EA gives us another freebie as part of its On The House program on Origin with Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger.
Ok, so I don’t expect you to get overly excited about saving $5 on a twenty year old game that you may never heard of but hear me out for a moment. Wing Commander was one of the first massively popular space-flight-shooters of its time. Not only was it unique in its day, but it also featured great graphics. Some even argue that this series is the spiritual predecessor to Mass Effect.
As far as gaming innovation, this game also holds a special place — This was one of the first games to include full motion video. At the time, it was thought that full motion video would become the future for not only cut scenes, but actual gameplay. Fast-forward to today’s games and you now see that full motion video has been turned into motion capture techniques.
Even if you don’t appreciate the game’s place in time or technical contributions, just look at the cast. Mark Hammil and Malcolm McDowell were considered somewhat crazy at the time for agreeing to do this game. In the present day, it is common place to have celebrities taking voice roles and more in video games. Look at Kevin Spacey’s upcoming role in the next Call of Duty game and you might better understand how long ago this trend was started.
What have you got to lose? It’s free!
Paul Novak is a self described Polish ninja toiling away as an IT professional but more into gaming and writing. Physically existing in the west side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet existentially flowing with the ether of the Internet. Found here at What’s Your Tag? and on the Twitter @dudewantshisrug. Game on with Team XBRO!
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Anything with McDowell, Hamill and John Rhys Davies get’s a big thumbs up and waggy tail from me
Everyone that cared about this game probably already owns it. I’m not interested at all in this. I know it’s a classic to most people, but I want something recent not this.
I wish they have away more recent games but it is up to EA what they are willing to give away.
There are people that have not heard of this game and this could help introduce them to the series.
I understand that, but it’s still a disappointing free game. Why not give away something like the first Mass Effect game, Alice Madness Returns, or how about one of the Medal of Honor games? Instead we get Peggle and now this.
I really can’t complain though since it’s free. It’s just disappointing.
EA is giving away cheap games in hopes of drawing people into Origins. They did give away one of the Dead Space games in months past. I would think if they gave better games it would draw more attention. Perhaps Origins will get a program like EA Access that was just announced for Xbox One. That could be interesting.