Wing Commander 4: The Price Of Freedom - Strategy Guide (Page 02)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Wing Commander 4: The Price Of Freedom - Strategy Guide (Page 02).
One expansion disk has been released for Privateer -- Righteous Fire.
This begins with your alien gun being stolen form your ship, and
concentrates on your attempts to retrieve it. You never do.
2.3.3.1. The Privateer / Strike Commander CD-ROM
-------------------------------------------------
Another recent release of Origin's, this CD contains the enhanced
versions of both Privateer and Strike Commander on one disc. Both
games come with their expansion disk (Tactical Operations for Strike
Commander, Righteous Fire for Privateer) and full speech. Strike
Commander also has an expanded introduction sequence.
2.3.4. Wing Commander Academy
------------------------------
A game with no plotline whatsoever, WCA was designed to appeal to the
straight-out action gamers who prefer the dogfighting over the storyline.
All the ships from WC2 plus a couple of new ones and a mission builder are
included.
2.3.5. Wing Commander Armada
-----------------------------
Much as WCA was designed to appeal to those who wanted to be able to create
their own missions, Armada is aimed towards those who want a multiplayer
Wing Commander game. Like Academy, there is no storyline to follow, but
several new features not found in previous WC games are present. Not only
can the player fly in "Gauntlet" mode, a straight shoot-'em-up where wave
after wave of increasingly powerful enemy ships is thrown at them, but a
new "Armada" mode is present, which is a strategy game requiring the player
to manage planetary resources and build up a fleet to hunt down and destroy
his/her opponent. Battle sequences in Armada mode place players in the
cockpit so they can directly affect the outcome of each battle, creating an
interesting mix of strategy and action.
Most players agree that Armada's strengths lie in its multiplayer
capabilities. Using a high speed modem, NetBIOS-compatible network, or a
split-screen mode on a single computer, two pilot jockeys can both climb
into their own fighters and play head-to-head or cooperatively. A recently
released patch also adds a six-player mode and IPX network support.
Needless to say, the multiplayer modes add a new dimension to the game not
found in previous WC products.
*2.3.6.* Wing Commander novels
-------------------------------
Three novels set in the Wing Commander universe were published prior to
WC3's release: _Freedom Flight_, by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon (the
head writer for WC2), takes place during SM2, and has Paladin and Hunter as
the main characters. The novel goes into detail on the Kilrathi defectors
who were briefly mentioned in SM2 (and of which Hobbes from WC2 and WC3
was the leader), and gives the reader a good look at Firekkan culture.
_End Run_, by Christopher Stasheff and William R. Forstchen, features
Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky (SO1) as the protagonist and tells the story
of how he is assigned to a new ship, the Tarawa, which is sent on a
suicide mission into Kilrathi space. Other WC figures who are major
characters in the novel are Paladin, Hunter, Sparks, and Admiral Tolwyn.
_Fleet Action_, written by William R. Forstchen, is a direct sequel to
_End Run_, picking up where its predecessor left off. The Kilrathi launch
a major counteroffensive against the Confederation, who must come up with
a last-ditch plan to avoid annihilation.
_Heart of the Tiger_ is a recently-released novel adaption of WC3. Though
not released until after the game, it is included here for convenience; see
section 9.9.4 for more details.
*2.3.6.1.* What are the ISBN numbers of the WC novels?
-------------------------------------------------------
Several FAQ readers have asked me for more details on these novels so
that they could order them through their local bookstores, so here they
are:
_Freedom Flight_, by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon. Published
in 1992 by Baen Books. ISBN 0-671-72145-3.
_End Run_, by Christopher Stasheff and William R. Forstchen.
Published in 1994 by Baen Books. ISBN 0-671-72200-X.
_Fleet Action_, by William R. Forstchen. Published in 1994 by
Baen Books. ISBN 0-671-72211-5.
_Heart of the Tiger_, by William R. Forstchen and Baen Books.
Published in 1995 by Baen Books. ISBN 0-671-87653-8.
2.4. Who's this "Bluehair" guy?
==================================
In WC 1 & 2, the player can choose any desired name and callsign for the main
character, who has no name of his own. While these games were in development,
Origin nicknamed our hero "Bluehair," a reference to the dark blue tint the
artists gave to his hair. Since then, the nickname has been adopted by gamers
of the online community as a convenient "handle" when discussing the main
character in the first two Wing Commander games.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
*******************************************************************************
3. Technical questions
*******************************************************************************
3.1. What are the system requirements for Wing Commander III?
================================================================
3.1.1. How fast does my processor need to be?
----------------------------------------------
The official requirement is a 100% compatible Intel 486DX2/50 or greater
processor, though many people (myself included) have found gameplay
satisfactory on a 486/33. In other words, if you only have a 486/33, you
should be able to run the game just fine, but don't say that Origin never
warned you if it runs too slow for your tastes.
