By Kieron Gillen on August 5th, 2009 at 5:49 pm.
Yeah, this is the sort of semi-rumour which we don’t usually touch. But because it’s for one of Those Iconic PC Games and It’s Kinda Obvious They May Do This One, The Feed at G4 are reporting Lucasart’s Darrell Rodriguez’s response to being quizzed on whether they’ll be doing X-Wing or Tie-Fighter in the wake of the success of the Monkey Island Special Edition…
“We don’t have any announcements now, but stay tuned,” said Rodriguez. “We will soon…..”
Which could, of course, mean anything, but sounds like as good excuse as any for another orgy of what-Lucasarts-classics-we’d-like-to-see. Me? Rescue on Fractalus! The Eidolon! Ballblazer!
05/08/2009 at 17:53 jonfitt says:
Updated graphics for X-Wing and Tie Fighter? Yes please!
05/08/2009 at 17:53 Mad Doc MacRae says:
please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please
05/08/2009 at 17:54 Novotny says:
omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg
05/08/2009 at 17:55 Stense says:
Damn Lucasarts teasing.
It would be great if it is true, they were great games. I have great memories of spending hours (and lots of reloads) trying to take down a rebellious Star Destroyer by myself with a lone tie fighter. One of my proudest gaming achievements.
05/08/2009 at 17:56 keelids says:
must I state the obv?
LOL
This is after they just had critical success with Monkey Island reboot, alongside the less stellar Dig, Indiana Jones, and Loom.
Who’s Lucasarts to throw away opportunity to earn some more dough?
05/08/2009 at 18:00 The Fanciest of Pants says:
The answer is obvious; Tie Fighter.
Nothing else comes close.
05/08/2009 at 18:01 sfury says:
And next – Day of the Tentacle Special Edition
05/08/2009 at 18:02 Dolphan says:
I played this recently, got it in a bargain bin. Runs fine in DosBox. It’s insanely hard though, games had got less punishing by the time I got into them!
05/08/2009 at 18:05 Mr Pink says:
X-Wing and TIE Fighter pretty much defined my gaming childhood. Come on Lucasarts, you know you want to!
05/08/2009 at 18:11 Weylund says:
Seriously? The killing they could make? Holy crap. TIE Fighter is one of the few games I finished multiple times during my adolescence. The adventure games are all well and good (bring on their SEs, certainly) but LucasArts could probably bring in a hefty (from a B. Gates-ian perspective, even) sum by releasing special editions of the flight sims.
Good god, yes.
05/08/2009 at 18:14 Novotny says:
This is amazing news, it will sell and sell and sell. I’m so excited.
05/08/2009 at 18:18 Cooper says:
Wow.
I have to be honest, I preffered X-Wing vs Tie Fighter for multiplayer and the engine for X-Wing alliance was vastly superior.
If they could bring back the fully 3d cockpits of XWA, the great storylines of TIE and X-Wing and stay true to the fantastic mechanics of star wars space pew pew, I and I imagine many, many others will be Happy Bunnies.
05/08/2009 at 18:19 ZeroByte says:
X-Wing vs Tie Fighter didn’t define gaming for me but I did have good memories playing it with my sister back in the days. I specifically remember loading the CDs into one of those CD-ROM drives with a cassette kind of case.
One of us would focus on flying the mission while someone roleplayed as an R2 unit with the keymap open in front of them and doing the maintenance functions the pilot requested. It was mainly just managing the shield/laser power and locking the S-foils but it was a fun way to make X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter a co-op game when you’re 8-9 or somesuch age.
This would be really cool since I now have another younger sister (15 year age gap!) who is getting into gaming. She really loves the old Lucasarts adventures and Star Wars games in general so.. yeah this would be a fine way to spend a weekend with her blasting imperial scum out of the skies! And maybe also getting my other sister back into the gaming fold, the two sisters loved playing the Lego Indiana Jones game together.
So yeah, family gaming ❤ story and such. Bring us back our X-Wings Lucasarts, damn you!
