ''2'', were released in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and a stand-alone spin-off, ''
Wing Commander Academy
''Wing Commander Academy'' is a 1996 American animated television series produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, along with a team led by Larry Latham. The show was based on the Wing Commander franchise and loosely served as a prequel to ''Wing ...
'', in 1993. Origin also released a ''Speech Accessory Pack'', which upgraded ''WCII'' with pre-recorded voice acting.
A port for the
SNES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...
by
Fujisankei Communications International
Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. (FCI) is the American arm of the Fujisankei Communications Group, a Japanese media conglomerate of television and radio channels, magazine, newspaper, record and video game companies. The Fujisankei Co ...
was announced for May 1995, but never released. A
Sega Genesis version was also planned but never released.
Gameplay
Gameplay of ''Wing Commander II'' is similar to the
first ''Wing Commander'' game: a
space flight simulation game
A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.
Overview
Some games in the ...
, with the player piloting a ship, completing missions, and engaging enemy ships of various capabilities. There will generally be an AI-controlled
wingman
A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation.
According to t ...
which the player can give orders to. The graphics, audio, and AI were improved for ''Wing Commander II'', along with new ships and weapons, and animated cut-scenes featured voice acting. Like the first ''Wing Commander'', missions will generally include multiple objectives. But the mission tree is much more structured and less open-ended: the game can proceed even if the objectives in the "winning" path are failed as long as the protagonist survives, but the player must successfully complete the missions in the "losing" path for the game to continue. Also, the player character can no longer be promoted or awarded medals. Wingmen can also no longer be killed during normal gameplay, and they eject when their fighters are damaged beyond repair (although some do die in some of the scripted cut-scenes).
Plot
Wing Commander II
The year is 2655. The TCS ''Tiger's Claw'', pride of the Terran Confederation's fleet, is on campaign in the Enigma sector, near the Kilrathi sector headquarters, the ''K'tithrak Mang'' starbase. In a sudden attack, it is lost with all hands, save a few pilots who had been transferred off, and one who was out on patrol: the player's character, whose name and
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
are specified by the player. Origin personnel, in these days, called him "Bluehair" after his most defining feature; in ''
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'', his name was changed to Christopher "Maverick" Blair. Blair's claims that some sort of "Kilrathi
stealth fighter" destroyed the ''Claw'' are summarily dismissed, especially since his
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...
is damaged. He is court martialed for treason (reduced to negligence, without the flight recorder as evidence), demoted to Captain, and branded as "The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang". Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn attempts to force Blair to resign; when Blair refuses, he is transferred to InSystem Security and exiled to Caernarvon Station in the backwater Gwynedd system.
Ten years later, Blair, flying a patrol, is startled to engage Kilrathi fightercraft in the area. Not long after, Admiral Tolwyn's flagship, the TCS ''Concordia'', shows up on sensors, under heavy attack by a Kilrathi cruiser and her fighters. Blair and his wingman Captain Elizabeth "Shadow" Norwood together save the ship, and he is briefly reunited with some of his friends from the ''Claw''—Colonel Jeannette Devereaux, Lieutenant Colonel Mariko Tanaka, the Kilrathi defector Colonel Ralgha ''nar'' Hhallas, Captain Etienne Montclair, and Major Zach Colson— used to assist in the attack on the Kilrathi cruiser, before being packaged back to Caernarvon. Colonel Devereaux requested a transfer for Blair to the ''Concordia'' but on the flight back, Blair states to Shadow that he probably won't get reassigned due to his past with Admiral Tolwyn. But Blair and Shadow have barely returned when the ''Concordia'' is attacked again, and an explosion on the flight deck has crippled her ability to launch fighters. In the ensuing battle, Shadow is killed, Blair triumphs, and Tolwyn, ever-mindful of the need for good pilots, takes The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang onto his flagship.
Blair's time there is not particularly easy. At least one pilot, Captain Dirk "Stingray" Wright, believes the slander spread about the ''Claw''
's destruction, and he and Blair's stauncher supporters (Tanaka, ''nar'' Hhallas, Devereaux) are frequently at odds. The flight deck explosion, a bizarre murder, and radio transmission records suggests that there is a traitor aboard the ''Concordia''. Tolwyn frequently credits Blair's successes to his wingmen (particularly ''nar'' Hhallas). Though Maverick encounters Kilrathi Strakha stealth fighters several times, his black box always manages to malfunction or be destroyed. His repeated claims regarding the invisible ships frustrate Devereaux, who despite her belief that he didn't have anything to do with the destruction of the ''Tiger's Claw'' does not believe his statements about the cloaked ships.