It should be emphasized that non-Intel processors are NOT supported by
Origin, though AMD chips seem to work fine with the game. Cyrix processors
have several known compatibility problems with WC3, and will not function
properly.
3.1.2. What kind of video card do I need?
------------------------------------------
The game runs on any VGA-compatible graphics card, though a fast VESA or
PCI local bus card will help matters greatly. Of course, an SVGA card is
required to play the game in SVGA mode.
Note that "Windows accelerated" video cards may or may not perform well in
standard DOS VGA, SVGA, or both. Since WC3 is a DOS-based application,
with SVGA support provided through use of the VESA 1.2 SVGA extensions, the
game's performance will depend on your video board's speed in these modes,
which may not be as fast as its Windows performance. However, the normal
VGA mode should run at acceptable speeds with almost any video board,
assuming your system meets all the other requirements.
3.1.3. How much RAM do I need?
-------------------------------
8 megs are required; anything above that will primarily help cut down on
the loading times before missions, cinematic cutscenes, and pauses in
combat when the game loads sound effects for the first time (which is not
necessarily a minor issue).
3.1.4. Do I need a CD-ROM drive? How fast?
--------------------------------------------
Since Wing Commander III is a CD-ROM only release (no floppy version has
been or will be released, like all of Origin's future products), yes, a
CD-ROM drive is required. The official requirement is a double-speed
drive; a single-speed will run the game, but the video playback may be
choppy, pausing every few seconds to let the CD-ROM drive catch up. (On
the other hand, I've talked to at least one person who was able to run
the game with a fast single-speed and get very few pauses at all... proceed
at your own risk, I guess.)
3.1.4.1. Will I need to worry about disc swapping?
---------------------------------------------------
No. Even though the game comes on multiple CDs, once you finish
playing on a disc, you'll be able to load the game from the
following disc every time thereafter.
3.2. Does Wing Commander III take advantage of a math coprocessor?
=====================================================================
No. If it did, then the game would not run on 486SX or SX2 systems, which
still represent a significant market share of Origin's target audience. The
only other option would be to write two separate versions of the game, one for
486SX systems and the other for 486DX systems; unfortunately, this would have
added too much time to the development cycle.
3.3. Frame rates
===================
3.3.1. What kind of frame rates can I expect?
----------------------------------------------
These estimates, of course, are just that -- estimates -- and actual frame
rates will vary from system to system; however, here's a chart (officially
released by Origin) detailing how fast, in fps (frames per second), WC3
should run on your system during an average combat mission with a few
Kilrathi:
VGA SVGA SVGA (with fast local bus video card)
486/33 12 4 10
486/50 16 10 14
486/66 20 13 18
Pentium/60 24 15 20
Pentium/90 24 15 24
Pentium/133 30 20 29
Note that the local bus SVGA figures are optimal; some local bus video
cards are faster than others, so you may not get those numbers if your card
isn't among the fastest available. All of these figures are averages for
space combat with other fighters... around capital ships, the game will run
about 3-5 frames fps slower.
Cinematics should run acceptably in VGA on any system that meets the
minimum requirements, and can probably run in SVGA on a 486DX2/66 or
faster. Slower systems (i.e., a 486/33) will probably be able to run the
cinematics in VGA, albeit with occasional pauses in the video playback.
3.3.2. How can I tell what frame rates I'm getting?
----------------------------------------------------
During spaceflight, pressing Ctrl-F will toggle a little frame rate monitor
in the corner of the screen. Note that this is different than the Alt-F
keystroke that was used to do the same thing in the demo.
You cannot check your frame rate during the cinematics, but they should
always run at a constant speed anyway.
3.4. How big (in terms of disk space) is Wing Commander III?
===============================================================
The game takes up FOUR CD-ROMs, so somewhere between 2 and 2.5 gigabytes. A
minimum of of about 20 megabytes of hard drive space will be required for a
swap file that WC3 creates; you have the option of installing another 40
megabytes of data to the hard drive to speed up loading times between missions
and such.
3.5. Does Wing Commander III support both a VGA and SVGA mode? At what
resolutions?
