The Star Wars Retrospective: Episode IV

29 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Apr 28th 2008 9:30AM
Filed under: Culture

After briefly glancing over games like Maniac Mansion and the formation of LucasArts, this week's Star Wars Retrospective by GameTrailers covers what are (arguably) some of the best Star Wars games ever made. The space flight-sims X-Wing and Tie Fighter -- two games which used the Star Wars universe for all it was worth -- probably still hold a special place in gamer's hearts who had something better than a 386 computer at the time. It also opens up the question: Which series was better at the time, the X-Wing games or Wing Commander?

Tags: gametrailers, star-wars-retrospective, starwarsretrospective

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Lone Starr: Apr 28th 2008; 9:48AM

LucasArts really needs to revisit that series.

ranger72: Apr 28th 2008; 10:03AM

I agree. These are the games I miss most when looking back at PC games I used to play. I would love to see them come back in some form that is true to the originals.

merf1350: Apr 28th 2008; 12:35PM

Definitely needs to be revisited, there is a distinct lack of space oriented flight sims now, and I really don't wanna play this "Real Feel" Military bullshit they have now. And M$ flight is fine and all, but lacking in the area of blowing shit up.

RabanastreRat: Apr 28th 2008; 10:07AM

The original Wing Commander was a great game. Can't beat shooting round energy pellets at Kilrathi ships.

I never played X-Wing, because my computer back then sucked way, way too much to run it.

AirIntake: Apr 28th 2008; 10:17AM

"Which series was better at the time, the X-Wing games or Wing Commander?"
X-Wing was a better space flight simulator. Wing Commander was better at making you feel like a pilot in Star Wars.

Sean: Apr 28th 2008; 10:20AM

I wish X-wing alliance had better online play. Anything over 30 ms of latency makes that game unplayable (It's a great LAN game though if you can find people geeky enough to play it). With modern latency compensation techniques they could make an awesome multiplayer space sim. Nothing more awesome than a star destroyer and tie fighters vs. a calamari cruiser and x-wings.

PhrawzT: Apr 28th 2008; 10:27AM

I played the hell out of X-Wing and Tie Fighter. I would love new game where I could build my own Star Wars ship.

Phil Ringsmuth: Apr 28th 2008; 10:37AM

Shouldn't this episode have come out first?

Tarvus Domicus: Apr 28th 2008; 10:57AM

These are getting better and better.

Still not as good as these....

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/310505/

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/310511/

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/310516/

IfSix: Apr 28th 2008; 11:05AM

i learned what autoexec.bat and config.sys were because of Tie Fighter. I still remember how to load a cd-rom into himem so that you can have graphics AND sound at the same time!

KrazyIan: Apr 28th 2008; 2:36PM

Man installing and getting old DOS games to run was an absolute pain in the ass. I still remember hassling with IRQ and DMA sound card settings and being frustrated when things like music worked but voice did not.

Ridgecity: Apr 28th 2008; 11:08AM

I remember my first windows pc was a tandy 486-sx 25 Mhz with cdrom! Freakking awesome, first game Willy Beamish, 2. the 7th Guest but never got it to run... and 3rd, Tie Fighter, holy fucking shit, what an awesome game!! I've tried installing it a year ago, but can't play it because now it runs at 600 fps on my current machine...

ck: Apr 28th 2008; 11:31AM

Hell yeah - I had a Tandy. Willy Beamish was sweet - I had the CD-Rom version with voice acting - oh man! 7th guest, Myst, Phantasmagoria, Warcraft, Doom 2, the list goes on. 1994-1995 were definitely some of the PC's finest years. If you follow the links, I'm sure you'll find at least 10 games that were awesome.

1994:
http://www.classicpcgames.com/games/year/1994/1/
1995:
http://www.classicpcgames.com/games/year/1995/2/

compuguy1088: Apr 28th 2008; 12:30PM

You forgot the fact that all of the voices in the dos game on windows (without certain programs) sound like hyperactive people with too much coffee (chipmunks basically)...

G$: Apr 28th 2008; 11:35AM

IfSix... I had to do the same thing.