05/08/2009 at 18:20 Informis says:
If I close my eyes, I can still see a TIE fighter jinking in my sights against a swirling starfield.
05/08/2009 at 18:28 Chiablo says:
I want desperately for a good traditional space flight simulator. A rebirth of the X-Wing series might just do it. The only game in recent years that has satiated my demands has been Freespace, but even then it lacked decent wingman management and the fleet battles that the X-wing series has.
My only fear is that they will approach this to cater to a casual market. Look at the Battlefield series, BF:Heroes is a joke, and BF:1943 is a tremendously stripped down version of the original. If they don’t maintain the complexities of the original, they end up insulting their target audience in order to make quick sales.
I’m hopeful, but pessimistic at the same time regarding this announcement.
05/08/2009 at 18:30 Fumarole says:
More TIE Fighter? Yes please.
05/08/2009 at 18:34 westyfield says:
I never played X-Wing or TIE Fighter (I was all of four months old when the first X-Wing game was released), but it sounds like a laugh.
I assume I should be excited, so:
Woo!
If they do make a new X-Wing/TIE Fighter game, I’ll buy it for sure. Space is fun times!
05/08/2009 at 18:43 Paul says:
meh
(runs for cover)
05/08/2009 at 18:45 Vinraith says:
Wow, that might actually be enough to bring me back to space sims. I don’t know WHY I’ve so completely lost interest in the genre, but whether it’s Freelancer or X3 I just can’t seem to get back into the genre. This upsets me.
05/08/2009 at 18:46 Plopsworth says:
Outlaws, Dark Forces, Grim Fandango, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Rebel Assault (I & II in 1080p? or real-time renedered)!
05/08/2009 at 18:51 Michael says:
Um, yes!
05/08/2009 at 18:57 LionsPhil says:
Yay, more needless remakes! I guess the idea bucket over there is well and truly empty, then.
05/08/2009 at 19:01 TOOTR says:
DX2 66Mhz + Xwing + Joystick right next to keyboard = love
TIE Fighter while superior in many ways does not dim the rosey red cheeked love of the first truly outstanding and indepth SW game.
Yikes some of you lot were youngsters – I was doing my MSc in staying a drinking student and avoiding work when I first embarked on the xwing training tutorial….
Xwing. Tie Fighter. Either. Both. Updated. Bring them now.
And no disintegrations.
05/08/2009 at 19:05 jonfitt says:
I like the idea of remakes.
Some games are perfectly playable, but beyond the threshold of graphic fidelity required by a lot of people. There’s also the issues of getting them to run at all or at the right speed.
if they’re done in a shot-for-shot way with the original still accessible (like the MI remake) I see nothing not to like.
05/08/2009 at 19:06 LewieP says:
I hope it is not just a Steam rerelease. I’ve not played X-wing, and whilst I would be tempted to check it out if it did turn up on Steam, I don’t think I could turn down a modern remake.
05/08/2009 at 19:06 Vinraith says:
@jonfitt
Indeed, as long as they don’t take too many liberties with the original game, I certainly appreciate them making it easier (and more visually palatable) to play old favorites on a modern system.
05/08/2009 at 19:10 PC Monster says:
Tie fighter was AMAZING. Tie Fighter+?
YES PLEASE!! :O
05/08/2009 at 19:12 Bobsy says:
As I mentioned in the forum thread here on RPS, it raises the problem that we don’t all own joysticks these days. I reckon a Live Arcade rerelease rather than Steam is more likely.
05/08/2009 at 19:16 DMJ says:
BRING ME TIE FIGHTER.
That is all.
05/08/2009 at 19:22 Fumarole says:
No, not everyone owns a joystick, but surely everyone who would buy a flight sim does.
05/08/2009 at 19:35 Diogo Ribeiro says:
With a Freelancer control scheme plz?