==========================================================================
Yes. Though designed as an SVGA application, Origin made sure that WC3 runs,
first and foremost, as a VGA game in the standard 320x200x256 resolution. The
high-resolution SVGA mode (640x480x256 in spaceflight, 320x400x256 for the
cinematics) is an optional feature that will run acceptably on some systems and
not on others (see the frame rate chart in section 3.3 above). The user also
has the option of running the gameplay and/or cinematic sequences independently
in either SVGA or VGA mode... whichever is best suited for their system.
It should also be noted that if, during spaceflight, the system can't keep up
with the graphics at the resolution the user has set, gameplay is not slowed
down -- frames are skipped so that game time still passes at the same rate. In
other words, the game will get choppier, but not slower (not much, at any
rate).
3.5.1. When can I switch between the VGA and SVGA modes?
---------------------------------------------------------
Any time you want. You aren't limited to doing it only between missions
or anything like that; it can be done with a single keypress at any point
during gameplay. The game will even (optionally) switch between video
resolutions for you automatically, dropping down to VGA if the frame rate
gets too slow, and then jumping back to SVGA when it climbs back up.
Cinematics, however, can not be changed on the fly -- you need to wait
until the clip you're watching is over, and then head towards the nearest
computer terminal on your ship to change the game settings (or,
alternately, you can run the WC3 setup program from DOS and change it from
there).
3.5.2. Is the graphic detail level configurable?
-------------------------------------------------
Somewhat. You can set the game to low, medium, or high detail, which
determines the amount of texture mapping that is done (see section 3.8).
On high detail, all ships and objects are texture mapped, medium detail
takes the texture maps off the capital ships, and low detail has all
ships drawn using only polygons.
This detail level is independent of the VGA/SVGA setting.
3.6. Does Wing Commander III support the ReelMagic or any other MPEG cards?
==============================================================================
No. An MPEG version might still be released at some point in the future, but
this is unlikely.
3.7. What's the sound support like?
====================================
3.7.1. What sound cards are supported?
---------------------------------------
Wing Commander III supports the following sound cards:
Ensoniq Soundscape
Gravis Ultrasound
Gravis Ultrasound Max
Pro Audio Spectrum
Roland Sound Canvas
Roland RAP-10
SoundBlaster
SoundBlaster Pro
SoundBlaster/16
SoundBlaster AWE-32
Any other General MIDI compliant sound hardware
3.7.1.1. Are the digital sound capabilities of the RAP-10 taken
advantage of?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. (Many games use the RAP-10 to play music, but require the player
to use another sound card for digital sound playback. Not WC3!)
3.7.2. Does WC3 have 16-bit sound effects?
-------------------------------------------
Yes, all sound effects are in 16-bit stereo.
3.7.3. Can WC3 play multiple digital sound samples simultaneously?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. Wing Commander III can play 32 different digitized sound samples
simultaneously.
3.8. Does Wing Commander III use bitmaps or polygon-based graphics?
What's the difference?
======================================================================
WC3, like some previous Origin releases (Strike Commander, Wings of Glory),
uses texture-mapped polygons instead of plain bitmaps (as previous Wing
Commander games did). For those of you who aren't familiar with the
advantages of a polygon-based graphics engine, allow me to explain...
The first two Wing Commander games use bitmaps to represent the ships and
other objects in space. The ships themselves are actually centered at a
single point in space, and their boundaries are defined by an invisible box
surrounding that point. Note that their boundaries are defined by a 3-D
_box_, rather than the shape of the ship you see on the screen... that's why,
for example, gun shots that come really close to an enemy (but don't actually
hit his image on the screen) explode in the space next to him and still do
damage -- they hit the invisible box surrounding the ship. As this box flies
around space and tries to shoot you, a 2-D image of a spaceship is placed on
it that is changed to reflect what angle you're looking at the box from. Thus,
all of the ships in the first two WC games are actually flying boxes that just
have _pictures_ of one-man fighters slapped on them.
Still following? Good. Now, a polygon-based engine -- the kind WC3 uses --
is much different. Rather than having their boundaries defined by an
invisible box, objects are made up of geometric shapes... a cylinder might
represent the body of a plane, two triangles could represent for the wings,
and so forth. These boundary-defining shapes _are_ visible to the player,
unlike the flying boxes of WC1 and 2. Since a ship made up of plain polygons
can look a bit ugly (take a look at some flight simulators from four or five
years ago), various techniques are used to improve their appearance. WC3 uses
"texture mapping", which means that a texture (a "texture" being a picture of
anything from a sheet of glass to a certain color of metal to a picture of a
pilot in a cockpit) is placed on these bare polygons to give them a more
attractive appearance.