Not long into the campaign, Blair's oldest friend Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka approaches him with terrible news: the Kilrathi have her
fiance
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
Phillip. He was captured some ten years earlier when the ''Tiger's Claw'' defended the Firekka system from Kilrathi attack, and the Kilrathi are demanding her betrayal in exchange for his release. Even worse, Phillip is being held on the captured Heaven's Gate starbase, which ''Concordia'' has orders to destroy. In the end, Blair and Tanaka are assigned to the strike, but sabotage cripples Spirit's plane. With no recourse, she rams the station, destroying it, her fiance and herself in one herculean explosion. The news is not all bad, though: shared grief over their friend draws Blair and Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux into a budding romance.
Despite tragedy and setback, the tide begins to turn. Maverick and Angel fly a critical mission in which they trace a Kilrathi destroyer back to the ''K'Tithrak Mang'', placing its location for the first time in the history of the Enigma Campaign. Blair is finally able to clear his name when he and Zach "Jazz" Colson engage Strakha stealth fighters and return, flight recorders intact, to tell the tale. Following an altercation with Angel when he reveals classified information he should not know, Jazz reveals that he, in fact, is the traitor who has been responsible for the message leaks, sabotages and murders, Blair is able to apprehend him. Finally taking matters into his own hands, Blair flies a single-handed strike against ''K'tithrak Mang'', destroying it and defeating Imperial Crown Prince Thrakhath ''nar'' Kiranka in combat. If the campaign has not gone so well, ''Concordia'' jumps back to Gwynedd and Blair destroys a Kilrathi invasion fleet preventing a disastrous strike against
Terra
Terra may often refer to:
* Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess
* An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet
Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy
* Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...
.
''Special Operations 1''
Establishing immediately that the
canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
ending involves Blair destroying ''K'tithrak Mang'', the newly promoted Colonel Blair, along with Colonel Ralgha "Hobbes" ''nar'' Hhallas, is scheduled for a transfer to the "Special Operations" division of Intelligence, under Col. Taggart, who is Chief Field Officer of Intelligence and Special Operations in the Enigma Sector. Their transfers are delayed, however, by increasing Kilrathi presence in the Pembroke System, including the brand-new ''Gothri''-class heavy fighter; even worse, the Rigel Supply Depot is attacked by ''Confederation'' ships, which open fire on Blair when he arrives to investigate.
The hostile fighters are from the TCS ''Gettysburg'', a ''Waterloo''-class cruiser. She was stationed in the N'Tanya system, where a Kilrathi colony has been undergoing a rebellion against the Empire. Loyalist Kilrathi citizens were allowed to leave N'Tanya peacefully, but the ''Gettysburg''
's skipper, Commodore Cain, ordered his pilots to open fire on their transports. The entire flight group, led by Wing Commander Colonel Ransom, Lieutenant Colonel Poelma, and Lieutenant Jason Bondarevsky, mutinied against the order to kill innocent civilians, and Cain was dispatched back to Confed HQ. The mutineers soon parted ways: Ransom wanted to live as a pirate, while Poelma and Bondarevsky were all for returning to Confed. It was Ransom's group that captured the Rigel depot; Poelma and Bondarevsky, in the meantime, have been promised pardons by Confed C-in-C. Blair is assigned to bring them back to the ''Concordia'' and destroy the Rigel depot. In doing so, he gets a chance to try out the Fleet's newest torpedo bomber, the YA-18A ''Crossbow'', which the ''Gettysburg'' was field-testing. The returning ''Gettysburg'' crew was acquitted, and Bondarevsky in fact promoted and decorated for his integrity.
Taggart arrives aboard the ''Bonnie Heather'' and retrieves Blair and ''nar'' Hhallas, as well as Major Edmond, the ''Concordia''
's communications officer, for their Special Operations duties, which will take place on Olympus Station in the Ghorah Khar system. Like N'Tanya, Ghorah Khar is in rebellion, and Taggart's Special Operations involve helping these rebels succeed, in the form of contributions of leadership, pilots and
matériel. Blair also helps intercept a Loyalist
dead drop, replacing the invasion plans contained within with Confed-developed plans that will lead the Kilrathi fleet into an ambush. The Kilrathi arrive in far more force than anticipated, and Maverick and Hobbes fly several strikes against these attack groups.
At this point comes an unexpected complication: Taggart is ambushed at a jump point and the ''Heather'' crippled. All seems lost when another flight of Kilrathi ships jumps in, but they start shooting the ''first'' flight. Blair and Hobbes arrive, drive them off, and rescue an ejected Kilrathi pilot to see if they can get some answers. This ejected pilot turns out to be none other than Crown Prince Thrakhath ''nar'' Kiranka: the second flight, he explains, was an assassination attempt led by Khasra, a cousin of Thrakhath, in a bid for the throne of Kilrah. Though Thrakhath is imprisoned in the brig, a power failure allows him to escape; he grabs Hobbes's Crossbow and sorties out to avenge himself upon Khasra. Blair, attempting to retrieve him, is forced to help out, and the war's two best pilots together make short work of the Kilrathi rebels, while Thrakhath escapes.
