Star Wars: TIE Fighter

The Good
The game itself is simple - you fly around with your high-tech spacecraft and destroy others. However the best part of the game is the constant challenge. Disintegrating "bad guys" is not enough. You must protect cargo vessels from enemies and so on, similarly to some other space sims, but sometimes it is needed to defend a disabled enemy from your own of being destroyed. And there is of course, awesome variety of vessels for you to fly. Starting with the original Tie Fighters, Bombers and Interceptors, later come the Advanceds and Defenders (in the Defender of the Empire expansion pack). And besides the Ties there are Assault Gunboat with its superior successor Missile boat. The story is linear - your success in the game is in no way affecting the story. But in the story there are some great cinematic sequences that remind you all of the Star Wars movies.

The Bad
Besides everything there are some lackings in the game. You can not choose ship for your mission and sometimes not even the weaponry. If you deliberately fail a mission (to eliminate Darth Vader or the Emperor) you are forced to refly the mission. Although the game does not require a joystick, it is almost impossible to fly without one. Keyboard is too slow for even fine aiming and mouse...well, after first week of playing, half of my mouse pad was stuck under my mouse.

The Bottom Line
It is worth playing if you like space sims of Star Wars trilogy. However, it is not free for downloading and when you need to invest some of your hard-earned money into it, you would probably prefer newer versions of the game, maybe X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter.

The Good
NOTE, THIS REVIEW IS INTENDED FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION OF TIE FIGHTER

Story: See what life is like on the OTHER side of the cockpit, you are a new enlisment in to the Imperial Navy, your goal is to serve the Emperor at all costs. The brillant story line continues right from X-wing's ending and goes from mucking up the rebels attempts at escaping Hoth, to stopping a traitor from stealing an experimental cloaking device, all that is star wars is in here. All the events lead up to the eve of the battle of Endor.

Menu: Like X-wing, the corridors of an imperial Star destroyer, the doors all open up to different rooms

Graphics: Note I am pretending that I am still living in 1994 not 2001 Oh... they are good. Still the same from X-wing but with new lighting effects explosions reflect off your craft, new ships (YT-1300 says "HI") and new weapons (I think 6) Plus two secret new star fighters that link in well with the story. And well done cutscenes are also included, with a very nice one to end it all off with.

Sound: Possibly the best MIDI version of the Star Wars sound track, all voiced by talented actors, Darth Vader ever has a good portrayer. Weapons, shield frying collisions, it's all there.

Gameplay: Ok, a large and fun training course, then it's onto holographic training gounds then the battle front. Missions can be recorded and viewed at your own free will. A virtual ship data base is also inculded with free rotating craft. The missions range from the simple inspect all craft (Ewok giblets are intersting cargo) to the more important: Defend the Emperor (With Darth Vader at your side) Varied, never boring, all voiced. Missions are breifed by your common officer and a cloaked Secret Service agent (Who gives you nice tattoos, along with the medals you can win)

The Bad
Some of the later missions were very hard, some training missions pitted you against 8 X-wings. And at times you often fell asleep during boarding missions, but that is about it.

The Bottom Line
X-wing's brilliant story is continued, may the force (Hopefully dark) be with you.

The Good
I loved the ability to adjust the difficulty level. I also liked having the option of various goal levels so that you could survive the tough missions and rack up major points on the easy one.

The Bad
Like the X-Wing game, I thought the maze race was so-so. I may not have played that part enough to get the "full enjoyment" out of it. I'm not sure yet how I would have improved it, but it seemed awfully boring.

The Bottom Line
Despite being 6 years old, this game is still highly competitive with current games. It's definitely a classic worth replaying over and over again.