When Kickstarter really took off, I told myself that I wouldn’t use Tap as a forum to promote every single Kickstarter that our readers ought to support if they’re really our friends. And I’ve done pretty well thus far, I think!
But Cloud Imperium’s Star Citizen is, put simply, the most exciting game I can think of coming out in the next few years. It has the outstanding Wing Commander pedigree (courtesy of designer Chris Roberts) and aims to resuscitate a genre thought dead. And as we speak there are only days remaining to help Star Citizen reach even more outrageous levels of funding.
I’ve already said what I would have gone on to say about the starfighter sim genre, in my first ever article for Tap! (The circle, as they say, is now complete.) So if you need convincing, read that.
If you don’t, go ahead and show Star Citizen some love – before it’s too late!
I will be watching this project with extreme interest. Wing Commander, particularly IV and V, consumed the entirety of my existence from 1996-97. There was TIE Fighter redux, and Descent Freespace, but nothing ever really carried the torch from the heights of WC. But now there’s a chance. Maybe space sims had to die, only so they could be reborn all the more glorious.
I recently watched some youtube videos of old, original Wing Commander gameplay. Oh that midi music brought back a wave of fine memories. I played 1 & 2 and perhaps an expansion. I sort of lost interest after that – when the FMV craze started to kick into high gear. Other than X-Wing and Tie Fighter, I never went back to the genre. Not sure why exactly, although I guess it seemed that the old WC magic had been lost.
This project looks really good. Ultimately, I didn’t contribute, but more for budgetary reasons than anything. That they were already safely past their goal had a little to do with it as well. It’s nice to see Chris Roberts getting back into the game, as it were.