I loved Tie Fighter! I felt Tie Fighter did a much better job than Wing Commander. It did a nice job immersing the player in the Star Wars world. I loved the wrist tattoo that you earned as you progressed through the game.

t_m: Apr 28th 2008; 11:35AM

Tie Fighter = Best PC game ever. Period.

I really wish they had released an expansion for XWA that actually finished the plot. I think it had the potential to be an all time classic, but it was obviously rushed out unfinished.

XWvsTF was too soon. Its one of the only games I ever returned after buying, but that was mainly because it came out in an era when most people didn't have internet connections. 5 years later and it would have rocked.

X-wing series was always better than Wing Commander. It felt solid and it felt like you had momentum. Wing commander always felt like you were just rotating in space. I imagine that if I was ever in a real space war then it'd be just like Tie Fighter.

jsutcliffe: Apr 28th 2008; 11:39AM

I remember finding the Death Star trench run too hard in XW, then discovered that if you turn the detail down it draws only a fraction of the turrets and obstacles. Good times.

paragraph: Apr 28th 2008; 11:54AM

Anyone catch when he spelled out what TIE stood for?

"Twin Engine Ion Fighter"

xD

Great Job

Kyera: Apr 28th 2008; 11:54AM

I actually installed the old Tie Fighter Collector's Edition CD-ROM on a friend's old, old laptop.

God, what a good game. :(

compuguy1088: Apr 28th 2008; 12:32PM

I still have both the collectors cd's for Tie fighter and X-wing (as well as the updated versions of these games-using x-wing vs tie fighter engine) , X-wing vs. Tie fighter (with the mislabled discs), and Alliance....Good times!

AwesomeTown: Apr 28th 2008; 12:40PM

Tie fighter was hands down an amazing game, arguably the greatest space sim ever made. But there will always be a part of me that loves Wing Commander.

Damn you, Hobbes... damn you.

Ron: Apr 28th 2008; 12:42PM

Wing Commander I & II were clearly better from a story and arcade game standpoint, but X-Wing and Tie Fighter were both better from a mechanics standpoint. Tie Fighter were spectacular, although it sucked taking two shots and then exploding. I miss the space-flight sim. Sometimes I fire up FreeSpace or Colony Wars just for some good times.

compuguy1088: Apr 28th 2008; 3:00PM

I have to agree, the Tie fighter is a crappy craft...except for the few Tie fighters that actually have shields...

Ghaleon: Apr 28th 2008; 1:20PM

X-Wing runs on a 286, actually. It was true power to the masses

KrazyIan: Apr 28th 2008; 2:37PM

Both X-Wing and Wing Commander 2 occupied a huge part of my childhood.

WC 3 and 4 were also amazing, as was Privateer.

ZeroCorpse: Apr 28th 2008; 3:04PM

What? No love for Ballblazer?

That was my first Lucasfilm game, followed by Maniac Mansion on my Commodore 64.

While I loved Tie Fighter and X-Wing, I have to say my absolute favorite LucasArts games were "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis", "Day of the Tentacle", and my absolute favorite at the time: "Outlaws", which had an AMAZING score and story.

I wish LucasArts would revisit Outlaws, complete with Bajakian's music.

LaughingTarget: Apr 28th 2008; 6:50PM

Wing Commander was good, X-Wing and TIE Fighter was better, but the best? Freespace 2.

Ken Seang: Apr 28th 2008; 7:52PM

So when are they gonna speak about the rouge squadron series?

CNash: Apr 29th 2008; 8:34PM

Today has been very TIE Fighter oriented for me - I installed the Collector's CD and also somehow got the old DOS floppies to run on Windows XP, just so I could compare and contrast the differences.

I hate to say it, but I think my rose-tinted spectacles broke when I looked at the DOS version. It looked fantastic back in the day, but the more realistic textures from the Collector's CD edition do wonders for its playability nowadays. It's just a shame they cut out the iMuse soundtrack in favour of looped John Williams originals - the original MIDIs and innovative mixing system gave the game much of its charm.

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