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Great game, but maybe get X-wing v. Tie Fighter

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: April 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This isn't the original X-wing, the famous space-combat flight sim that wiped the "Wing Commander" series off the map. The original game was based on early 1990's graphics (3d accelerator support?) and ran on 486 computers (huh?!?), the collector's edition is beefed up to exploit Pentium horsepower and 3Dfx and other hardware acceleration support. Although the missions are unchanged from the original edition, the graphics are actually closer to the latter "X-wing v. Tie-Fighter" (AKA "XvT") game. If you've got the original, you're probably better off getting XvT, which now comes in a jewel case that includes the "Balance of Power" single-play expansion pack, or the "Tie Fighter" collector's edition. Any one of these titles are available for under $..., and may have coupons for a free extra title.

The Game: you are a rookie pilot for the fledgling rebellion hoping to restore peace and freedom to the galaxy. In a series of elaborate missions, you fly across space in your starfighter against the hordes of the Empire. Missions are scripted (you can't go to the next mission until you complete the last one), but are generally arranged in arcs (you hijack an imperial freighter full of R2 units the Rebellion needs to navigate its ships. In a follow-up mission, we find that the Empire allowed the R2 units to fall into enemy hands and programmed them to bring their ships - rebel pilot and all - into the Empire's hands. Guess who is tasked for rescuing the rogue ships?). Your ship may be the super-fast and maneuverable A-Wing; the heavily armed and armored Y-Wing (boy those things can take a punishment); or the X-Wing, a sort of workhorse that is halfway between the other two in terms of weaponry, speed and protection (in "Tie Fighter", the X-Wing was probably the easiest target). Your missions vary between offensive (take out an Imperial convoy) or defensive (fly support for a rescue mission delivering wounded rebels), but can be expected to have elaborate mission-goals (e.g. - when defending the rebellion's medical frigate against waves of Tie Bombers, try taking the fight closer to the bombers' own mothership; when attacking an Imperial formation, you'll need to protect your wingmen since your own ship won't have enough firepower to destroy the Empire's ships alone.) The flight physics are pretty rudimentary (you can't really push realism for a game like this) and the systems are also pretty simple (systems repair themselves when possible; targeting is confined to cycling between targets; there are several weapons which are either aimed or self-guided;) Strangely, as with the original, there is no pad-lock option ("Falcon3" is now what, nearly 10 years old) to follow targets around, giving the game a flat perspective that all the 3d hardware support can't fix. The graphcis and sound are beefed up for the missions only, keeping the cutscenes anchored firmly in pre-Pentium territory (although that's a minor problem, preferable to the converse situation, and one that actually serves to highlight the improvements of this edition. I ran the game on a P-166MMX without hardware accelartion and enjoyed smooth gameplay. I've since upgraded to a voodoo2 card, but it's been so long since I played the original, I can't remember what I've missed.

Okay, a bit dated though.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As I said in the title, although this is a good game, it is a bit dated by today's standards, but when it first came out it was top of the line, and set some of the standards modern flight games use.

The gameplay is pretty simple, you fly as an Alliance pilot against the Empire on various types of missions with a variety of craft. You get to fly everything, X, Y, B and A wings, which are all good quality ships, each having it's own design intention. The Ywing is a bomber, while the Awing is more of a recon/interception craft, that sort of thing.

The missions are strictly space orientated, no planetary battles whatsoever(like Rogue Squadron on N64), but I have no complaints about that, it is 'Star' Wars after all. In general, I found the missions entertaining and realistic, but the trouble was, if your ship was destroyed, you had something like a 25% chance of getting caught by the Empire, and if you were caught, you would be stripped of rank and points if you tried to 'revive'(restore) your character.

The gameplay also lags seriously in some places. When targetting, you can't see what the enemy craft is doing, nor can you get an accurate hull/shield damage assessment, which is present in future versions, but the lackthereof makes this game harder to play. The lasers are also incredibly inaccurate, particularly on the Xwing, which is what you fly most of the time. It's hard to explain, but you have to move your ship to obtain a laser lock depending on which side your lasers are firing from, which is
really annoying.

Graphically speaking, the game is nothing fancy, it incorporates the sort of squarish, chunky graphics of the pre-pentium era. This particularly shows during the mission briefing scenes, when the mouth of the briefing officer keeps moving even after he's stopped talking, that's funny.

