Back Wing Commander 2 German Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi Finnish Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi French Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi Italian Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi LLD Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi Malay
| Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | Stephen Beeman |
| Producer(s) | Chris Roberts |
| Writer(s) | Stephen Beeman Ellen Beeman |
| Composer(s) | Martin Galway Dana Karl Glover The Fat Man |
| Platform(s) | DOS, FM Towns |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Space combat simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi is the first sequel in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems.
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. 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 packs Special Operations 1 and 2, were released in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and a stand-alone spin-off, Wing Commander Academy, in 1993. Origin also released a Speech Accessory Pack, which upgraded WCII with pre-recorded voice acting.
A port for the SNES by FCI was announced for May 1995,[6] but never released. A Sega Genesis version was also planned but never released.[7][8]
- ^ a b "Three IIs". The Guardian. September 26, 1991. p. 31. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
For space combat fans, Mindscape is now shipping Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi, for PCs with 640K of memory.
- ^ "The Figures". The Wing Commander Universe Bible. Origin Systems: 8–9. February 5, 1995.
- ^ "Wing Commander II". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 6, 1991. p. 27. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
Hot New Product//Available Sept. 7th
- ^ "Wing Commander stands the test of time". The Sydney Morning Herald. August 19, 1991. p. 16. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
The sequel, Wing Commander II -- Vengeance of the Kilrathi, is due out for release at the end of September.
- ^ "Plenty of action - at a price". The Sydney Morning Herald. September 23, 1991. p. 19. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
Wing Commander II is expensive...Distributed by Mindscape, the game is only available in IBM compatible format.
- ^ "Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi". GamePro. No. 69. IDG. April 1995. p. 133.
- ^ "More Up 'n' Coming Titles". Mega. No. 18. Future Publishing. March 1994. p. 93.
- ^ "Welcome To The Next Level: 1994 And Beyond... - Sega Genesis". Sega Force. No. 5. Sendai Publishing. July 1994. pp. 8–26. Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-12-04.