Subtitled
Heart of the Tiger, this
sci-fi space flight simulator by
Origin Systems was released in 1994 as a
sequel to
Wing Commander II. WC3 was very advanced for its day, using some
full-motion video in select parts of the game, and up to a
640x480, 256-color, 24 frame-per-second display mode during space flight. Like the rest of the
Wing Commander series, this game required what was
top-of-the-line hardware when it was released. A rather large game, it occupied 4 CD's.
Game play involves choosing and flying one of five kinds of fighter or torpedo bomber spacecraft for you and your wingman. The spacecraft available are the Arrow, a light fighter; the Hellcat V, a medium fighter; the Thunderbolt VII and Excalibur, heavy fighters; or the Longbow, the torpedo bomber. You then proceed to fly from your aircraft carrier, the TCS Victory, and kick Kilrathi ass. There are many kinds of missions, such as patrol duty, defending or escorting the carrier or an allied vessel, rescuing a fellow pilot, or attacking an enemy ship or planet.
Unlike many games of its day, your progress is not only determined by how well you play. The video sequences, which generally occur on the carrier and are conversations between your character and another member of the ship's crew, occasionally stop and require you say one thing or another to the person you're conversing with. The decisions you make in these conversations may affect what missions you will fly or even the outcome of the game.