Sound wise the game is good, though it might benefit from a soundtrack here and there, but the sound effects are good.

This game is a classic, good in it's day, but now it is old and dilipated, Xwing vs TIE fighter or just TIE fighter beats this game. My advice, don't waste your money on it unless you're a real SW fan or flight sim game fan, there's a lot of better stuff out there.

BUY THIS!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (actually, it's ours), I was playing a lot of old Super Nintendo games on my PC with emulators. Then I thought, hey, I have a 600mhz with 256 ram, and lots of hard drive space, so why don't I try one of these new-fangled hi-tech 3D PC games? Well, this is actually quite an old game but if you have anything close to my PC's specs, and you are anything close to a fan of Star Wars, this is truly a fantastic ride. I recommend one has a gamepad or joystick (...). My gamepad works great (it is similar to the old Playstation One controller). I plug in my headphones (also recommended), pump up the volume, and off I go into space, flying around in the infinite void, shooting tie fighters, star cruisers of the evil empire, and generally having a ton of fun.

This version of the game also has a whole additional game on it also, and with a 3D video card (even the most basic), the graphics are amazing. Dated, but hey, this puts the graphics of the old SNES to shame. It is VERY easy to set up and get started, and can be as tough as you want it. I've hardly even scratched the surface of all the various features and levels and know I have a lot of future fun in store for me with this. The music, while in midi form, is (to me) almost indistinguishable from MP3 quality stuff. And you get a lot of music. All sorts of variations on John William's great Star Wars scores.

There are also a ton of options. You can turn the music up or down, or off. You can turn the sound effects (also great) up or down or off. You can play your OWN music (MP3's) if you want while playing the game. Try some electronica/trance, or some Pink Floyd! Get creative, have fun. You can give yourself unlimited weapons and make yourself and your ship invulnerable to damage. The possibilites truly are endless. This is halfway between an arcade type shooter and a true space combat simulator, with various levels of both. In a short time, I have played the game for dozens of hours already, and am still discovering new things, and cool features. There is a neat pilot training feature, a "film" room, talking characters and background voices, it goes on and on. I can't believe I waited so long to buy/play this, but then, I am but a young, struggling Jedi-starfighter who has been deserted on a lonely planet for awhile.

If you have ever wanted to fly off into space in a variety of ships and enjoy the trip without leaving your PC, and if you are at all even the most casual Star Wars fan, you just gotta buy this, and now! You don't know what you're missing if you've never played. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, and/or have a drink to warm your innards, turn down the lights, get that gamepad or joystick in hand, put on the headphones, and escape into the ride of your life. .. Amazing! And I haven't touched any of my old SNES rom games since buying this. Best [$$] you'll ever invest in a whole universe of fun, which you can visit any time you want to escape from earthbound reality for awhile. Did I mention that although it's a jewel case, there's a HUGE free instructional manual? What are you waiting for?

I know more recent and better graphically-enhanced Star Wars games are out there, and I've sampled them, but the system requirements on this make it playable for almost ANYONE with a PC, and for now, I'd like you to stop reading this, and go click this classic gem (and still unequaled in many ways) into your shopping cart NOW! You will thank me later, and as always, "May the Force be with you..."

Best Star Wars Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: July 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is is the best game you can buy from Lucas Arts. Period.

it's all right

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: May 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

i like the story and plot and the cutscenes but the only hard part about it is that it won't let you cheat and go on the next level like in tie fighter and there's not really all that much you can do besides shoot things with lasers when you should be converting it to engines and using misiles or torpedoes that's all i have to say

This Is The Droid You're Looking For

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Say what you will about the quality of the prequels, or the cheap production of Star Wars video games - this is a great game! It is 11 years old, which sadly shows in a couple of areas, but believe me when I say that you won't care.

Graphics
These have been improved to 640x480 on newer formats, like Windows 95, but they do look pixelated. The colors are actually more bold and vivid than the 1994 version. The framerate never chugs, unless you have an older computer. Because this game, though, was designed on older hardware, maybe a computer before a Pentium II processor can enjoy this game. Overall, the cutscenes are simple and effective, and there is usually a lot of activity on the screen to immerse the gamer.