*awaits crucifiction*
05/08/2009 at 19:45 Nerd Rage says:
I still have my old joystick, but there’s nowhere to plug it into anymore :(
05/08/2009 at 19:50 smac says:
Man, I had an insanely expensive sound setup which was great for X-Wing – a Roland CM32L module for the music plus a Soundblaster card for the FX.
Probably completely pathetic by modern audio standards (it was MIDI music, f’rheavensakes), but back then it was the cat’s whiskers. Would have been the dog’s bollocks, but that term hadn’t been coined, yet.
This *and* Crimson Skies? Remakes of two of my all-time favourite ‘flight’ combat sims in quick succession? Somebody pinch me.
05/08/2009 at 19:53 Persus-9 says:
@ Fumarole – I don’t (Well, actually I own four but none of them work with my current build) but by god the day they confirm a TIE Fighter: Special Edition I’ll buy the best damn joystick I can find. Whether they do remakes or a new game or both I think they’ll probably will need to make them joypad compatible and do a 360 release but that’s possible. Some guy over at Kotaku wrote out one potential way it could be done without removing any of the controls by using the R1 and L1 as modifiers like shift and ctrl, it wasn’t pretty but it would work.
05/08/2009 at 19:55 TOOTR says:
Has there been any noteworthy spaceflight sims in the last, oh I don’t know, decade?
Cut my teeth on Elite, rinsed xwing, tie fighter and since then nothing.
I dimly recall firing up Privateer II : The Darkening in 1996 buy not really getting drawn in.
Anyone suggest something? @ Vinraith – why were Freelancer and X3 lacking?
(And I know EVE isn’t a spaceflight sim in the xwing sense but even if it had similar elements I think I’d avoid it – too fascinating and not enough time for the MMO monster.)
05/08/2009 at 20:05 mgl says:
I liked the Freelancer control system (mouse + keyboard)–it worked suprisingly well.
I loved X-Wing and TIE Fighter (and Freelancer, fwiw), and played them heaps, but as enjoyable as they were, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the dogfighting was just a little too artificial and routine: Start with a game of chicken, then chase a weaving target all over the place until they asplode. (It was state-of-the-art AI for the X-Wing games, but pretty tired by the time Freelancer came along.)
I’m not sure I’d like a full space-physics simulation, but something with a little more combat variety, perhaps incorporating stealth and a variety of approaches to mission goals.
Oh, realistic space explosions and an adherence to Newton’s First Law would be nice, too.
05/08/2009 at 20:08 Seth says:
Freespace 2 came out in 2009.
05/08/2009 at 20:09 Seth says:
And by 2009 I mean 1999.
05/08/2009 at 20:12 RogB says:
how odd, just his weekend I was trying to get TIE fighter collectors edition working in some fashion on XP (TIE>Xwing) and its a nightmare.
As much as i’d love a remake, im sure they’d botch it. Or it’d be toomuch ‘console-ified’. (ive just played Red Baron arcade on PSN and was a little bit sick in my mouth)
I want my proper joystick controls!!
05/08/2009 at 20:16 Scandalon says:
mgl – Whilst I’d love a “realistic” space combat sim (might try the Babylon 5 Freespace2 TC), adding actual physics to an xwing/tiefighter game would ruin it.
The original sequences in the movies were based off of WWII dogfights, which of course were very unrealistic for something taking place in space. But it’s fun. Remove that, it’s not StarWars – you might as well add a goofy sidekick for the kids or make Han only shoot Greedo as a defensive reaction. Oh, wait…
05/08/2009 at 20:17 ilves says:
@TOOTR
Freespace 1, 2, and Starlancer are decent. Freespace 2 is awesome and in my top ten games of all time, available at gog.com.
05/08/2009 at 20:23 Harbour Master says:
Koronis Rift. I could never get past rift six. Never got good enough shields.
05/08/2009 at 20:25 Harbour Master says:
Oh and Rescue on Fractalus was the first game that made me jump. (After Space Panic in the arcade. God who’s feeling old now.)
