Star Wars: TIE Fighter

Moby ID: 240
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Description official descriptions

You are a member of the Imperial Navy, eager to fight the Rebel Alliance and other scum to strengthen the rule of Darth Vader and the Emperor.

The follow up to X-Wing is a space combat simulation set in the Star Wars universe. There are 7 campaigns, taking in over 50 missions. You often have wingmen who can be given orders to help you out. The detailed storyline is driven by cutscenes. You will fly a variety of craft from the lowly Tie Fighter to the speedy Tie Interceptor to the high-powered Tie Advanced. On each of these, balancing engine/laser/shield ratios in real time is crucial to getting the most power and safety.

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Credits (DOS version)

76 People (66 developers, 10 thanks) · View all

Project Leader / Translation
Voice Production
Translation of Manual
Editor
Art Director
Production
Pre-Press
Story
Concepts
Original Art
3D Models
Layout and Design
Project Coordination and special assistance at LucasArts
Project Coordination and special assistance at Lucasfilm Ltd.
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 20 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 117 ratings with 14 reviews)

The good guys ALWAYS win. Right?

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.

DOS · by Sam Hardy (80) · 2001

A terrific space 'sim' in the Star Wars universe.

The Good
Well, what is there not to like?-) I mean, the graphics are quite good, cutscenes and in-game both, gameplay is great if you like Wing Commanderish games, the missions have quite nice variety and cool plot twists, and the musics.. yes, the musics are fantastic, they are full of Star Wars feel and they are dynamic, and you can easily see how well you fare in combat just by listening to the musics.. :) And, you get to fly on the bad guys' side, which is not all that usual. In fact, I rather stick with the dark side!-) Plus, the CD version has all the in-game speeches digitized so the feeling is quite awesome.. although Darth Vader sure as heck doesn't sound like James Earl Jones.. which is odd since you'd think Lucasarts would be rich enough to hire authentic crew... :(

The Bad
The only thing that goes here is that the campaign is not a bit dynamic; It doesn't branch or anything and if you fail a mission objective you either just exit to DOS or try the mission 'till you get through...

The Bottom Line
A great space 'sim' (I use the word veeery loosely here), a Star Wars game, and overall a great space battle experience!

DOS · by RmM (68) · 1999

The elite: The best action game ever made for a PC.

The Good
TIE Fighter is, in every respect, a perfect PC game. There isn't any aspect of video games not to like here.

You want graphics and sound? TIE Fighter was years ahead of the competition, and even today it looks great. You want exciting, heart-pounding action? Here it is; go up against a swarm of X-Wings and your adrenaline will be coming out your eyes. You want cool ships? Nobody has cooler ships than Star Wars, and they're all here to either fly or blow up (and there are 5-6 flyable fighters, too, not just the regular old TIE.) Great backstory? (Actually, backstories?) Check. Awesome, varied, balanced, thrilling missions? They're all here.

Every nuance of a good dogfighting game is here without any of the irritating overhead. The mission briefings are detailed and as clear as day, yet avoid overburdening you with too much info. Enemy and friendly AI are excellent. Menu screens are easily navigated. Situation awareness and targeting - in fact- everything to do with flying your ship - are all easy.

The Star Wars games since TIE Fighter have all been good, but they haven't yet matched this masterpiece. If you don't have TIE Fighter, get it right away; seven years later, it's still better than almost any game on the shelf.

Ranks as my second-best game of all time, behind only "Civilization II."

The Bad
Nothing. This is a perfect game.

The Bottom Line
A classic of video gaming and a must-have for anyone who owns a PC and a joystick.

DOS · by Rick Jones (96) · 2001

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Developer information MrFlibble (18144) Feb 13, 2013
Star Wars: TIE Fighter tuxu tuxu (2) Jun 18, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Star Wars: TIE Fighter appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Coruscant

The high-orbit view Coruscant as seen in the intro (when the Star Destroyers approach it), looks curiously faithful to how Coruscant looked in the prequel movies, which were filmed five years after the game.

However, the collector's CD-ROM enhanced intro cutscene, features a different view of Coruscant orbit, blue with clouds, totally unrelated to the appearance of the planet-wide city we know.

Demo

In an early coup for advergaming, TIE Fighter's demo dropped jaws when it opened with a brief ad for the then-new Dodge Neon automobile.

Manual

Included with the game was the shortstory The Stele Chronicles which follows the young Maarek Stele, a top notch swoop jockey who's home planet has been at civil war for decades. When The Empire arrives and declares martial law in the system Maarek see's his chance to join up with The Empire and become one of the greatest Imperial pilot's of all time...

The manual has been merged together with shortstory, meaning that you learn tactics and instructions on how to operate your fighter whilst Maarek Stele is being trained at the academy. In the Offical Strategy Guide to Tie Fighter you learn more about what happened to Maarek Stele.

References

  • In one of the training missions, you're called upon to protect a "Star Tours" ship from attack, a reference to the popular ride at the Disney theme parks.
  • Many of the 'pirate' ships (neither Rebel or Imperial) have cryptic names. It's worth checking what they say in reverse. For example, on Mission 1 of Battle 11, the pirate ship is called 'yrabrab". In reverse, this spells 'barbary', which was a Mediterranean coast base for pirates from the 16th-19th Century. In missions that involve 'space pirates', look at the names yourself and try to figure it out!
  • In Battle 9, mission 6, there is a Nav-Bouy with the designation CRM-114. If it looks familar, it should. It's the designation of the decoding device in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.
  • The creators were obviously quite fond of pop culture. In mission 1 of Battle 10, there is a buoy designated "MST-3K", aka the acronym for Mystery Science Theater 3000

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • July 1996 (Issue #144) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #56 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list* PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #23 overall in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
    • April 2005 - #13 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list

Information also contributed by Apogee IV, Boston Low, Cameron Rhyne PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Quackbal and WizardX

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Droog.

Additional contributors: Trixter, William Shawn McDonie, Adam Baratz, Patrick Bregger, darkpilot, FatherJack.

Game added August 21, 1999. Last modified January 24, 2024.