Sound
John Williams masterpieces of music are redone in MIDI (meaning it's not orchestral, but done with electric synthesizers), but they're mixed with some original tunes that really grip the gamer during the missions. Plus, there's good voice acting that doesn't feel forced. Now, the voice actors aren't going for drama here, because the cutscenes are usually brief 2 minute spots that simply add a little texture to the mission. When your ship enters hyperspace, and when you finally take down that invincible Star Destroyer...you'll hear the thunderous explosion with great satisfaction.

Control
There were several ways to play this back in the day. A keyboard is required, because issuing commands to your wingmen and managing your ship's functions (which has a wonderful Flight Simulator feel). There are training missions for each spacecraft so that the gamer gets comfortable with the controls. I used to use a mouse back when this game first came out, which worked as long as the mouse and mousepad were kept clean. But a joystick or controller are infintely better, as long as you get it calibrated and set to your preferred sensitivity. The only complaint I have is that when the scenarios get intense, and you have to quickly use the keyboard to stay alive, one wrong keystroke can do something fatal (like switching the camera angle, or lowerig the shields instead of raising them). But that will teach to sharpen your skills. The controls aren't flawed or unresponsive, but there are many functions to learn.

Gameplay
This is the heart of Star Wars. The RPGs (Knights of the Old Republic) and Action games (Jed Outcast, Super Star Wars) are awesome. But dogfighting is probably where most fans want to play, and this is the perfect game to start. You'll do flyby inspections, combat with the Empire, and escort missions. None of these missions feels boring, but there are a couple of sore spots. The most noticeable is the Death Star missions (B-Wing levels 4 and 5). Because there is so much going on, and because the graphics aren't top-notch, these levels are nearly impossible. Add to the fact that there's a time limit (which doesn't always play a factor), and there's this feeling of unwanted pressure. But the strong points are much more noticeable. There are several campaigns to play (more as you go) and training simulators. There are a couple of little touches, too. This sounds silly, but my absolute favorite bonus feature is the uniform. Every mission you accomplish adds a medal or patch to a uniform that you have, giving you a feeling of "Yes, I really did that!" And little touches such as being captured gives you a visit to Darth Vader, but being killed in combat gives you a funeral sequence.

"Star Wars: X-Wing" was given the utmost attention to detail and fun. Yes, there are some downsides, but that won't matter, because you'll be playing this game for months, trying to finish everything. Highly recommended!

NOTE - "Star Wars: TIE Fighter" is the sequel to this game. It is also the greatest ever made, to me at least. Playing as the villains never felt so great. You can go with either one and jump right into the action...but get both while you're at it!

A GAME LIGHTYEARS AHEAD OF IT'S TIME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I remember playing the original version of this on my old computer that only had 33MHz of speed. But despite that, X-Wing ran absolutley great on my computer, allowing me to play one of THE BEST space simulations EVER! Hey, I would even go so far to say that this is one of the best FLIGHT simulations ever!

The graphics and sound effects were outstanding. The X-Wing models looked SO real! Sometimes I felt that if I touched my computer screen I would touch the metal frame of the X-Wing itself!

Excellent flight controls that allow you to CONTROL your ship. Flying itself was pretty self-explanatory, just point the mouse where you want to go and hit the accelerator. But if you were under attack--or attacking--you could reconfigure your shields, lasers, and even your engine power to suit your needs at that precise moment. You could fire some of your lasers or all of them. You could make your shields protect the front or rear of your ship, depending if you were being attacked head-on or from behind. Even an eject button with a special animation and End-Scene to show you what your fate is.

The missions range from escorting ships, conducting difficult rescue operations, clearing mine fields, attacking huge starships (and later the Death Star itself), reconnaisance, you name it.

X-Wing is a HARD game though. Some of the rescue missions require that you know beforehand which ship has the prisoners on them. And one level that just killed me: You are flying among literally DOZENS of mines, that all fire at you, while you're trying to identify supplies . . . and then enemy reinforcements arrive!

But as hard as some of these missions were, the game had so much depth that it was nearly impossible to not want to play more, to see what would happen next.

Finally, I want to say that I LOVE the after-battle camera system in X-Wing. Even today, I think it is one of the best. You can replay the entire mission and see the whole mission unfold from the enemy's POV, allies POV, even stationary objects POV, and a free space camera that just sits in space and watches from a fixed point. You could also pause at any point and move the camera to see just exactly where and how that laser clipped your wing.

And nothing makes you feel more rewarded than a chest full of medals for doing great things for the Republic!

In a galaxy full of Star Wars games, this game shines as one of the best.

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