Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

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X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

Developer(s)	Totally Games
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Designer(s)	Lawrence Holland
Latest version	1.1.4
Release date(s)	30 April 1997
Genre(s)	Space simulation
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	CD-ROM

Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is the third installment of the X-Wing computer game series, although it is not a regular part of the series.

Technically superior to its two predecessors, XvT runs on Windows, requires a joystick (the others could be played with a mouse), features a CD audio soundtrack, supports high resolution graphics, brings texture mapping to the ship models of the in-flight game engine, includes multiplayer options, and has a sophisticated pilot and mission selection system that tracks the player's points and awards. The player also has the ability to choose for each mission which squadron he or she he wants to fly in (e.g. either the Y-Wings that disable a ship for capture or the X-Wings that support them), his or her specific ship type, and the ship's armaments.

Response to the game was mixed. It is the only part of the series designed almost exclusively for multiplayer and/or personal practice only; it lacks a storyline, coherent scenarios, and cutscenes. Totally Games realised from this that strong storylines were the main reason for the earlier games' success.

[edit] Expansion pack

An expansion was released in order to fix what much of the fanbase considered missing: apart from new battles and missions, Balance of Power features a Rebel and an Imperial campaign of 15 missions each, along with cutscenes that advance the story. Both campaigns revolve around the same series of events, but with alternate endings.

"Spreading the Rebellion" — Features the evacuation of a base, an attack against the Empire, and the capture of an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. The campaign ends with an assault on the Super Star Destroyer Vengeance.
"Imperial Task Force Vengeance" — The player flies as a member of the elite Avenger squadron under the leadership of Admiral Senn. The missions are similar to those from the Rebel's campaign. The campaign ends with the destruction of a Rebel factory.

The pack also adds B-Wings as a pilotable craft, along with other vessels that are lacking from the original game.

Ever since its release in 1997, X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter has enjoyed a flourishing online gaming community full of personality and competition. The game is still supported using a homebrewed gaming client known as the Errant Venture [EV]. One of the longest lasting clubs are TIE Fighter Alliance, or TFA, and its sister-squadron The Rebel Alliance [TRA]. Visit http://www.darkjedi.org/club/TRA/ to download a copy of the EV and learn more about these clubs. The game is also supported by a statistic database known as BattleStats.Com, which produces monthly war events such as the Week of War [WoW], and the DJO Cup.

[edit] The Collector Edition

A cut-down limited version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter called Flight School was re-released as part of the X-Wing Collector Series compilation, which also contained special editions of the first two Star Wars space fighter games. In this edition, X-Wing and TIE Fighter were retrofitted with the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter graphics engine, which uses texture mapping instead of Gouraud shading. However, the original and interactive MIDI soundtracks from the original releases were replaced with static red book CD-audio arrangements of the John Williams' movie scores.