The remaining Kilrathi fleet attempts to destroy Olympus Station once and for all; Olympus's flight group is already seriously thinned, and their communications have been jammed. Blair, leading the defense, knows his chances are grim, until a group of pilots from the ''Gettysburg'' (with Bondarevsky announcing their presence to Blair), sent along by a concerned Admiral Tolwyn, saves the day. With Ghorah Khar securely in Confederation hands, the N'Tanya, K'arakh and Shariha colonies manage to successfully rebel against the Empire. Thrakhath, with tons of military intelligence in his head, takes advantage of the fact that the Enigma Sector fleets are distracted with Ghorah Khar and captures Deneb Sector Command in less than six hours.
''Special Operations 2''
Blair's leave on Akko Base in the Canewdon System is cut short, but he doesn't mind one bit: Zachary "Jazz" Colson, the traitor from ''Wing Commander 2'', has been sentenced to death, and Maverick will be escorting his prison ship. However, a distraction allows the Mandarins, a society of human traitors that Jazz belongs to, to hijack the ''Bastille'' and free Jazz. When he returns to the ''Concordia'', Blair discovers that a new squadron has arrived: the Wild Eagles, under command of Todd "Maniac" Marshall, flying the experimental ''Morningstar'' heavy fighters. Almost immediately the Morningstars show their problems: their jump drives don't work very well, forcing Blair to jump out and rescue an ejected pilot, Captain Maria "Minx" Grimaldi. She's very thankful for the rescue. Finally, while on patrol, Blair encounters a crippled Kilrathi ''Dorkathi'' transport, which surrenders. A Mandarin agent on board reveals that this freighter, the ''Gamal Gan'', was headed to Ayer's Rock, the Mandarins' home base. This is the first indication that the Kilrathi are actively aiding the Mandarins, though the player has known for a while: one of the game's opening scenes shows the Emperor ordering a Mandarin to capture a Morningstar using them.
The Mandarins begin transmitting propaganda movies, specifically the hijacking of several Terran freighters. The raids are quite clearly led by Zach Colson. The crews of the freighters are eventually traded for several Mandarin prisoners. Even worse, Thrakhath's ambitions are realized when a Mandarin traitor sets off a bomb on the ''Concordia''
's flight deck and steals a Morningstar. The traitor, Maria Grimaldi, heads for Ayer's Rock; clever deployment of Kilrathi patrols prevent Maverick and Maniac from following her.
Deciding that it's time for some cover agents of their own, Paladin takes over the ''Gamal Gan''. He renames it the ''Grimalkin'' and transfers Maverick and Maniac back to Special Ops. Hiding two Morningstars aboard the ''Grimalkin'', the three infiltrate the Ayer system. The Morningstar's torpedoes are supplemented by a new weapon: the "Mace" tactical nuclear missile. Though unguided, it can be detonated manually by the launching pilot, and does
splash damage
Splash Damage Ltd. is a British video game developer specialising in multiplayer first-person shooter video games. The studio is best known as the creators of '' Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory'' and '' Enemy Territory: Quake Wars''.
History
...
to whatever's in range. Minx makes it to an escape pod, but escape pods are not enough to prevent radiation poisoning. Jazz stole her Morningstar, giving Maverick the opportunity to shoot him down before returning to the ''Concordia''. In a humorous scene, Maniac's Morningstar, which broke down just after launch for the mission against Jazz, is seen drifting and deserted in space, evidently neither Blair nor Paladin cared to rescue him (Maniac returns, hale and hearty, in the next game in the series, ''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger''). Thrakhath once again turns defeat into victory, by savaging the 6th Battle Fleet; the Confederation is forced to retreat, once again, from the Enigma sector.
Reception
''
Computer Gaming World'' in 1991 called ''Wing Commander II''s story "mesmerizing" and the game "clearly excellent". The magazine concluded that it "flies right and plays not only on one's computer, but also on one's emotions".
In a 1992 survey of science fiction games the magazine gave the title five of five stars, calling it "a sequel worthy of the name", with improved graphics, story, and gameplay.
That year the magazine named it one of the year's top four action games.
A 1994 survey in the magazine of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game four-plus stars out of five, stating that it was "probably the game responsible for putting the
Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...
on the map as the ''de facto'' standard for
sound cards
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio ...
".
The game received 5 out of 5 stars in 1992 in ''
Dragon''.
In 2012,
G4 TV ranked it as the 71st top video game of all time.
[Top 100 Video Games of All Time #71 - Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi – G4tv.com]
/ref>
It was winner of the 1991 Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...
for ''Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game''.
See also
* Deneb Sector
References
External links
*
{{Origin Systems
1991 video games
Amiga games
Cancelled Sega Genesis games
Cancelled Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
DOS games
FM Towns games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
Origins Award winners
Science fiction video games
Space combat simulators
Video game sequels
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Dana Karl Glover
Video games scored by George Sanger
Video games scored by Martin Galway
Video games with expansion packs
Wing Commander (franchise)