Star Wars TIE Fighter: Collector's CD-ROM

"All together now...dun dun dun-dun dun dun dududulun dun-dun"

In 1993, LucasArts made a flight sim game. It was the one you'd all been waiting for - take control of an X-Wing. You'd load up the game, click through the Mon Cal to the hanger, skip the training missions ("Who needs training?" you'd say, in your innocence), fire up the first mission, lock S-foils in attack position and accelerate to atta-

YOU HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY T/F ALPHA 2

Wha-? What happened? Well, you just got shredded by a TIE Fighter.

Why? Because X-Wing was blindingly, stupidly, outrageously hard. Hours of practice just to scrape through the first Tour, the hours more for the second, every time dying over and over and *over* again, because in *every* battle you were outgunned, outnumbered and outmanouvered by Imperial pilots in their nimble solar-panelled death chariots. Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...

And so they made TIE Fighter. A huge, romping monster of a game, with all that was good and less of that which was not-quite-perfect about X-Wing, it was a near-permanent feature of my PC for years. I was digging through some old discs and found it last night, with the reason I stopped playing next to it - half a joystick. I ripped it in half trying frantically to dodge yet another wave of Rebel missiles. So I drove straight into town to by a new stick. That was...twelve hours ago. I've stopped playing just long enough to write this review, then diving right back into the fray. It's brought back age-old memories of sleepless nights and long, lazy summer days spent mercilessly exterminating the plague of Rebels infesting my beloved galaxy. And, even though it's been more than a decade since its release, this game is still one of my all-time favourites and appears on Gamespot's list of Best Games Ever. Why? Read on...

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Gameplay - I have only one piece of advice - find out why it's called the 'joy'-stick. Yes, you can fly with the mouse, but you'll spend so much time trying to draw a bead on those nimble little Rebels that the one A-Wing you forgot has already drilled you good. And that's the best part about this game - there's no space to relax. From the moment you drop into the system until the instant you hit the button to get out, your nerves are cranked up and, especially in a dogfight, you have to be perfect - or you will die.

With clever features like damage recognition (take a hit on the aft section and lose flight control - you're going fast, in a straight line. Take a hit on the bow and lose your targetting computer), in-cockpit damage that can really mess up you day, the constant equations on distance and speed running through your head (OK, I can target the Corvette at 6km with my torps, but I'm saving them for the Mon Cal Cruiser...lasers and ion cannon?) and the never-ending hatred you will learn for A-Wings, it's the game that keeps on giving. And, just because it's not as hard as X-Wing, don't think that means it's 'easy' by any stretch of the imagination. It's like saying Antarctica is 'not as cold as deep space'. Your wingmen are sharper, your systems are more intuitive and your targetting computer is actually useful, but the Rebels will still vape you given the slightest chance. Duck and weave!

Furthermore, the missions themselves are amazing. There are about 80 campaign missions and nearly thirty training missions, and a training simulator program that's practically a game in itself. Each mission is carefully designed and loads of fun. Each one connects to the larger story, but has its own vital aspect. Defending a station? Whoops, its shields have been sabotaged. Assaulting a Rebel cruiser? Oh, didn't we mention the vast minefield surrounding it? Escorting a pack of transports? Ah, yes, well, it's a pure coincidence that you route takes you past a B-Wing manufacturing facility. What do you mean you didn't pack any missiles?! Each mission takes place in a vast 3D deep space environment. It's obviously not infinite, but I've never managed to reach the edge of the arena.

TIE Fighter harks back to the days when sci-fi space fighter sims didn't feel the need to have every third battle in an atmosphere, providing a handy opportunity to go "Watch out for the gravity!". Instead, it takes this cavernous space and fills it with space stations, battleships and lots and lots of fighters. Do or die! For the Emperor!

And what about those bonus goals? See, each mission loads up with Primary Goals, Secondary Goals and Bonus Goals. The Primary Goals are usually obvious from the briefing - destroy this frigate, defend this Star Destroyer, disable that platform.Secondary Goals are important, but if you don't complete them before you leave the mission (dock or jump - not die) then you can move on if you want. These tend to be more technical - inspect that corvette, destroy all of that squadron. Bonus Goals are only displayed on the Goals screen once completed, and tend to be either really obscure or really hard to pull off. Also, some Bonus Goals only exist when playing in 'Hard' mode. Bonus Goals tend to be things like 'Destroy All X-Wings' or 'Inspect all those really fragile craft you wingmen are attacking and that must be destroyed before they escape to hyperspace which they will do in 5...4...3...2...1...oh, you failed.'

Just a word on the enemies. Most of them are a smooth balance on the scale of easy-hard, with speed, shields and manouverability all rising as you go up the scale. The exception? My most hated adversary - the dreaded A-Wing. Dangerous? Not to you, if you're good. They're just next to impossible to hit. So, while the Y-Wings are blowing the hell out of your base, you can't break off to intercept because that blasted A-Wing is clinging on to 15% hull. One...more...blast...no, can't make it, Platform D-34 destroyed, you have failed, return to base...

I *hate* A-Wings.

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Story - I remember when I first played the game, I was about four missions in when I asked my friend, who'd given it to me, "So, when do you join the Rebellion?". Logical question, no? Because all these games are the same - start off fighting for the evil forces of death, assault helpless hospital station/refugee camp/random innocent site, realise evil of actions, join 'good' side, defeat old master, lead country/world/galaxy on to new horizons of peace and plenty. My friend just smiled at me and recommended I practise the power turn. Y'see, it doesn't happen. Finally, a game that shows the Empire for what it really is - the power for order in the galaxy. Those anarchistic Rebels don't stand a chance.