The final result? Ships that still look really cool, but that are much more
clearly "defined." There are many more advantages to this than just NOT having
your gunfire hit the space next to your opponent and still do damage... check
out section 4.2 for some examples of what is made possible by the use of the
polygon-based flight engine in Wing 3.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
*******************************************************************************
4. Gameplay issues
*******************************************************************************
In some ways, WC3 scarcely resembles its predecessors; the SVGA graphics make
everything four times as sharp, combat moves at a faster pace, and some things
(such as the capital ship and planetside combat) are an entirely new experience
altogether.
4.1. Is the flight model in WC3 the same as in previous WC games?
====================================================================
Yes and no. There are two flight models available in WC3 that the user can
choose between: the traditional WC flight model, as in WC1 and WC2, or a new
flight model (similar to the one used in X-Wing) where your ship will roll
whenever you yaw (turn left or right).
4.2. What are capital ships and capital ship combat like?
============================================================
This is one of the areas most improved over previous WC games. The days when
all capital ships were little more than big, ugly-looking, sluggish fighters
that waited for you to fire your guns and blast them to kingdom come are gone.
In WC3, the capital ships are huge -- some are thousands of times as long as
your ship, in fact -- so when you fly up to one, you really are struck with a
sense of awe rather than a sense of boredom. The detail on them is tremendous;
you can easily see little windows dotting the hull, or fly over and look at the
flight deck. The really neat thing is, these aren't all just for decoration,
either... you can actually fly around _inside_ of a ship's hangar (this is made
possible by that wonderful polygon technology talked about in section 3.8).
Actual combat with capships is much more involved, as well. Destroying a
carrier in the earlier WC games often involved little more than a few strafing
runs, unloading your guns each time, until you broke through the shields and
armor (or, in the case of some of the ships in WC2, sitting there until you got
a torpedo lock and _then_ firing). Either way, it was fairly monotonous and
generally not very challenging. In WC3, this is no longer the case... you'll
probably need to make several attack runs at a capship, dodging a flurry of
laser blasts and trying to pick off gun turrets with your blasters each time
before it's safe enough to try and destroy it.
4.2.1. Manual takeoffs and landings
------------------------------------
In WC3, takeoffs and landings do not have to be automatic; you have the
option to do them manually by adjusting your speed appropriately and
steering your ship into or out of the hangar bay. Not terribly complex,
but more interesting than simply flying next your carrier and letting the
automatic landing system kick in (though you can still do that if you get
lazy.) ;)
4.2.2. Collision detection
---------------------------
Unfortunately, WC3 has some problems detecting collisions with large ships.
Sometimes crashing into a ship will eat into your shields and send you
careening off in another direction (as it should), but other times you will
actually fly _into_ a capital ship's hull, turning the screen into an odd
mess of polygons... and then probably crash trying to fly out. This
doesn't impede gameplay very much, since you don't often go smashing into
capital ships, but needless to say, it doesn't do much for the suspension
of disbelief...
4.3. What are the planetside missions like?
==============================================
There are four ground missions in Wing 3, all of which are important to the
plot. Planetside combat was designed with playability rather than realism in
mind, so the game doesn't take any actual aerodynamics into account... there
really aren't any real-world physics to worry about. Your ship's "repulsors"
negate the effects of gravity, and you also don't have to worry about g-forces,
engine stalls, or other similar considerations present in most flight sims.
These same repulsors limit you to an altitude of 1,000-2,000 meters. For all
practical purposes, planetside missions are just like space combat, though
you've got terrain to avoid crashing into and a special indicator that appears
on your HUD which monitors your orientation with respect to the ground.
Mission objectives usually include strafing runs on ground targets.
Unfortunately, the terrain is pretty barren; there are no forests, rivers,
deserts, oceans, or anything... simply an endless array of jagged mountains and
valleys, rendered in monochromatic shaded polygons with no texture mapping.
Atmospheric flight isn't particularly breathtaking, but it does at least serve
to add some variety to the missions you fly.
4.4. How many different ships comprise the Terran and Kilrathi fleets?
=========================================================================
The Terran Confederation has five types of capital ships and fighters at its
disposal, two of which have rear gun turrets (complete with computer-controlled
gunners who take over for you when you're not using them). The Empire of
Kilrah has a more varied population of ships in their fleet, with eight kinds
of fighters and seven kinds of capital ships. None of the old WC1/WC2 craft
are used.