05/08/2009 at 20:31 Heliocentric says:
There was a newton mod for homeworld as i remember. Made moving a big ship important and crashes much more common.
05/08/2009 at 20:44 Legionary says:
TIE Fighter. Please be TIE Fighter with a more modern graphics engine. That was such a f*cking superb game, and remains both the best Star Wars and the best dogfighting game.
05/08/2009 at 20:51 TheSombreroKid says:
i neeeeed this to be true.
05/08/2009 at 20:53 Heavy Weapons Guy says:
A remake of X-Wing Alliance would be 10x better, although I’d definitely take X-Wing v. Tie Fighter any day too.
Loved both of those games.
05/08/2009 at 20:53 rocketman71 says:
As long as they don’t touch the gameplay… An USB/joystick adapter, pronto!
BTW, X-Wing & TIE may be way too difficult for today’s younglings :)
05/08/2009 at 20:53 pilouuuu says:
I was playing Grim Fandango again yesterday and this brilliant game desperately needs a special edition. Nothing that would take that much work, but there’s some stuff that needs updating here:
- higher resolution graphics
- better textures and more polygons for the characters
- a key that when pressed shows all interactive objects on the screen
- please, the horrible control method! Make the inventory something like Monkey Island and not that stupid close up selecting all objects. At least make it like EFMI!
- add mouse support and point and click gameplay as an alternative
That way new generations may enjoy the excellent game and we can enjoy the game again because it is starting to date really badly.
05/08/2009 at 20:53 Portman says:
I will throw buckets of money at Lucasarts if they somehow remake/re-release Tie Fighter, X-Wing, or X-Wing Alliance. I grew up playing those on the PC and I can remember getting the expansion card just to use the joystick that the older games required. And then there was the time that I went over to my cousin’s and heard it with a sound card for the first time.
Lucasarts has a lot of classics that they could bring back, hopefully they’re starting to wake up and tap their catalogue from “the good old days”.
05/08/2009 at 20:54 Psychopomp says:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
05/08/2009 at 21:04 Vinraith says:
@TOOTR
The last space sim I played to completion was Starlancer, which was good in its day but I couldn’t say how its aged. I wouldn’t say that Freelancer or X3 necessarily ARE lacking, I just couldn’t sustain interest in them. It’s something I can’t put my finger on, which isn’t much help to you obviously.
I’ve also heard reasonably good things about Darkstar One (available on GOG for cheap), but having been scared off the genre by my own indifference to the aforementioned titles I haven’t tried it yet myself.
05/08/2009 at 21:07 Vinraith says:
Actually, come to think of it, I CAN be more specific with Freelancer. I had two main problems: difficulty and linearity. It promises to be very open but in reality greatly restricts where you can go and what you can do. I get the sense it “opens up” later in the game, but for the bulk of the main plot you go where it wants when it wants. Add to that the fact that I, at least, found it preposterously difficult and you begin to see why I didn’t last long with it.
FWIW it’s got a great fan community and is massively moddable, so if you DO enjoy it there’s virtually limitless play there. Sadly I just couldn’t get into it.
05/08/2009 at 21:36 DarkNoghri says:
OH yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.
Tie Fighter Remake. This would, among other things, give me an excuse to get a Saitek X52, which I’ve always wanted.
I beat Tie Fighter multiple times growing up, as did my older brother and possibly younger brother, on varying difficulties. X-Wing was always too hard. Never got past like, level 4.
Please just update the graphics, sound, and compatibility. Don’t screw with anything else.
Freelancer was quite fun. I’ve beaten it twice. Like Vinraith said, though, it’s very linear. You essentially have the main story, and then after that, you can do whatever. Which is freighting, maybe piracy, etc. Which I found very boring.
In honor of the occasion, I’m currently listening to the Imperial March. Repeatedly.
05/08/2009 at 21:51 shiggz says:
Dear LucasArts,
DO IT BITCHES!
I RULE YOU!
