Star Wars: TIE Fighter

The Good
* Newtonian story line [the game push the story to you as hard as you push the game], ability to join the inner circle.

• On top of getting the mission accomplished message the player gets to receive medals for extraordinary fits in battle.

• The GFX and GUI are adequate to the time of it's conception.

• The player get to fly a wide variety of crafts.

• Enemy deployment noted in Intel reports plays a key role in craft armament phase.

• Different locations for each of the chapters adds to the games richness.

• the ability to change chapters even with out finishing them first decrease frustration level, the player can get back to a hard mission later on.

• GOOD old Star Wars music.
  
  The Bad
  * No personalization to the character accept for the different medals the player receives.

• No personalization to the player's craft, in real life pilots and army vets usually know that "your weapon is a part of your body" and that your craft is your weapon. Tie fighter takes the least personalized "Oh-spawn-already!" approach.

• Good OLD Star Wars music.
  
  The Bottom Line
  To make a long story short: Tie fighter was created in times when GFX weren't enough to make a real impact on sales since there was no real ability to have complexed graphics. The story line got the job done and let the player feel like he wasn't the bad guy even if he flew for the empire, unless of course you wanted to run secret errands for the emperor and be accepted in to the ranks of the dark society of the Imperial intelligence, that's a whole lot different story... I've been playing PC\console games for well over 20 years now and to my humble opinion is that lucasarts really maxed out their investment on this game. I personally hope that lucasarts will remember us joystick people and will make a "Freelancer\Parkan II\X3:reunion"-ish style game ;) Tie Fighter gives you the thrills of a good flight sim while involving you in a story line that takes you on a too well traveled though shady path. Two thumbs up, WAY UP!

[...and these are just few words of this great lucasarts game]

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.

The Good
There is a good deal to like about TIE Fighter. First of all, of course, is a chance to fly for the Empire in all of its technologically advanced starfighters. All the elements that made X-Wing so great are there and there are several improvements. The graphics are excellent, the sound appropriate, and the famed Williams soundtrack is, of course, there to accompany you for the ride. The missions are exciting and interesting, with multiple goals to accomplish. You can get through the game by accomplishing only the main goals of the missions, as assigned to you by your commanding officer, but there are also hidden goals, often assigned to you by a secret agent of the Emperor. The dogfighting action is great and the new variety of weapondry makes it even better, adding such goodies as space-bombs and rockets. The Tour of Duty is the best of this game. Though there are "simulator" missions, like X-Wing´s "Historical Missions", this time around most of them are simple training exercises and not too challenging, though there are some real nutcrackers there. The final nice feature and a great improvement over X-Wing is the ability to back-up your pilot´s illustrious career, just in case you get blasted to kingdom come in the next mission.

The Bad
Can´t think of anything in particular, except that joystick support for the Gravis Blackhawk is horrid (it kept jumping to the side when I was trying to get a good bead). It works great with a Sidewinder, however.

The Bottom Line
A great space-sim set in the inspiring stage of the Star Wars universe.