Wing Commander Arena

Wing Commander Arena is a video game developed by Gaia Industries and published by Electronic Arts on July 25, 2007. It is currently the last game in the Wing Commander franchise and is considered to be the worst game in the series.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) Unlike being a space combat simulator like the other games in the series, the game is just a generic multiplayer top down shooter that doesn't really do anything original.
 * 2) The game is super simplistic. All you do is mash buttons to attack the enemy pilots.
 * 3) As stated above, the game is a top-down 2D shooter in a 3D environment with completely different gameplay from the previous games. You fly around on a the x-axis and occasionally using the y-axis for maneuvers. This gameplay difference is makes the game feel nothing like a Wing Commander game.
 * 4) The graphics don't look very good for an Xbox 360 game. They are a lot more jagged and the color scheme is a little muted.
 * 5) Repetitive music that gets annoying pretty quickly. In addition, the music doesn't even loop. It just plays once and that's it.
 * 6) While the game is multiplayer focused, there is a single-player option, but it is just tutorials and practice for playing other people in multiplayer. No story mode, just a small amount of options.
 * 7) * This also makes the game feel as though it lacks content.
 * 8) Barely any plot to connect the game to previous entries in the series. All you get is a passing reference to the war against the Nephilim from the past game in the manual. This also a problem because the Wing Commander games where mainly plot focused and this game feels empty in comparison to many other Wing Commander games.
 * 9) Many of the achievements can only be earned by playing in multiplayer. However, due to the game having a low player count, it may as well be impossible to get these achievements. If you put achievements in a game, put them in single-player unless the game is multiplayer only.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The ship designs look faithful to the design choices of the series.
 * 2) One of the multiplayer modes has an interesting concept. There is a mode called "Bearpit" where there are one-on-one duels can be watched from outside the arena by other players. The twist is that the other players watching can actually shoot at the duelers.
 * 3) The game manual is very charming and has a design similar to the old manuals Origin made for their games.

Reception
Wing Commander Arena received mixed to negative reception upon release. The game has an aggregated critic score of 51/100 on Metacritic.

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