Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Collector's CD-ROM

The Good
Good thing I bought this one instead of the separate additions of Star Wars: Tie Fighter and Tie Fighter: Defender of the Empire.

Honestly, I'm not that into simulation games like flying and driving, because they usually belong to the arcade realm. Arcade games should stay arcade, computer games should stay computer. But this game is something you definitly cannot play at your local arcade center! Tie Figher is one of the great exceptions in my book! It's not just about flying around and shooting down X-Wings, if that were the case, I'd probably throw it into the trash in no time!

The great things about this game is that it is more of a story-adventure with flying/shooting as a bonus. It describes (to me) with great detail on how 'you' a wet-nose cadet that just joined the Imperial Navy, struggles in trying to be the best damn pilot in the Empire, from training (earning those Gold Medals...I think), promotions for every succesfull campaign and eventually finding ranks in the Inner Circle!

I basically spent half of my time finishing the trainning courses before I ever got to start playing the campaigns (Keyword=Perfectionist)...with a mouse by the way.

Did I mention I used a mouse to play this game! Yes, A MOUSE! So what, you might ask. HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO CHASE AN A-WING HALF ACROSS THE GALAXY WITH A MOUSE??? Only true Imperial Pilots (like myself) can ever succed in such a feat (ehem). I even had to change my mouse pad to a 'large edition' of cosmopolitan magazine as the mouse pad didn't have enough 'rolling ground'. Boy, my arm was whirling that mouse away like it was a toy porche...those A-Wing's are sure fast! Hahahaha. Good thing you can pause for occasional muscle strains.

Should see my record kills...bloody hell destroyed the rebel fleet myself....hahaha. Great game.

The Bad
Maybe I should've played with a joystick... NAH! Only for weaklings! (and Rebel Scum!)

The Bottom Line
One of the best simulations games ever created! After playing this game, you will truly understand the supreme power of the Empire!

For maximum difficulty, disable Joystick feature and use a mouse.

The Good
TIE Fighter was a great improvement on an already excellent space-sim, whose only fault was its often unreasonable level of difficulty. Besides the obvious technical improvements, players had the rare opportunity to play the part of the evil Imperials. This CD version sports slightly better graphics than the original and, much like the X-Wing CD version, contains the excellent add-on. In Defender of the Empire, where you witness the epic tale of Admiral Thrawn's failure to implement the famed cloaking device into Imperial capital ships and bring the Empire to its former glory.

The Bad
I truly can't think of a reason why any space-sim or Star Wars fan would not like this game.

The Bottom Line
This game along with quite a few other Star Wars titles prove that licenced games can excel in their genres, even for those who are not really fans of their respective worlds and characters. The CD version is a must-have for fans of the original game and those who want to experience Star Wars from the seat of a screeching, lightning fast TIE fighter.

The Good
The story is the driving force of this game, and is what makes you want to keep playing constantly. It is so utterly involving and unfolds at a good speed. Missions have secret goals which are fun and interesting to discover for yourself, making you want to play missions again on a different difficulty setting.

The Bad
The new CD version uses the appalling X-wing Vs. TIE Fighter engine, which does take something away from the original way things worked. However, I should note that it has been modified to play more like the original game, so overall it isn't a big issue.

The Bottom Line
This is a HUGE epic game, drawing you in with great graphics and the perfect control system. Flying for the bad guys is great fun too.