The 3D space combat has you sitting in the cockpit, where you control the craft like roll, turn, up/down, afterburner, as well as fire guns and launch missiles. Onboard the ship, you can save/load game, visit the bar to get the latest gossip, or go on to the next mission briefing, and the 3D space combat part.
Wing Commander is a space combat simulator interspersed with shipboard dialogs. Will you help the Confederation to victory, or go down in infamy? You're posted to Tiger's Claw, the flagship of the Confederation Fleet. You're a 2nd Lieutenant just out of the Academy, with some good work under your belt. The Confederation have been at war with the Kilrathi for the past 20 years, and you're just now joining the Vega campaign. As the primary goal of the game unfolds, you learn of the Confederation's campaign to take Vega Sector from the Kilrathi, an alien race bent on ruling the galaxy. In the first scenario, the player takes the role of a young Lieutenant who has just been assigned to the carrier ship Tiger's Claw, the pride of the Confederate Navy.
The storyline, of which a short segment unravels after each mission, has many plot devices rarely used before in a computer game of its type: character development, interpersonal conflict, ethics and more. Several things distinguish this title from other games upon its initial release: the graphics, music and sound are state of the art, surpassing most (if not all) other competing products in the industry at the time. Rather than modeling real-world physics with a completely accurate simulation of space flight, the game is designed to provide a fun, intense, first-person space dogfighting experience. Wing Commander, first released in 1990 by Origin Systems, is a flight combat game interwoven with a cinematic storyline set in the 27th century.