TIE Fighter (1994): Who doesn't have fond memories of playing TIE Fighter? Probably quite a lot of people actually (doubt anyone under the age of 18 has even heard of it), but let's not dwell too much on that. Deeply atmospheric as only a Star Wars space sim could be, TIE Fighter was a Proper Star Wars Game, with a pretty cool plot that saw you completing missions as both a faceless TIE pilot nobody and as a sort of special agent for the Empire (often placing your primary mission goals in jeopardy). Flying missions for the Empire mostly involved policing the galaxy, busting pirates/smugglers and combating Rebellion "terrorists", making a nice change from the guerrilla-style hit and run missions of X-Wing.
TIE Fighter was also bloody tough, especially in the early stages when you're piloting fighters with low or non-existent shielding, possibly made from balsa wood. This forced the player to rely on speed and maneuverability, as well as careful management of shield and laser energy in order to stay alive. It seems that the developers realised quite how tough and frustrating the game could at times become, and chose to include the option to turn player invincibility on or off at any time. Whilst this might seem like a bit of a cop out, I think it actually proves to be a smart inclusion, if used sparingly.
So what's it like to revisit TIE Fighter? Obviously the game looks old (it came out in 1994!) but rather than hold back the game, I feel the aged graphics actually give it a sense of charm. The ship models and textures lack detail and the actual space environments themselves are sparse, with a few pixley planets here and there, but the gameplay remains so solid that it is easy to look past the game's age and have a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The craft-specific cockpits/HUDs are also nicely detailed and actually go quite a long way to giving the various fighters a good sense of identity.
I was playing with the "Enemies of the Empire" add on campaign, which adds three additional sets of missions following on from the main game. The primary focus of the campaign involves hunting down a rogue Imperial commander and his fleet, which actually becomes a bit dull when compared to the variety of missions found in the original game. I certainly felt that once the game no longer centres around being a Fascist Space Policeman, it loses much of what originally made it stand out from other space combat games.
There are variety of legal and less-than-legal ways to track down copies of TIE Fighter, and I'd definitely recommend that you give it a play. Having said that, I bloody love space shooters, but I know they're hardly to every one's taste (which is why they died out back at the end of the '90s, but there's a whole other post for that). Word on the streets is that LucasArts might be re-releasing all it's space shooters over Steam, hopefully opening them up to a new audience, as well as giving old-timers a chance to revisit them. I'd rather see a whole new TIE Fighter release with shiny modern graphics and stuff, but no one likes space games these days, so I can't really see that happening. Even if LucasArts were to do this, they'd probs shit out some godawful Phantom Menace themed nightmare.
Ah well, all this ranting about TIE Fighter has really got me jonesing for some X-Wing Alliance now...
