TIE Fighter: Collector's Edition (Win95)

TIE Fighter is a natural sequel to the X-Wing series, allowing you to play the Empire's side of the story. The game takes place between the second and third movies, and after X-Wing, so you won't be playing through the same missions again. Interestingly, you don't get the feeling that you're playing for the "bad guys" - there are few, if any, really overtly dirty missions like you would think the Empire would be famous for. The result is that you simply feel like you're playing for the opposite side of the Star Wars conflict.

X-Wing fans will be quite familiar with the way TIE Fighter plays, but there are enough unique improvements to make it interesting to veterans and newcomers alike. First, an improved multifunction display and advanced targeting commands give you greater tactical control. Keys have been included for functions such as targeting incoming warheads, the attacker of your currently selected target, ships that have just entered the area, etc. The new display provides you with a real-time 3-D image of your target, which allows you to know exactly which direction its guns are pointing, and assist in giving you a relative idea of where the ship is from your current position. Ship, shield, and system damage for your target are now shown in percentages, which are vastly more accurate than X-Wing's color indicators. All of these are welcome adjustments that help alleviate some of the frustration associated with the previous game.

Another huge area of improvement is with your wingmen. While X-Wing frequently left you hanging with dick in wind, the entire Empire now has your back. Missions cast you in squads of up to eight other ships, and earlier missions, before you gain serious rank and start leading, have you under the command of wingleaders. These guys issue commands, most scripted, some not, and help you feel like you're part of an actual fighting force. The AI seems slightly more adept at dogfighting now, and missions where groups are divided by tasks now go according to plan more often than they ever did in X-Wing. No longer will you be required to zap that Star Destroyer by your lonesome, instead, if you cover the bombing team well enough, they'll do their job. Finally, should you ever run into serious trouble, most missions allow you to call in reinforcements. You'll take a negligible hit to your score, but have anywhere from two to six heavy gunships show up and start kicking ass.

It's good to be bad.

If you're familiar with Star Wars, you might be confused as to why I mentioned the Empire attacking their own Star Destroyers in the previous paragraph. Well, that's not a mistake, and I was confused myself. You see, TIE Fighter takes its plot from the extended universe novels and such - all that stuff that supposedly took place between the movies, that I know nothing about, precisely because they weren't in the movies. Apparently during this time there was a civil war within the Empire, and a massive arms race among the factions. This is the primary plot of the game. The first few episodes have you fighting Rebels, as it should be, and they make a small appearance again toward the end. The vast majority in the middle, however, is a lot of petty infighting and TIE Fighter on TIE Fighter action.

Personally, I think this sucks. Fighting splinter factions of the Empire truly bored me, because it seems unnatural. X-Wings fight TIE Fighters, and TIE Fighters fight X-Wings. Furthermore, the game destroys what was the real fun of the first game - shooting large numbers of fast, but comparatively weaker enemies. Now you are that fast, weak enemy. It can be a fun challenge to drop an X-Wing in a ship with no shields, and you can outmaneuver Rebel ships so well that you can literally fly circles around them. I wasn't sure how fun it would be to pilot a ship that could be destroyed in two or three hits, but the extra speed certainly makes up for it.

However, once you abandon fighting the Rebels pretty early in the game, you fight a whole gamut of experimental prototype TIE Fighters. They're ugly, each model twice as fast as the last, and they all have varying torpedoes and shields. Each one basically takes the last, and adds a few bolt-on modifications until guns and engines and torpedo bays are sticking out every which way. Allow me to drive this point home: When I was in elementary school, I drew a picture of a tricked-out school bus that looked like the regular deal, but with extra tires, nitrous, and every conceivable form of ordinance sticking out from any available space on the frame, until the end result looked like a porcupine. LucasArts stole these drawings, and based their new TIE designs off of them. Even worse, a few episodes later, even the regular fighters and bombers now have shields. Shields! Lord knows I'm no fanboy, so lemme explain my ire. X-Wing was kept enjoyable because, though your enemies were faster than you were, this was balanced by the ability to destroy them in seconds once you lined them up. Now you're facing enemies that are four times as fast, and take ten or more hits to destroy. Of course, if you're stuck chasing them and not constantly shooting them, those shields regenerate again.

I suppose this is meant to keep the challenge high, or fit in with the mythos of some bullshit novel, but I do not approve. It makes playing the game overly frustrating, especially toward the end, where technology keeps improving, and ships keep getting faster, and better-protected. This is supposed to be evened out by allowing you to pilot the experimental TIEs yourself, and allow a fair match. Still, no matter how fast your own craft is, you still have to chase down a bunch of nimble, regenerating fucks. It gets even worse when the new "capture" torpedoes show up, which drain all your weapon energy, or freeze you in place for a few seconds. Once you're hit by one, you can expect to be hammered by more, over and over again, while you're down. Pack a lunch.

The power management system from X-Wing returns, forcing you to make tactical decisions about when to boost your engines, shields, or weapons. When you have no shields, it's an easy decision. When you get to the advanced fighters, you get a fourth device that drains from the energy pool - a beam weapon which limits a locked enemy's movement. Bingo, right? Just what you need! However, it's only available on limited ships, and must recharge like everything else. If you're locked in a dogfight with a single ship, it's a no-brainer that you should power that thing up and use it. Of course, it's taking away from your other resources, so if there's even a chance that another enemy could sneak up behind you, it's not worth the risk. Guess which situation happens more often. For the majority of the game, I simply drained the beam weapon to put extra power to my engines, because that seemed to keep me alive longer. Your personal mileage may vary, but at least you know it's there, and a welcome addition when you're actually in a situation where you can use it.

The Collector's Edition CD-ROM uses the X-Wing vs TIE Fighter engine, same as X-Wing CE. This is not a bad engine at all, and a vast improvement over the original DOS graphics. Space, again, is mostly empty, but ship models look great. You'll also be seeing a few more enemies on screen than in X-Wing. It still isn't quite up to the level of the third film, but at least you don't feel abandoned this time. Sounds is great as well, using the films' libraries to great effect. Characters are voiced competently, you get spoken briefings from your commander, in-mission reports from your wingmen, and optional missions from the shadowy servant of the Emperor, who sometimes loiters around the flight deck like a stranger with candy. He's got a suitably gruff and creepy voice, and rewards loyalty, though not with candy. The CE also contains two additional campaigns, is optimized to run under Win95, and with some considerable tweaking, can be adapted to XP. Controls are sharp, truly using every key on the keyboard this time, and features remappable joystick buttons. The stick handles responsively no matter what device you're using, and like the first, a joystick is required to play.

It's wrong to label TIE Fighter a disappointment, because it is a good game. It offered enough enjoyment to keep drawing me back despite all the frustration, just as X-Wing did. The plot is just as developed and pertinent to the missions, as in X-Wing. Just because I didn't agree with some of the design choices, and found the plot less engaging, doesn't mean that you will feel the same. It's a great companion piece to X-Wing, and playing for the Empire is just as interesting and different as you would expect. TIE Fighter certainly contains considerable improvements over the original, and is a game that plays better. I'm just not sure I can recommend it as the game that's better to play.

-reviewed 9/3/04 - game copyright 1998 LucasArts

Excellent sequel to X-Wing, retaining the fun and challenge of the original, with a new storyline, and entirely new viewpoint.

New ship designs are silly, at best. Challenge kept artificially high by throwing experimental super-ships after you for the entire second half of the game.

	8
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	9
	90%

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