Wing Commander: Darkest Dawn, Fan-Made Goodness
Visuals and Gameplay
Wing Commander Saga's visual style takes its cues from Wing Commander 3 & 4's software-rendered polygonal engine. That's a bit disappointing if you loved the richer colors and lighting effects of Wing Commander: Prophecy -- which I did -- but Darkest Dawn's models and textures are amazingly good given the age of the Freespace 2 engine and the game's lack of development budget.
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Compare where we came from -- that's the Victory (Wing Commander 3) on the left and the Lexington (Wing Commander 4) on the right...
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With the TCS Hermes in Wing Commander Saga.
That's just the beginning of the eye candy. Here's a snapshot of some of the game's capital ships and fighters. All images are taken from in-game missions.
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Two legacy ships (the Ferret and the Sabre) alongside the Longbow bomber from WC4. There's just one mission in a WC2-era fighters, but they're just as lovingly detailed.
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Here are some shots of the TCS Bradshaw, a Lexington-class carrier. The Lexington pictured above is a Concordia-class carrier, a class that was named for -- but not the same as -- the Concordia you flew off in Wing Commander 2. Confused? So am I.
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And here we have the TCS Hermes, a Jutland-class carrier and your new home.
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The Kilrathi Fralthi II-class (above) and a Vaktoth and Dralthi below.
Darkest Dawn isn't just a pretty face; its missions play out in the expanded, multi-fighter style that was the hallmark of the series' later games. Instead of throwing you + a wingman against every flight, most missions pair you up with various fighter wings with specific roles to play, from bomber escort to point defense.
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Headed home after defending the civilians on Vega Prime
It's not uncommon to have upwards of 30 fighters (including hostiles) in flight at once, with 8-10 cap ships in total. Capital ships retain their Wing Commander characteristics and pack a wide range of anti-fighter turrets with some classes supplementing this with plasma cannons or similar weaponry. It's technically possible to attack capital ships in a fighter though, much the same way as its technically possible for a chihuahua to attack a tank.
