Kotaku
OK, let's get this out of the way: Wing Commander Arena isn't Wing Commander.
If you were hoping for cheesy graphics, cheesy cut scenes, a bit of Mark Hamill, maybe a cockpit view, you're going to be disappointed. If you can put all that behind you and try the game with an open mind, you might like what you see.
Wing Commander Arena is essentially an online only Xbox 360 game. Sure there are some single-player, off-line modes, but they're designed to just hone your skills for online play. While the game doesn't support split-screen gaming (a big disappointment to me), it does include a very robust online mode which can host up to 16 players at a time.
The game itself sort of plays like a super version of Galaga. You start the game by choosing your ship, each of which has it's own stats and weapon layouts, and then launch into space.
The left control lets you move right, left, forward and back, but nothing lets you move up or down, something that takes a big of getting used to. You use the right control to do things like barrel rolls, loops and strafing. The buttons let you fire weapons, drop bombs and change your views. But no matter how many times I pressed that view change button I couldn't get a view inside the cockpit.
I asked one of the EA guys about that and he told me that the cockpit view just didn't fit with this version of the game. Mostly, he said, because the game is so fast-paced and can have up to 15 others in the game dog-fighting with you. He also said it' a view that can make you motion sick... and I know what that's like.
I found the game fun to play, though it was hard to get over my initially disappointment that it was so very much not Wing Commander. It's fun to play, but I don't see why they bothered to attach that particular franchise to this game. Besides the look of the ships, there really wasn't much WIng Commander in Wing Commander.
