Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (PC/DOS) Part-3, 1994, Origin Systems

After a retreat to the Alcor System, Paladin arrives. He reveals that before Angel was captured, she transmitted data indicating that the Kilrathi home world is seismically unstable. Paladin suggests a weapon called the Temblor Bomb which, if dropped in the right place, will cause the planet to shake itself to pieces. Before they can complete the bomb, Hobbes kills one of the Victory's pilots, Lt. Laurel "Cobra" Buckley, steals her fighter and makes for Kilrathi space with news of the planned T-Bomb attack. Blair has the choice of chasing him or letting him go. If he gives chase, he kills Hobbes, the carrier is attacked, and Lt. Mitchell "Vaquero" Lopez is killed in the fight. Either way, afterwards Blair finds Hobbes left a message locker, explaining that he was brainwashed long before he met Blair, and this brainwashing led him to defect to the Confederation. His original personality was reactivated by the code phrase "heart of the tiger", the Kilrathi name for Blair.
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Blair has the option to choose to initiate a romance with Flint or Rachel. Flint refuses to fly with him if he chooses Rachel, Rachel refuses to help him with his missile loadouts if he chooses Flint, and both are bitter with him if he chooses neither. Blair launches against Kilrah, with up to three wingmen of the player's choice. This attack comes just as the Kilrathi prepare for a massive and devastating strike against Earth, intending to finally force humanity into submission with the loss of their home planet. After successfully downing Prince Thrakhath above Kilrah (and Hobbes, if he was not killed earlier), Blair descends to the surface and delivers the bomb. The resulting explosion destroys Kilrah and wipes out nearly the entire Kilrathi armada assembled in orbit, but damages Blair's fighter as well; a surviving Kilrathi capital ship tractors him in. Morally devastated by the destruction of their home planet, the Kilrathi, commanded now by Thrakhath's retainer Melek nar Kiranka, surrender to Tolwyn. The surviving Kilrathi begin to colonize a new homeworld and now want to live in peace and harmony with humans while Blair and his romantic interest make plans to start their new lives together.

[@tiefensucht]

one of those few perfect games that did everything right. sad that there will be never be a game like this again. i was so overwhelmed playing this as a kid. the outstanding atmosphere, the musical score, i even felt with the characters, something that most tv series don't manage to accomplish. on one hand story & dialogues were cheesy, on the other hand somehow convincing and believable. maybe it's just nostalgia ;-)

[@grizofferuss]

When this came out when I was 14 I lost my shit. I had a PC that could handle it, a CH Pro. Everything I needed. Got the game for Christmas. Damn good Christmas.

[@frilansspion]

The mechanic of having a wing-man is such genius design. The radio chatter etc that ensues really adds to the cinematic feel. Kinda wished they had expanded on working with a bigger wing/team and tactics. Not so much a fan of the dialogue decisions (even though some interaction is welcome), its so vague what affects what. Really appreciate that you show all choices.

[@buggerlugz6753]

You really need to try out Privateer 2: The Darkening , great old DOS game from back in 1996! I think you'd really enjoy "future wars" and "Operation stealth" from Dephine software (really worth checking out!)

[@thriftweeds]

I have Privateer 2 The Darkening and i bought it when it came out in 1996, it had better and more fluid controls than Wing Commander series i also have gameplays from those two in my channel "Future Wars" & Operation Stealth"

[@buggerlugz6753]

@@thriftweeds - Great minds eh!! The glory days of gaming, when it was good!

[@eval_is_evil]

I would give up my left kidney for a remake

[@gustavosantos106]

+1

[@tiefensucht]

or a whole new wing commander

[@dougc190]

Nice. took the ending without one of the girls. While I like this game, I did not like how they change the way the ships looked. Nothing looked familiar from one or two. I played Wings Commander 3 like I did Wing Commander 2. WITH A VENGEANCE!! Still mad about Tiger's Claw getting destroyed.

[@raymondyee2008]

01:28:53 so now we know the T-Bomb works. There’s still hope after the loss of the Behemoth.

[@raymondyee2008]

02:29:33 good ending. Somehow Chris Roberts took note of Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star with his X-Wing and he thought: “…..hmmm now why not I do that to Kilrah to win the war? Oh and instead of Proton torpedoes I use a big fat nuke and call it the T-Bomb” Thus how we got to this; without the T-Bomb you’ll end up with the bad ending.

[@d1rty5anchaz57]

Hell yeah. I assume you played on PC and not Dreamcast

[@Napoleonic_S]

looking back, my god that audio fx is so horrid, it's so excessive, I think the audio people designed the audio with literal 80s philosophy....