{"id":5264,"date":"2022-08-17T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/17\/wing-commander-iv-remastered-revitalizes-a-pc-gaming-classic\/"},"modified":"2022-08-17T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T22:17:11","slug":"wing-commander-iv-remastered-revitalizes-a-pc-gaming-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/17\/wing-commander-iv-remastered-revitalizes-a-pc-gaming-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Wing Commander IV: Remastered revitalizes a PC gaming classic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wing Commander 4 was a cutting-edge blend of FMV and space-sim action when it debuted in 1996, but\u2014like most graphically-intensive videogames from that era\u2014it hasn’t aged particularly well. But a fan-made project aims to give it a much-needed facelift, with a new engine, assets, and upscaled cutscenes.<\/p>\n

“Gaming has moved on significantly over the last few decades and, while hugely impressive at the time, the game engine has perhaps not aged quite as gracefully,” the Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom \u2013 Remastered<\/a> website explains. “This project is a fan attempt to allow owners of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom to enjoy a more modern experience by loading the files from the original game into a new engine, complete with specially created, high definition assets.”<\/p>\n

To my eyes, though, the real magic is in the FMV scenes. Generally speaking, mid-’90s FMV looks terrible these days, and that’s definitely the case with the Wing Commander games. But higher-quality Wing Commander cutscenes have actually been available for quite some time now, thanks to a largely-unknown DVD edition<\/a> of the game. Those videos have been “further enhanced by AI upscaling,” and while it’s still not exactly an IMAX experience, it is pretty impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video quality, that is: The quality of the dialog, direction, and acting is another matter entirely, and while I would never willfully disrespect Mark Hamill or Malcolm McDowell, I don’t think anyone would argue that this is their best work. (Personally, I would argue that it is<\/em> better than the work of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard in the actual Wing Commander film<\/a> from 1999, but that may be because I’m still bitter at having paid actual money to see it.)<\/p>\n

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Anyway, back to the point: While Chris Roberts’ directorial ambitions have always fallen a little short, Wing Commander 4 itself is unquestionably a groundbreaking space combat sim, and if you want to experience it now I think this would definitely be the way to do it. And, fortunately, you can: A “very early” demo<\/a> of the Wing Commander 4 remaster is now available for download. It’s dependent on the original Wing Commander 4 to operate\u2014you can pick that up for a fiver from GOG<\/a> or Origin<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[#item_image]Wing Commander IV: Remastered revitalizes a PC gaming classic<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Wing Commander 4 was a cutting-edge blend of FMV and space-sim action when it debuted in 1996, but\u2014like most graphically-intensive videogames from that era\u2014it hasn’t aged particularly well. But a fan-made project aims to give it a much-needed facelift, with a new engine, assets, and upscaled cutscenes.<\/p>\n

“Gaming has moved on significantly over the last few decades and, while hugely impressive at the time, the game engine has perhaps not aged quite as gracefully,” the Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom \u2013 Remastered<\/a> website explains. “This project is a fan attempt to allow owners of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom to enjoy a more modern experience by loading the files from the original game into a new engine, complete with specially created, high definition assets.”<\/p>\n

To my eyes, though, the real magic is in the FMV scenes. Generally speaking, mid-’90s FMV looks terrible these days, and that’s definitely the case with the Wing Commander games. But higher-quality Wing Commander cutscenes have actually been available for quite some time now, thanks to a largely-unknown DVD edition<\/a> of the game. Those videos have been “further enhanced by AI upscaling,” and while it’s still not exactly an IMAX experience, it is pretty impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video quality, that is: The quality of the dialog, direction, and acting is another matter entirely, and while I would never willfully disrespect Mark Hamill or Malcolm McDowell, I don’t think anyone would argue that this is their best work. (Personally, I would argue that it is<\/em> better than the work of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard in the actual Wing Commander film<\/a> from 1999, but that may be because I’m still bitter at having paid actual money to see it.)<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Omega)<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, back to the point: While Chris Roberts’ directorial ambitions have always fallen a little short, Wing Commander 4 itself is unquestionably a groundbreaking space combat sim, and if you want to experience it now I think this would definitely be the way to do it. And, fortunately, you can: A “very early” demo<\/a> of the Wing Commander 4 remaster is now available for download. It’s dependent on the original Wing Commander 4 to operate\u2014you can pick that up for a fiver from GOG<\/a> or Origin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}