I want to start this Wing Commander Arena review off by stating unequivocally, those hoping to find a spiritual successor to previous Wing Commander titles are going to be sorely disappointed. The game does not have the “in the cockpit” style gameplay that made the series famous, nor does it feature FMV cut scenes, no voiceovers with Mark Hamil, and no epic single player space opera storyline.

With that out of the way, those of you who are looking for a nice little pick up and play spaceship blast ‘em up, complete with 16 player multiplayer support over Live … Wing Commander Arena may be just what the doctor ordered. Wing Commander Arena has a lot more in common with games from yesteryear like Subspace: Continuum than it does with the original titles it spawned from. Not that this is a bad thing as Subspace has hung around for over 10 years. Despite criticism that the title strays from it’s roots, it is my opinion that EA Canada has managed to pull out a fun little space shooter that is very much in the spirit of XBLA pick up and play mentality.

Gameplay:

Wing Commander Arena has a horrible demo that no doubt hurt sales of the title. XBLA demos are not allowed to have any multiplayer in them and multiplayer is the heart of what Wing Commander Arena is all about. Well, multiplayer and zooming around in a little fighter armed to the teeth. The game is set up to give the illusion of one being in a 3D arena but the truth of the matter is that you are locked onto a 2D plane. You control your plane with the left stick and the right stick can be used to do tricks such as looping around. Each ship has 2 different gun types (larger ships also get a backside gun they can use as well to make up for lack of maneuverability). You use a small reticule in front of your ship to aim, and some weapons will cause the reticule to turn red when you “lock on”. Every ship has an energy gauge that can be used to activate afterburners, and in addition some ships weapons, cloak, items, etc use energy as well. While the basic game play is fairly simple, your choice of ships combined with energy management, knowing when to gun and knowing when to run … all these factors combine to make some really interesting and engaging combat situations.

Graphics:

For an XBLA title I felt they really packed a lot of stuff into this title considering it came in at under 50 MB. There are a ton of different maps to explore and Wing Commander “fanboys” will appreciate many of the locales found on these maps. The artwork on the maps looks great and really sets the “space combat” tone of the game. There are 18 different ship models, some nice explosions and special effects. When it’s all said and done, this is just an XBLA title, but despite that EA Canada did a fantastic job of squeezing out as much from the game as they could.

Sound:

The sound in the title is nothing special but it does everything it should. Lasers sound like lasers, missiles sound like missiles, and explosions sound well … like explosions! The soundtrack is “ok” but nothing to write home about. Considering the size limitations of the title I was pleasantly surprised the game sounded as good as it did.

Longevity:

Wing Commander Arena features a multitude of multiplayer game modes ranging from 8-on-8 teamplay, 16 Player Free For All’s, Capital Ship Battles, Capture the Satellite, and Duels. Single player modes include Meteor Storm (which plays like a futuristic Astroids), and Melees, as well as a “Defend the Base” game mode that pits you against the AI.

On top of all these game modes there are also multiple ships to unlock (although it is still unclear to me what exactly one needs to do to unlock certain ships). There really is a lot of value packed into this game and the server selection is set up in such a way that makes it easy to find the game type you want. Due to the fact this title is based on the Wing Commander series I also suspect there will be a hardcore crowd that are playing this game for months if to come. It bodes well for the long term multiplayer future of the title.

Overall:

A week or two before Wing Commander Arena’s release, a massive 33 page game manual dropped onto the internet. 33 pages. How many other XBLA titles can claim that distinction? Despite the length of the manual, Wing Commander Arena is easy to pick up and play. This is exactly the type of game I expect to see on XBLA and the game play itself is a lot of fun with tons of variety thanks to the multiple game play modes. You can expect to see this title’s community hang in for awhile as well thanks to a rabid fan base, and this also makes the title a “safe bet” for those worried about the long term multiplayer community. Honestly for 10 dollars/800 MS Points you really can’t go wrong with Wing Commander Arena.