4.5. What new technologies are the Terrans armed with that I can use?
========================================================================
In addition to the five new types of fighters in WC3 that the player will
have a chance to fly, the Confederation has also discovered the secret of
cloaking technology, so you'll be able to fly a stealth ships during one
mission.
4.6. How much control do players have over the missions they fly (e.g.,
their ship, wingman, weapons loadout, etc.)?
==========================================================================
You're allowed to choose who your wingman will be, what ship you'll fly, and
your ship's weapon loadout for each mission. You won't be able to choose
which pilots fly on the other wings -- that's generally not even an issue in
the game.
4.6.1. How does the weapon selection work?
-------------------------------------------
The guns on your ship are fixed and can't be changed, but you always get to
allocate your missiles however you like. Unlike the weapon selection in
Strike Commander, you have an unlimited supply of ammunition, and a heavy
payload won't affect flight dynamics, either.
This doesn't, however, mean that you'll want to load up your ship with as
many Friend-or-Foe missiles as you can each time you fly a mission, because
they're slower and pack less punch than other missiles (such as regular old
heat-seekers) that are harder to get a lock with. It's a tradeoff, and
you'll have to make a decision about your payload based on what kind of
opposition you think you'll be facing. Choosing the appropriate weapon
loadout for the task at hand may make a significant difference in your
performance in battle.
4.7. How good is the artifical intelligence in WC3?
======================================================
Excellent. Not only are your wingmen very effective (you may have a bit of
trouble when you start out matching their kill tallies), but the Kilrathi are
intelligent, too, especially on later levels... they even employ group tactics
to try and fry you.
Different wingmen also have distinct flying styles, ranging from a reckless
near-suicidal approach to combat to a more cautious attack methodology.
4.8. What other notable game features are present in Wing Commander III?
===========================================================================
4.8.1. The 3-D navigational map
--------------------------------
The first two WC games used a two-dimensional navigation map to show the
area surrounding the player. The obvious failing of this system is that it
could not show Z coordinates; the map might have the player's ship directly
on top of a jump point, when in reality he/she was a hundred thousand
clicks _above_ the destination.
WC3 employs an actual three-dimensional nav map to give the player a better
idea of his/her surroundings. The map can be rotated on all three axes and
zoomed in and out so that the environment may be viewed from any angle and
any distance.
4.8.2. Power management
------------------------
You can allocate your ship's power among engines, weapons, shields, and
damage control during battle.
4.9. What game features _aren't_ present in Wing Commander III?
==================================================================
4.9.1. The "virtual cockpit"
-----------------------------
No 3-D cockpit was included in WC3, primarily becuase it slowed things down
too much in SVGA mode and became more of a hindrance than a help. The
usual left, right, and rear views are present instead.
You can still turn the cockpit off altogether, though -- the WC3 ships all
have a HUD, so vital information remains on the screen when the cockpit
graphics are turned off.
4.9.2. VCR replay mode
-----------------------
There wasn't enough time in the development cycle to include one.
4.9.3. Color communications consoles
-------------------------------------
They tried, but the space color palette didn't support flesh tones very
well.
*4.9.4.* Can you go back and replay specific missions?
-------------------------------------------------------
Not technically -- though since you have a vast number of savegame slots,
you can build your own mission library as you work through the game.
4.9.5. Can you transfer old characters from WC2 to WC3?
--------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, no.
4.9.6. Multiplayer modem and/or network support
------------------------------------------------
Not WC3. If you want multiplayer Wing Commander, then give Wing Commander
Armada a try (see section 2.2.5.).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
*******************************************************************************
5. Cinematics and storyline mechanics
*******************************************************************************
5.1. What distinguishes the cinematics and storyline in Wing Commander III?
==============================================================================
There are two fundamental differences between the cinematics in WC3 and those
in WC1 and 2. First, the live acting; all of the cinematic sequences are
played out in full motion video by live actors, rather than being hand- and
computer-drawn as in the first two games. This has numerous advantages,
including the fact that a wider variety of camera angles is present, rather
than the frontal face shots that were used nearly exclusively in WC1 and 2.
Secondly, the cinematic sequences are no longer completely passive. The player
can now choose how he/she responds in certain situations by selecting one of
several choices from a list of possible dialogue responses. This, in turn,
alters the way the story unfolds, so two people who play the game with
different dialogue choices may experience quite a different plotline. (A
normal movie script is about 120 pages; the script for WC3 is 300 pages long
so that all of the different outcomes and dialogue choices were covered.)