Sincerely,
Dr. Rabid fan with money coming out of his ears
05/08/2009 at 22:04 jonfitt says:
If anyone is looking for a Newtonian-ish space sim, there’s I-War and I-War2.
Also:
Please Mr Lucasarts add a mid-mission save system.
All space games need this desperately. Spending 15 minutes replaying an escort mission waiting for the “surprise” enemy trap for the n-th time needs to be left in the past where it belongs. I think X3 also had this problem.
05/08/2009 at 22:12 DigitalSignalX says:
I would totally buy *any* xwing game remake: if Lucas wants to revitalize their public image from the toilet – this is the way to do it. Bring back their PC titles that defined a generation for the latest graphics / hardware.
05/08/2009 at 22:30 mgl says:
@Vinraith,
‘I get the sense [Freelancer] “opens up” later in the game, but for the bulk of the main plot you go where it wants when it wants. Add to that the fact that I, at least, found it preposterously difficult and you begin to see why I didn’t last long with it.’
I didn’t find Freelancer too linear, because you can always defer a mission and go off exploring, to trade or gather minerals so you can buy weapons or upgrade your ship. You do need to complete certain missions to open up new regions, but even so, it’s a decent-sized universe. And I didn’t find the difficulty too bad until late in the game, when it suddenly gets insanely hard. I confess that I cheated to finish the main storyline, but even after that, with the best ship in the game, some of the later enemies are very, very tough.
@Scandalon,
Point taken on the Star Wars dogfighting model. I would like my ship not to slow down when I turn off the engines, but fine.
The thing I loved about the X-Wing games was being assigned different ships for different missions: versatile X-Wings for all-around combat; slow, heavily armoured Y-Wings for bombing or escort missions; zippy A-wings, and so on. So while I’d prefer a new Star Wars space-combat game with some Freelancer free-exploration elements, I’d settle for a graphical update with mouse support.
05/08/2009 at 22:31 Broken Tooth Koi says:
If they give us a story and not some dynamic Falcon 4 style campaign I’ll be very disappointed. We know the damn story and we don’t need a Poundland version to go with every friggin’ game. Just let us be part of the war.
05/08/2009 at 22:35 Serondal says:
@Vinraith – You may have missed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon:_The_Fringe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-War_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evochron_Legends
As far as Freelancer goes I REALLY got hooked on that game to the point where I had to throw it away because it was ruining my marriage to a certain degree. It never really opens up very much IMO but it is VERY addictive to me for some strange reason. It isn’t really very hard once you get the hang of it but up until that point I did die a lot (actually I just remember I started CHEATING at that point, that’s why it suddenly got easy :P Very few games do I start to cheat at and keep playing for more than a few hours after that)
X3 is a freaking awesome idea but it falls flat for me because I simply can’t play it. It crashs constantly and lags horribly no matter how much I upgrade my system. I LOVE the idea with the ability to get your own fleet of space ships, factories, captial ships ect but I could just never PLAY it without it crashing :(
Evochron Legends is a LOT like the Elite series (you can even land on planets without a cut scence and harvest bio-matter from trees and such and water from lakes to sell else where) It strikes me as the best current Elite Like game out there.
Also there is the Universal Combat series which is in a leage of its own. I was very heavily addicted to that as well, once you get over the learning curve it gets to be very fun (but some people fall off the learning curve and crack their F@#$@# necks and some people get over the learning curve and don’t find it fun at all for whatever reason)
Still there aren’t any games I’ve listed that have gotten any where close to the sense of scale and fun of Tie Fighter. X-wing vs Tie Fighter didn’t do it for me, the sense of scale was totally off with that one for some reason :(
If they could make X3-Terran Conflict much more stable and less harsh on my computer it would be the only game I ever played ever.
05/08/2009 at 22:36 Serondal says:
BTW the space flight aspect of Star Wars Galaxies is actually pretty fun.