Oh, and you get to do all kinds of great things that show you that there is a galaxy out there that *doesn't* revolve around that blasted farmboy. Exterminate pirates, stamp out bushfire wars, bring both sides of a civil war to the negotiating table and carry out customs inspections. Oh, and destroy hundreds of Rebel fighters, obviously.

You start out as a rookie Imperial pilot, pulling endless escort duty shifts around a insignificant space platform in a backwater system. Nothing interesting is likely to happen until those Rebel scum set up shop on a nearby planet called Hoth. Well, obviously, His Imperial Mightiness and Fearsome One, Lord Darth Vader turns up and crushes the Rebels. Some manage to escape, and, in fleeing, pass right next to your space station. Well, we can't have that, can we? So you stop them, and find yourself moving up the ranks and into more and bigger battles, defending the Emperor himself and flying as Darth Vader's wingman. Soon you will be the most respected pilot in the galaxy, with a list of kills longer than my leg and a reputation to match. Oh, and a cool tat on your left arm, too.

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Graphics - Well, they made it in 1995. If you're looking for realistic, visible realtime damage detection on enemy craft, amazing lighting effects and individual ejected pilots you can see and target, get X-Wing Alliance or Bridge Commander. But even with some clever polygon effects and a nice shading system, you barely notice the graphics quality - especially since stopping to look will give you a nice view of the destruction sequence and a quick trip back to the mothership for restoration.

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Sound - I now hear the Imperial March everywhere I go. The thundering strains of John William's score and the softer meleodies of the TIE-specific music complement each other perfectly. The situationally-aware misic system helps - when inspecting harmless freighters at a customs depot, a soft, barely-there tune floats through your cockpit. Suddenly, innocuously, the words New Craft Alert: 6 X-Wings at 6km. You wouldn't notice except for the music's seamless segue into a crashing musical alert far more effective than any klaxon. The dramatic chords provide the perfect musical backing to your orgy of destruction.

As for the sound effects, you couldn't ask for better. Just by paying attention as you skim the surface of the Rebel cruiser, you can tell roughly how many Imperials are attacking, whether they're using warheads or lasers, how many turrets the Rebels still have and even how many Imperials are biting the dust during the assault. Lasers, missiles, explosions and the krrrrrnn of passing TIEs are faithfully and accurately reproduced. As well as the full voice-over coverage, providing everything from mission briefings to snide comments ("Mu Squadron here to help out you Rho Squadron pukes" - I blew them both up for that) you can't escape the feeling that you're actually there, in a tiny bubble of light and heat in the deepest core of space.

My only quibble with the sound is, because it streams from the CD, it can cause the graphics to freeze momentarily when switching tracks. This wouldn't be a problem except that the game itself carries on for that split-second and, it could be this is just me, but this always happens whenever I have a Rebel A-Wing in my sights and I might actually land a shot. Line up shot, CD whirrs, picture freezes, picture returns...where's that blasted- YOU HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY A-WING GOLD 4

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Play Time/Replayability - It's been a long road, but, finally, victory is at hand. Sweat pouring off you as you plow through the final battle, all the skills and experience you've honed over the forty hours it's taken you to get here are called into play. The enemy has you outnumbered and outgunned, but you fight on in the Emperor's name. Twisting and diving through the crossfire, dodging missiles and firing torpedoes, you destroy the last enemy starfighter, and collapse joyfully into your seat and watch the closing cutscene. Right. Time to do it on 'Medium'. Click, click, "One TIE Fighter from Alpha, Beta and Gamma Squadron will patrol the area around Outpost D-34..." Ahh...

Because here's the thing - even once you've blown through the campaign missions, even after you've blasted every single fighter, there's always something else to do. The most obvious? Bonus objectives. Once you've beaten a mission, you can replay it in the simulator and find out what the bonus objectives were. But to get the little patch on the medal screen, you have to play over and get the objectives in 'reality'. Or, maybe, what if you play the whole game using just proton torpedoes? Or how about when you load up the combat chamber and play your fifty favourite missions over again? If TIE Fighter had even a LAN multiplayer, this alone would carry it into the big leagues.

Time to finish? 30 hours, minimum.

Time to finish on hard, counting retried missions and time spent screaming at the screen and fetching your joystick from where you threw it? 90 hours.

Time to finish the game on hard, getting all secondary and bonus goals? Five years and counting.

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Multiplayer - Doesn't have one. If only. *sigh*. But you can set up multiplayer deathmatches and even recreate some simple missions for co-op play in X-Wing Alliance.

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Final Recommendation - Alas, as with all LucasArts classics, TIE Fighter is almost impossible to get you hands on. But if you see it, buy it. And then buy a joystick. If you see two copies, buy one for yourself and one for your very best friend, and get two joysticks (one for you, one for him). If you see three copies, buy all three and give them yourself, your best mate and your second best mate. And don't forget the joysticks. If you see four copies...well, you get the picture.

Why 9 out of 10? Where's that last point? Well...

A-Wings.No multiplayer. A-Wings. Streaming sound can cause the graphics to jam up briefly. A-Wings. Not enough opportunities to take part in movie-based missions. A-Wings. Poor Imperial planning prior to missions (why did you drop me off 15km from the target?!). A-Wings. And it is, after all, twelve years old. But buy it. Buy it now! [waves hand] You will buy this game...and a joystick...



Additional: Here were the other competitors for 'Tagline':

Death to the Rebels! Especially A-Wing pilots!
Blast it Vader, where are you?
He's on me tight, I can't shake him!
The Force is strong in this one
See, Vader should've hit ' to shunt laser energy to shields during that Trench Run
Long Live the Emperor!
In space, no one can hear you scream "Smegging A-Wings! Hold still!"

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/07

Game Release: Star Wars TIE Fighter: Collector's CD-ROM (US, 10/31/95)