Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
| Wing Commander IV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) |
Anthony Morone (director) Frank Roan (lead) |
| Composer(s) | George Oldziey |
| Series | Wing Commander |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation |
| Release date(s) |
MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS PlayStation |
| Genre(s) | Space combat sim |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Aggregate score | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 83.75% (PC) 66.44% (PS) |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Game Informer | 7.75/10 (PS) |
| Maximum |
  (PC) |
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is the fourth main game in the Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator video game series, produced by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts for the PC in 1996 and the Sony PlayStation in 1997 (the game was also released on the North American PlayStation Network Store in 2009).
The first game set after the end of the Terran-Kilrathi War, Wing Commander IV depicts a galaxy in the midst of a chaotic transition, with human civilians, Kilrathi survivors and former soldiers on both sides attempting to restabilize their lives. A novelization, by William R. Forstchen and Ben Ohlander, was published on October 1, 1996.
The game includes a large number of branching conversations in which the players must choose what response their character, Christopher Blair, will give; the choice may affect the other person's attitude toward Blair, the morale of the entire crew, the player's next assignment and even the game's ending.
As the man giving the orders, Blair often gets to choose what ship he will fly, what missiles it will carry, and what wingman (or wingmen) he will take with him.
The war between the alien Kilrathi Empire and the Terran Confederation has been over for several years. Confed is attempting to stabilize its economy and social structure. The Kilrathi survivors, now led by Melek nar Kiranka, retainer to the late Prince Thrakhath, are having greater problems than they had during the war, since their racial and societal makeup revolves around hunting and killing. Tension between the Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds has deepened, most recently with an attack on an unarmed medical transport. This transport is destroyed by a wing of mysterious fighters equipped with a new anti-ship weapon that incinerates the target's contents, leaving only a burning shell behind.
James 'Paladin' Taggart (John Rhys-Davies), a senior governor of the Assembly, declares that the Assembly must cast a vote on whether or not to declare war on the Border Worlds, with Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn (Malcolm McDowell) assigned to a fact-finding mission which will essentially decide the issue. Colonel Christopher 'Maverick' Blair (Mark Hamill), retired, is trying to make out a living on a desert world as a farmer, when he is recalled to active military service by Tolwyn. Within five minutes of Blair taking the cockpit, the station he's heading to is attacked by an Avenger-class fighter claiming Border Worlds allegiance. Border World claims that similar strikes that have occurred on their ships are ignored. Tolwyn assigns Blair to the TCS Lexington with the task of unraveling these tensions and getting to the bottom of the story. Blair is reunited with Lexington's new captain, William Eisen (Jason Bernard), Major Todd 'Maniac' Marshall (Tom Wilson), and Lieutenant Winston 'Vagabond' Chang (François Chau). Blair also meets Lieutenant Troy 'Catscratch' Carter (Mark Dacascos), a Kilrath-o-phobe who joined the military a couple of years too late.
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