Wing Commander: Armada

Publisher: Origin (Electronic Arts)
Release Date: 1994
Review Date: April 1996
Operating System: DOS
Rating (1-10): 5
This is perhaps the first true fusion of a strategy game with a first-person shooter, though it falls way short as the former. Armada is hugely stripped-down with respect to every feature of Orion, except for combat and (to some extent) the universe model. The universe model is three-dimensional, though it's still static, and it still represents each star system as a single, immobile entity. In the area of space combat, though, Armada brings the entire Wing Commander engine to bear, with outstanding results.

Armada's "killer feature" was multi-user play via modem or network, but the simplicity of the game rendered this somewhat unexciting. I won Armada the first time that I ever played it, and so far, I've never lost against the computer. I imagine that competition against an opponent of my skill would turn into something of a crap-shoot, since the strategy is so simple!


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