Star Wars TIE Fighter: Collector's CD-ROM

"The Mother of Space Sims"

Tie Fighter is one of the games that means quite a bit to me. It should mean quite a bit to you, too; this game was an instant classic. Tie Fighter is an example of how good at making games Lucasarts used to be before the “Episode I rush”. This is a prime example, and is the starting point for most space sims today. Starlancer and Freespace both take things from this mother of space sims.

Tie Fighter’s premise is quite tasty. Usually in a Star Wars game, you control a freedom fighter from the Rebellion and try to defeat the “evil Galactic Empire.” Now you get to fight against the Rebellion. Filled with righteousness as a TIE fighter pilot, you’ll defeat Imperial defections to the Rebels, destroy Rebel ships, and overall just screw with the Rebellion. All in the name of so-called “galactic peace.” Don’t let the Emperor down! Or Darth Vader…

It gets better. The graphics were quite all right for the time when Tie Fighter was released, with everything looking like it should. X-Wings look like X-Wings, Star Destroyers look like Star Destroyers, and Lambda shuttles look like Lambda shuttles. You can easily imagine everything from the movies flying against you. Also, the lasers and missiles look like they should thankfully, not just like random blocks of greens or red.

The Star Wars movies had great music and sound; that tradition continues here. From the twang of lasers to the bursts of explosions, everything sounds just great (even now!). And John William’s music… Ohhh… It’s wonderful. Once you’ve heard the brilliant themes reverberating throughout your gaming room, you can’t go back to that crummy game music made in the designer’s bathroom. It’s that good. You’ll want a soundtrack for this!

Gameplay is quite wonderful. You’re a pilot in space, and have to kill the enemies. It’s simple, but Tie Fighter displays this with awesomeness. Twists and turns, frantically pulling back your joystick trying to lock on to that rouge pilot; all great fun. You can always find whatever you want on your display, as the two radar screens work very well. Shooting down enemies has never been quite this fun! The dozens of levels allow for much fun. The only concern I can think of is that the many keyboard commands can be quite daunting to a novice pilot; other than that, this is flying at its finest.

Adding on to the fun is a “training mode.” In this mode, you’ll fly through a long tunnel and destroy obstructions it your way. This is a great diversion, and it’s pretty enjoyable. The only downside is the difficulty of the later levels.

Overall, this is an old classic that you should have if you consider yourself a PC gamer. If for some reason you don’t have it, then you can just buy the new “X-Wing Trilogy”, which contains Tie Fighter, and also X-Wing Alliance and Flight School. With this great deal, there is no reason not to own this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/00, Updated 11/08/01