| Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Origin Systems |
| Year released | 1991 |
| System(s) | DOS, FM Towns |
| Preceded by | Wing Commander: Secret Missions 2 |
| Followed by | Wing Commander II: Special Operations |
| Series | Wing Commander |
| Designer(s) | Chris Roberts |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Flight simulation |
| Modes | Single player |
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi is the first sequel in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems.
Released in 1991, Wing Commander II retains much of the first game's core conventions: an interstellar war between the Terran Confederation and the felinoid warrior race called the Kilrathi, multiple allies as wingmen, and a wide variety of ships on both sides of the war. However, WC2 places a greater emphasis on storytelling, providing various sprite-animated cutscenes and some of the industry's first examples of voice acting. The storyline is also somewhat less open-ended: the game's campaign tree is much more structured and the player character can no longer be promoted or awarded medals. Wingmen can no longer be killed during normal gameplay; when their fighters are damaged beyond repair, they eject (though some die in scripted sequences). Finally, because the story is a direct sequel to WC1, many Kilrathi ships have names similar to the WC1 ships they replace (for instance, the "Sartha" replaces the "Salthi", and the Confederation uses an upgraded version of the Rapier medium fighter).
Expansion packs Special Operations 1 and 2, were released in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and a stand-alone spin-off, Wing Commander Academy, in 1993. Origin also released a Speech Accessory Pack, which upgraded WC2 with pre-recorded voice acting.