5.1.1. In what ways can choices made during the cinematic sequences alter
the storyline?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are a few times -- maybe four or five spots in the game -- where
choosing a particular course of action will have major ramifications on the
rest of the story. Your actions might inadvertantly cause the death of one
of your wingmen, for example, or you may have the chance to start a
romantic relationship with a shipmate. The rest of the choices will only
determine how the current scene is played out, and possibly have an impact
on a pilot's morale, but this doesn't affect their flying ability
drastically. Grouchy pilots, however, are less likely to follow your
orders... or, in the case of Maniac and Flash, are *more* likely to follow
your orders.
The importance of all these seemingly insignificant storyline choices,
however, should not be discounted. Though most of them have no major
effect on the game outside of the cinematics, all of them help insure that
Blair acts the same way the player would in a given situation. Whether the
player realizes it or not, these choices will make him/her better able to
relate to his/her alter ego in the game (Blair)... a vital element for
drawing them into the story.
5.1.2. Can your wingmen actually die during an average mission, or are
there safeguards built in to prevent this?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In WC1, when your wingman is shot down, he or she dies, no longer to assist
the player in any future missions. In WC2, in order to preserve the story
continuity, a wingman would instantly eject before their fighter was
destroyed (remember G.I.Joe?), since the way the story was written made it
hard to remove a character without seriously disrupting the continuity of
the plotline.
In WC3, most of the missions follow the WC2 method of the "automatic
ejection seat." However, after a certain point in the game, if your
wingman is shot down in combat, he or she will die, so there _is_ an
element of danger involved.
5.2. How is live acting integrated into the cinematic sequences?
===================================================================
All acting was done in advance in front of a green screen -- which is, as the
name suggests, a cloth backdrop spray painted green. The background sets,
which encompass everything from the throne room of the Kilrathi Palace to the
hangar deck on your carrier, are rendered on Silicon Graphics workstations (the
same ones used in the making of Jurassic Park). After the acting is done and
the backgrounds have been generated, they are overlaid on top of the green
backdrop in the film footage. The result is a video sequence with live actors
in a very realistic-looking computer-generated environment.
5.2.1. How much live acting is contained in the cinematic sequences?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
About three and a half hours of footage was filmed for the game. Of
course, you won't see all of this playing the game through just once, since
it has a branching storyline.
5.2.2. Why don't some of the actors look like their characters?
----------------------------------------------------------------
During the casting for Wing Commander III, the primary concern was finding
actors who could accurately portray the Wing Commander characters'
personalities; physical appearance was secondary. While it was certainly
nice to find an actor or actress who not only was able to play the role
well but also looked like the character in mind, this wasn't always
possible, as in the case of the actor taking the role of Paladin (John
Rhys-Davies).
5.2.3. How is the acting for the Kilrathi characters accomplished?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Think "Darth Vader", and you'll have a pretty good idea. An actor wears
an elaborate costume (made by the same group who did the masks for the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, by the way), and acts out the motions
for his character in front of the camera. Facial expressions and lip
movements on the robotic masks are controlled by another technician
off-camera, and voices are dubbed in later by a separate voice actor.
The combination works quite well. The Kilrathi _do_ look like puppets, but
very convincing ones -- their movements, voices, and facial expressions are
very lifelike, and it's easy to lose yourself in the movie and forget that
they're just some guy wearing a mask.
5.3. How good do the final cinematic sequences look?
=======================================================
This is obviously a difficult question to answer... not only because it's hard
to define in words, also because it's largely a matter of opinion. My personal
views are that the video is very well done. The video quality isn't the
greatest -- it's heavily dithered, and objects sometimes leave faint "streaks"
when they move around on the screen (this effect is difficult to describe if
you haven't actually seen it), but frankly, it still kills anything else I've
ever seen on my lowly 486/33, and most people I've talked to who own higher-end
systems were equally impressed. Once I watched it for a few minutes, it seemed
almost as good as regular TV.
The acting surprised me the most; it's actually good! No one's going to win
any Oscars for their performances, but they honestly aren't that bad... at
least as good as your average TV show, and certainly better than most (if not
all) computer games to date. The artifical elements blend in really well,
too... the computer generated backgrounds do not look at all unreal once all
of the video has been overlaid, and while it's easy to tell that the Kilrathi
characters are fake (see section 5.2.3.), the facial expressions and
lip-syncing of the electronic masks are well done and their movements are very
lifelike.
Of course, these are my own opinions, and are subject to your own whims and
preferences. Personal mileage may vary.
| « Previous Page | Next Page » |