05/08/2009 at 22:37 Schmung says:
I still remember the graveyard of crap joysticks that was the result of me playing too much TIE Fighter. I was convinced that if I just pulled hard enough (giggidy) then I could make it turn faster. Loved that game so much. X-Wing was ok, but TIE fighter was vastly better. XvT was more co-op goodness than my poor useless brain was capable of containing. Shit was like a teenage Top Gun in my parents spare room.
05/08/2009 at 22:50 Nick says:
I don’t want a remake.. they already updated both games to Xwing vs TIE fighter engine graphics.. I’d rather play a different game what with having played TIE fighter about 8 times all the way through.
05/08/2009 at 22:53 Aubrey says:
THIS
AAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!
05/08/2009 at 23:43 Monchberter says:
Do want!
I’m another former teen pilot and loved all of the x wing series. X wing vs tie fighter was the game that turned me onto online gaming and for that i am truly greatful. Update on steam with steam browser please. 64 man furballs anyone? ;)
05/08/2009 at 23:53 Railick says:
I always wanted captial ships to play a larger role in W-wing Versus Tie Fighter. My favorite missions in Tie Fighters were the ones where capital ships either engage each other or space stations and allow me to bomb or defend one or the other.
05/08/2009 at 23:57 Black Mamba says:
A remake of all of them in the series X-Wing, Tie Fighter, vs, Alliance would be awesome really it shouldn’t be too difficult a project once you’ve done the ship for one game it’s done for all the others.
Hopefully it’s on the consoles too as thats about the only way a publisher will agree to do a new game in the series if there is enough buzz around the release.
Totally games (former X-Wing devs) aren’t exactly busy these days though I’d be amazed if there’s anyone left bar Larry Holland.
06/08/2009 at 00:05 Diogo Ribeiro says:
By the by, I’d only enjoy a Freelancer control method, not X-Wing turned into Freelancer. Gawd. Freelancer was mostly bollocks.
*awaits another crucifiction*
06/08/2009 at 00:45 Thiefsie says:
back from the days when I used to consistently kill mice by playing this…. much love!
joysticks are for wimps.
06/08/2009 at 00:52 Horza says:
Would be fun to see how many of the new generation of gamers would get past the korolev mission in X-Wing.
Never did myself.
06/08/2009 at 02:07 squadman says:
X-Wing was so great. I bought a couple of flight sticks for it, but ended up using a Gravis Gamepad for it. I still remember buying the add on packs and staring at the box on the bus back home from the City. Good times… my wasted youth ruled. So many games finished, so few girls ;)
06/08/2009 at 02:25 jackflash says:
OMG YES. Please just none of that “TIE Defender” garbage and all the other dumb new ships… stick to the original.
06/08/2009 at 02:35 Scandalon says:
Oh, in case it wasn’t clear, add me to the “do want” list. In my perfect universe, the existing games in the franchise would be updated to run on modern OS’ (and cross-platform while I’m dreaming, even if they just used Cider or whatever), w/ higher resolutions and, while I’m dreaming, higher-detailed models/textures/sounds, provided they can find the original source files and/or re-create them, but that’s it, so would still have pretty modest system requirements. And sell it for a reasonable price via Digital Distribution (Steam, D2D, etc), say $20 – $30 depending on how much extras they include.
At the same time, they announce an all-new one is production: new engine, support for the latest bells and whistles, new story, still w/ the ability to play multi-player co-op, but not significantly touching the core gameplay. (A well done, strategic-map level of game addition, a la StarControl 1 or x-com might be good, if they had to try something “new”.)
06/08/2009 at 02:39 Allandaros says:
I don’t give a damn whether it is X-Wing or TIE Fighter. I want a remake of one or both, and I am prepared to kill this cute puppy here to get it.
06/08/2009 at 05:47 sigma83 says:
Pardon one so ignorant, but why was TIE Fighter superior to the others?
06/08/2009 at 07:54 Ravenger says:
Tie fighter was superior to the original X-Wing because it didn’t delete your pilot profile if you died on a mission!
