Star Wars: TIE Fighter Collector's Series Review
TIE Fighter, by Lucas Arts, remains an impressive game many years after its initial release. Allowing you to pilot a variety of craft while serving the Empire, TIE Fighter lets you delve into the Star Wars universe from a perspective difficult to acquire from other games.
Being an older game, TIE Fighter lacks the stunning graphics of modern flight simulators. It uses no 3D acceleration card, but the software rendering is very fast on any modern machine, and you should have no trouble with playability. The combat sequences still look good, as do the animation scenes. The animations were impressive when the game was made, and still hold as much wonder as 2-dimensional animated figures and ships can muster.
In this game, you fly various spacecraft for the evil Galactic Empire, engaging in a variety of missions and campaigns in various sectors of the galaxy. The plot is especially strong for a space combat game; the campaigns all link together into a coherent story and plot developments in one campaign will affect your experience in later missions. Additionally, the view of the inner workings of the Empire's space forces that this game provides is fascinating and different: inner strife, wavering alliances, and the tensions hidden throughout the Imperial Navy's strict military structure all are slowly revealed through the course of the campaigns. If you ever wondered how flying for the Empire would differ from flying for the Alliance, behind the scenes, this game can provide you with an engrossing and unique view.
Learning to control your craft is not a difficult task. The game includes tutorial-type missions in a "flight simulator" that guide you through the basics of movement and ship control. Your ship has enough functions and controls to make the experience realistic, but not so many that you feel that you are always fiddling with the flight controls instead of flying your ship. You learn the basics of ship movement, propulsion, weapons systems, and how to operate the targeting computer quickly, but there are plenty of unnecessary advanced features for the player that prefers complexity and strategy. Before long, you will delight in using your targeting computer to locate individual laser turrets on a large ship and destroy them with concussion missiles before flying in close to finish off the crippled vessel. The completeness and power of the interface is often stunning.
The behavior of your wingmen is much improved over TIE Fighter's predecessor, X-Wing. Now, your companions always understand and acknowledge your commands, and almost always will obey them. Thus, if you really need support in a ferocious dogfight, or you need a particular ship destroyed before it jumps to hyperspace in 45 seconds, you can rely on your ability to call in your wingmen to help you out. Of course, their increased usefulness makes them more valuable, and you will have to protect them and ensure they are not destroyed early in a long battle.
TIE Fighter also features a flight recorder, with which you can record films of particular battles. These films remember the positions and actions of every ship, every missile, even every laser bolt, and you can replay the movies, following the craft of your choice (friend of foe) through the battle. There is even a feature that allows you to enter one of the movies, taking the helm of the player-controlled craft to complete the movie as you will. This allows you to film your most daring attacks and greatest victories, and not only watch them, but attempt them again and again.
The Macintosh version of TIE Fighter is the last of the great space flight simulators by Lucas Arts to be produced for the Macintosh. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance are both PC releases. Note that the game is better with a joystick, but is too old to support input sprockets. While this is only partially relevant for Mac OS X users, Mac OS 9 users with USB joysticks that rely solely on input sprockets will need to use custom USB drivers. If they are not available from your joystick manufacturer (most are not), an excellent shareware Mac USB driver utility is available at http://www.usboverdrive.com .
TIE Fighter is one of the rare games that crosses many boundaries, providing an excellent and exciting flight-sim while simultaneously containing a rich plot and excellent control systems. The powerful flight recorder is an added bonus to an already superior game. Join the Dark Side and fly for the Empire, and you will have an experience you shall never forget.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter Collector's Series Overview
Climb into one of secen Imperial starfighters - TIE Fighter, TIE Bomber, TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced assault gunboat and others. Prove yourself worthy in the Imperial training simulator and virtual combat chamber. Exclusive secret society of elite pilots lure you with political intrigue. Customize game difficulty from rookie to ace to match your skill level.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter Collector's Series Specifications
A TIE fighter is a single-pilot, Imperial spaceship meant for ship-to-ship combat. As the pilot of various types of these howling fighter craft, your duty will be to gun down as many rebels as possible. See the immortal conflict between the Imperial Navy and the Rebel Alliance through the Empire's eyes.
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: May 31, 2010 16:30:06
