Star Wars: X-Wing - Collector Series

The Good
I had been looking for X-Wing Collectors' CD-ROM and Tie Fighter Collectors' CD-ROM in stores for some time, but they're not available any more. One day, I bumped into this Collector Series edition. After playing for a while, I have mixed feelings of the game.

The engine has been updated to X-Wing vs Tie Fighter's engine. The in-game graphics, CD-music, sounds are good, correspond to XvT-style.

Mission selection interface have not changed from X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Essentially the gameplay remains, and that's what I expected from a remake.

The secret missions in Tie Fighter are still there, if you want to get into the Emperor's Inner Circle.

Storyline: It's actually fantastic to play through a part of the original trilogy, with sidequests and twists. Not to mention, you can fly on the surface of Death Star...

FMVs are EXACTLY the same... well that's good and bad and the same time.

The Bad
As I already told, the game is built upon XvT engine. Because of this and the fact that it was released in 1998, it's unacceptable that it doesn't run on NT-based Windows' (2000/XP). After a bit of tweaking (with App Compat Toolkit's QFixApp), I could make it run, but only with software rendering, no hardware 3D acceleration! (X-W vs. T/F does work). Totally Games could release a simple patch to solve this.

Another "dislike" of this engine, that it requires a joystick/pad. In the DOS version I could chase the enemy using the mouse.

CD Redbook audio cannot respond to events as well as the DOS version's MIDI. (E.g.: imperial music when imperial starships arrive) Well, it's compensated by the CD-quality. Several new campaigns would have been nice, and it would be great to solve the missions in multiplayer.

The Bottom Line
Just consider it a slightly updated re-release of two great games (plus some missions included from XvT). It isn't worth a full-priced game, but is more likely into the budget category. If you liked the original games, or you're an oldie-fan, it's for you.

The Good
The implementation of the XvT engine to X-Wing and TIE Fighter is flawless. The graphics is the only thing changed, so the starfighters will still handle the same way they did in the originals, and not the way they did in XvT. The missions will be the same difficulty and play the same way you remember them. The game also uses the same rousing soundtrack as XvT for both X-Wing and TIE Fighter, which is a mixed blessing. No one can deny the power of John Williams' score, but it would have been nice to have had an option to listen to the original game soundtracks as well.

Thankfully, they have also removed that annoying "feature" in the original X-Wing that forced you to restore your pilot every time he died or was captured by the Empire, taking away all your points as a consequence.

The Bad
First of all, the game has some issues running in newer Windows versions, such as XP and 2000. The only way I could get it to run in XP was to disable the 3D hardware support. This made the game look less nice, of course, but it's still a step up from the graphics of the original games. It doesn't look like LucasArts is about to release a patch to fix this problem either.

While TIE Fighter was left untouched aside from the new engine and music, X-Wing received a few more changes than that, and many are for the worse in my opinion. All the rooms you could move around in, such as the Independence's concourse, the briefing room and so on, have been "updated" with SVGA versions. I'm not sure if these came from the Mac version of the game, but somehow they manage to feel a lot colder and sterile than the original locales, and that certainly isn't helped by the inexplicable removal of ALL music from those same areas, leaving music only in-flight and in all the cutscenes. This is annoying and takes away some of that wonderful atmosphere the original enjoyed, though it doesn't have any affect on the gameplay itself.

The Bottom Line
Well worth the money, there's no question about that. X-Wing and TIE Fighter, along with all their addons that naturally come included in this package, must have upwards to 200 missions combined. X-Wing Trilogy, which was released two years after the Collector Series, also includes X-Wing Alliance, so unless you already have the latter, that would be the bundle to get. Either way, these games should be in the collection of every self-respecting space sim and/or Star Wars fan.

The Good
I was a part of the Rebel Alliance, felt like one and felt for the characters in the original trilogy. I was inspired by the Empire's quest:

"peace and order throughout the galaxy. Even now our capable forces, led by Darth Vader, are striking back at the Rebel insurgence."

I got to loyally serve a righteous and virtuous Empire in this game.

Graphics were absolutely awesome. Just like the actual Star Wars movies. The music made it all the more realistic. Never before or since did I experience such an engaging game experience.

TIE Fighter was by far my favorite game in this collection. Superior graphics, interface and GAMEPLAY made it far better than X-Wing, X-wing vs TIE Fighter and X-wing Alliance. The story in TIE Fighter was one of the best I've ever seen in a computer game. You could actually ask for reinforcements and NOT LOSE POINTS in the game. Your allies actually helped you to accomplish the missions and you did not feel like you were always alone like in X-Wing. The mission briefings and in-flight radio comm from your Imperial comrades as well as the Imperial March was exciting. If you succeeded the missions you got great compliments from the Imperial Officer doing the debriefing and from the Cloaked Figure. If you fail your mission objectives you would receive very helpful advice so that you could correct your mistakes. The Officer and cloaked figure always spoke in the most elegant and civilized way. The original game and movie music helped bring about a sense of pride in the Empire as well as that 'you are there' feeling along with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Darth Vader. All these elements made this game a great inspiration for me. This game was simply fun, fresh, and thoroughly entertaining.

The Bad
X-Wing could have been made better. This release gives both of them good graphics but it was so hard to beat X-Wing while TIE Fighter was much easier and more rewarding.

More realistic missions could have been useful in X-Wing. Instead of escorting a million shuttles that are easily destroyed with no support from the Rebels it would have been nice to go on the attack for once. I got this collection to kill TIEs. They did not even have to kill me to make me lose the game. The Empire gives much better support and craft to the gamer than the Rebels, which is so unfortunate since I got this collection to kill TIEs, not defend them.

It would have been nice to play as the Empire at the Battle at Endor in TIE Fighter as the game really brings you to that point but then left me a little disappointed that I could not serve the Empire in the time of its greatest need. I know the original TIE Fighter was made back in '94 but they could have enhanced it further in the '98 version with that famous battle. To defend the Super Star Destroyer and the Death Star II would have made it the greatest game of all time.

The Bottom Line
TIE Fighter is the best game ever, now with superior graphics that make it better than the newer games in the series. X-Wing is good for the Death Star missions but not for much else. X-Wing vs TIE Fighter gives the Rebels TIE Fighter quality equipment for use in their craft. This may be old now but I highly recommend it for all Star Wars fans.

Serve the Emperor.