Well it did, but it allowed you to recover it. The later Windows 95 version didn’t delete your pilot thankfully.
06/08/2009 at 08:10 brulleks says:
The Eidolon, eh?
My word, that brings back a few memories. I must have played that game for months on the Speccy.
Not sure I could see a re-imagining of it working out though – drive strange vehicle through cave, pick up crystal, kill dragons. Start again. Might need fleshing out a bit…!
06/08/2009 at 08:52 jRides says:
I loved these games, X-Wing is the one that sticks out for me- some of those missions especially the final one of the third campaign were utter nightmares.
Talk of this being remade as opposed to “re-imagined” makes me go all tingly. Hopefully other companies might take note that there is a market for some of those original games (UFO springs to mind – who here who loved UFO bought UFO:ET?).
But X-Wing first please Mr Lucasarts, swiftly followed by Tie and Alliance.
06/08/2009 at 09:29 Subject 706 says:
LucasArts catering to PC gamers again? HAS THE WORLD BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN?
06/08/2009 at 09:53 Major Disaster says:
Cant see it has been mentioned already. Would recommend people check out the Freespace 2 Source Code Project (which is a huge graphical and general) update to the game (and FS1):-
http://www.hard-light.net/
Perhaps RPS should do a “review” :)
Also includes the TC’s such as the Babylon project.
As much as I enjoyed Xwing/Tie Fighter games would also love to see a Wing Commander remake or even new game (NOT the terrible WC Arena for Xbox Arcade)
06/08/2009 at 10:11 RogB says:
>>sigma83 says:
Pardon one so ignorant, but why was TIE Fighter superior to the others?
Personally, I htink its because in Xwing you are more heavily armoured and more powerful, but slower, so you end up chasing these little irritating bees around the screen.
In TIE fighter, I loved the fact that you had next to no armour, and a rubbish gun, but were very fast. It was more ‘seat of your pants’ and very panicky. I remember flying between 2 bit ships with lasers flying all around, kwnoing that one stray hit would take my systems out, and the next would be certain death. A Better adrenaline rush!
of course, once you start throwing the more advanced TIE ships in, they basically turn into Xwings anyway, with the configurable sheilds and all that. Me, i just love the basic Fighter.
06/08/2009 at 10:36 AbyssUK says:
man I even completed b-wing… I’d love xwing to return.. but we all know lucas will do a new release of rogue squadron because it’ll be for the console lot. Xwing is too hard and too complicated for the xbox generation. Also in space nobody can here you call everybody gay so they won’t like it.
06/08/2009 at 10:37 Bursar says:
paraphrasing slightly
You are going to show your wingmen how an ace pilot clears a minefield in an unshielded ship
06/08/2009 at 10:37 DMJ says:
@RogB: Agreement. X-Wings could bluff their way through a dogfight, letting shields substitute for skill. A TIE-LN made you FLY, and a TIE-Int gave you the speed, maneuverability, and firepower to do horrible things to the supposedly “superior” Rebel craft because you could fly.
The epitome of that was, for me, the mission where you’re asked to clear a minefield with a TIE-Interceptor, just before a nearby frigate and squadron declares Rebel defection. When you start the game in the early missions you die in seconds to things like lightly-armed tugs, but by this stage of the game you don’t even find the 30+ turrets of a minefield a threat because you have learnt don’t be where the lasers are. That was when I realised that I had, finally, become a badass pilot.
Once you know how to fly, the TIE-Adv and TIE-D become deadly weapons, not only because of their stats, but also because you know how to use them. Shields work so much better when you’re dodging 90% of the incoming fire!
06/08/2009 at 10:39 Stense says:
I always found the missions in Tie Fighter to be more interesting too, with a more interesting story to follow (not to spoil anything, but with the add on pack for the game, the story goes well beyond the end of Return of the Jedi). There was also a Secret society to get into and move up in rank in, loads of new ships to pilot and blow up. Plus you got to play for the baddies and blast those rebel scum.
