So I'm trying to introduce my buddy into the insane world of FMV games, and I figured I'd start with Wing Commander. However one and two don't feature the wicked FMV goodness. Do you think its alright to start with 3? Would there be enough back story to make it a viable start? Or should we start with number one and power through it?

Can you suggest other great FMV games? For better or worse?

This is a late response, but hopefully helpful.

The Wing Commander series is pretty solid when it comes to FMV and decent acting. Remember, this is a video game and a lot of the FMV stuff were poorly filmed and poorly acted. Most of the time they were done by non-names. Wing Commander actually tries to pull real actors into their video games. Not to say that its perfectly acted, directed and written, but it is a higher caliber for a FMV. You will recognize a lot of the cast who were already genre famous (Mark Hamill or Tom Wilson) or will become famous (The Iron Chef's Mark Dacosco).

I recall playing Dark Forces 2 around this time period which also have FMV for cutscenese. The acting, makeup and special effects are definitely a step down compared to Wing Commander.

You can also check out the Tex Murphy Adventures. Those games were FMV point and click adventures. Never played them, but they were popular and have a loyal following.

@Gladiator_Games said:

So I'm trying to introduce my buddy into the insane world of FMV games, and I figured I'd start with Wing Commander. However one and two don't feature the wicked FMV goodness. Do you think its alright to start with 3? Would there be enough back story to make it a viable start? Or should we start with number one and power through it?

Can you suggest other great FMV games? For better or worse?

Well I don't think any Wing Commander game before III had FMVs so you should be cool with that.

If your friend is into strategy games you should definitely check out the original pre-EA, Westwood-branded Command and Conquer games for their FMVs, too!