_Wing Commander Arena_ is an Xbox Live arcade game based off the Wing
Commander space combat franchise. The game is set in 2701 and the player is
sent to the Frontier to destroy the remains of the Kilrathi Empire in decay.
Unlike the other games in the series, Arena is much more action-oriented with
a full focus on the dogfights in space, turning it into an arcade game.

There are 2 different game modes. In the multi-player mode up to 16 players
can go free-for-all or play in teams. In one of the game modes, players can
organize armadas to attack opposing capital ships. These ships are made up of
3 levels of defence. The player-controlled fighters need to defend their own
main ship and attack the enemy capital ship at the same time. After breaking
down one level of defence (usually consisting of missiles and turrets), a new
level becomes visible, with the third being the bridge, after which the ship
is blown up and the game is won. In another game type players defend their
satellite in a capture-the-flag mode, or go one-on-one in duels. In the
bearpit mode players can watch duels from the sidelines and play mini-games,
or shoot at each other or inside the bearpit.

In the single-player mode, there are new ships to unlock through different
modes: training levels, melee battles or missions where only asteroids need to
be blown up. Players can choose from 18 ships (9 Terran Confederation and 9
Kilrathi), all of which are upgraded versions of ships appearing in earlier
Wing Commander titles. Each race has 3 main ships: a light fighter
(Arrow/Darket), a heavy fighter (Rapier/Dralthi) and a bomber
(Broadsword/Paktahn), with different variations based on the upgrades changing
the ships’ design.

Unlike the previous games, the first-person perspective has been traded for a
3rd-person view on a 2D plane, with the third axis only for special maneuvers
such as barrel rolls, flips, immelman turns, 180 turns and devices and moves
only available for specific ships. There are 8 game maps, leaderboards and
achievements. During gameplay, players can collect power-ups that restore the
shield or fill up missiles, provide additional damage (hammer shot/cheap
shot), or rare items causing wingmen to appear, energy absorption or
supershields.