06/08/2009 at 10:49 Bursar says:
Only thing wrong with TIE Fighter was that the TIE Defender was so awesomely overpowered it took all challenge away from the game.
06/08/2009 at 12:58 Mark Owens says:
Oh Man, Ballblazer, The Eidolon, Koronis Rift & Rescue on Fractulus (Behind Jaggi Lines – to those in the know ;-) ) What an era that was. In those days everything was soooo exciting. Something that seems to have got lost in todays world of super flash graphics is the gameplay on a lot of the stuff today. I suppose I’m just getting old (42 next birthday) and I’ve lost my rose tinted glasses.
Microprose, Synapse Software, Adventure International, Jeff Minter where are you when we need you.
06/08/2009 at 13:05 roryok says:
I really really hope lucasarts go ahead and give all of their classics the SE treatment. I would happily pay (again) for SE versions of Monkey Island 2, The Dig, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max (if they’re allowed…), Full Throttle, Dark Forces, Outlaws, Rebel Assault, X-Wing, Tie Fighter etc etc etc
In fact, I really hope they do so well that other companies can’t resist doing the same, and next years charts are full to the brim of (tasteful) remasters of old classics.
06/08/2009 at 13:50 animal says:
As I said last time I’d definitely buy a new joystick. I can see other people not wanting to do the same though, so just put in some extra work and add a proper joystick/pad, mouse and keyboard interface on top; then everybody wins.
06/08/2009 at 14:33 Monchberter says:
Personally TIE Fighter was best because we all loved the sneering preening space nazi imperial officers gloatingly referring to “rebel scum” in the mission briefings.
06/08/2009 at 15:38 lePooch says:
I first played X-wing vs. Tie Fighter as a kid. Going back to TIE Fighter was a nightmare after that. Seriously, you died in roughly four shots.
I wore out a lot of cheap joysticks on this series(mainly cos Dad stowed away the $200 flightstick for himself).
Also, did anyone else run around as a kid imitating the slightly-creepy-wet-fist-on-flesh “thwoosh-thwucha” of a laser hitting your shields?
Just me then, huh?
06/08/2009 at 16:00 Psychopomp says:
Man, I can’t believe this. It’s like the devs exist in a vacuum, where IL-2, and Red Baron never existed.
(Yes. I know. *That’s the point*.
06/08/2009 at 16:40 Nick says:
I agree the TIE Defender and Missile Boat were really overpowered, but it was still fun (especially having enough advanced missiles to take out a Calamari cruiser…)
06/08/2009 at 16:48 CMaster says:
Actually, one of the annoying things about TIE I found that flies in the face of some of the points made above is all those early missions where they make you fly a slow, shielded and unmanouverable gunboat.
Still a new X-Wing/Tie game would be a very good thing.
06/08/2009 at 21:41 dsmart says:
This can’t be a new game. My guess is that its just going to be one of their Steam releases of the original legacy game.
If they release a new space game, I’ll be absolutely shocked. They’d be stupid to do it. But this is Lucas, so all bets are off.
07/08/2009 at 04:33 NegativeZero says:
The Win95 CD versions of X-Wing and TIE Fighter both run in Win XP reasonably well, you know. Upgraded graphics too (XvT engine).
The major downside is that iMUSE doesn’t seem to work. TIE Fighter without the dynamic music feels hollow. :(
08/08/2009 at 02:19 dsmart says:
Told you it wasn’t X-Wing. Ha!
11/08/2009 at 22:07 PC Monster says:
I can’t see Lucasarts expecting everyone to run out and buy Joysticks, although if there was a game that’d actually rekindle the flight-stick renaissance then Tie Fighter is probably it. I’d be perfectly happy for them to implement a decent mouse-control into the game (and the ability to rebind keys!).
But hey, thinking about all the excited comments on this thread practically pleading for graphical upgrades to better suit modern technology…aren’t we now calling for the very thing that every serious fan has agreed ruined the films? :P