5. Wing Commander IV: The Price Of Freedom (1995)
Wing Commander IV is a giant among the now mostly forgotten flight sim genre. But you know what you get when you drop six bucks for it? Two hours of Full Motion Video featuring Luke Skywalker hanging out with Biff Tannen, Gimli (Son Of Gloin), and Tolian Soren. That's a nerd fourfecta if there ever was one. I'm sure older gamers will be shocked that I didn't go for the original Wing Commander - and two of my friends will likely disown me for recommending any Wing Commander game other than Privateer. But The Price Of Freedom is the Wing Commander game I keep coming back to. The reign of FMV games in the mid-90's is kind of the disco years for video games. It's surprising how most of us have forgotten its few highs and numerous lows. Wing Commander IV is one of the few FMV-themed games that actually works. It has a full, complete game between the cut-scenes, which were professionally shot on film instead of video. They're a cut above most FMV, but not much better than the average syndicated sci-fi show from the same period. But it's great to see so many character actors enjoying themselves. And since it's a branching narrative, you can make Luke Skywalker do your bidding. How cool is that? I rather like its story, too - which is a decent entry point for new players. In short, Mark Hamill and company have been fighting an alien race of goofy-looking cat people for decades. In the last game, Hamill's character pretty much pulled a Luke Skywalker (funny that...) and blew up the enemy's entire planet with one carefully placed torpedo. The Price Of Freedom picks up a few years later (thankfully, without any goofy-looking cat people). The war is over and not everyone is comfortable living in peacetime. Civil war is brewing. I love stories about what a generation does after its great war has been fought and won, about how the hardliners need to keep fighting because it's all they know. It's the only action game I know that ends in a dramatic courtroom showdown. The fact that Wing Commander IV pulls it off is a feat unto itself.