The computer game series known as X-Wing saw its release between the years of 1993 and 1999. These games were designed for play on personal computers using the DOS operating system. They are set in the Star Wars universe. Their release coincided with the release of The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, which helped to reignite interest in the Star Wars franchise. Lucasarts was also capitalizing on the success of their World War II air combat simulators, which were created by project leader Lawrence Holland. The goal of the series was to simulate, in a "realistic" manner, the experience of piloting starfighters for both the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Throughout the games, players are tasked with completing various missions, ranging from simple dogfights against enemy starfighters, to escorting freighters or capital ships, and even attacking larger enemy vessels. In addition to dogfighting, which was designed to resemble the carrier battles of World War II, the games also challenged players to manage power resources, coordinate with wingmen, and utilize weapons effectively.
The initial game in the series, Star Wars: X-Wing, and the final game, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, both featured missions that recreated the attacks on the first and second Death Stars, respectively, as their concluding events. Star Wars: TIE Fighter, the second game in the series, adopted a unique approach by presenting the game from the perspective of the Imperial forces. The game series makes reference to the Imperial Navy instead of "Imperial Starfleet" as seen in the Star Wars films. In 1994, X-Wing was awarded the Origins Award for being the Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1993.
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter stands out from the other games in the series due to its focus on multiplayer gameplay. It lacked a substantial storyline, and its single-player component consisted of a series of unrelated missions without any cutscenes. LucasArts recognized this as a misstep, as many fans considered the story element of the first two games to be a major draw. To address this, they released the Balance of Power expansion pack for X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, which included a series of missions with a proper storyline and cutscenes similar to those found in the first two games. They then returned to the story-driven format for the series' final installment, X-Wing Alliance.
Many of the games included hand-drawn cutscenes with voice acting at key points in the storyline, which was notable for the time, especially in the first two games, X-Wing and TIE Fighter. However, these cutscenes were not as extensive as those found in the Wing Commander computer game series. The games also featured music from the original films, which, in some cases, would dynamically respond to the player's actions through the use of the iMUSE system.
- Star Wars: X-Wing ( 1993 ) Imperial Pursuit (expansion) (1993) B-Wing (expansion) (1993) Star Wars: X-Wing: Collector's CD-ROM (remake) (1994)
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter ( 1994 ) Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire (expansion) (1994) Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Collector's CD-ROM (remake and expansion) (1995)
- Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter ( 1997 ) Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power Campaigns (expansion) (1997)
- Star Wars: X-Wing Collector Series ( 1998 ) (compilation)
- Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance ( 1999 )
- Star Wars: X-Wing Trilogy ( 2000 ) (compilation)
Both X-Wing and TIE Fighter were re-released as Collector's CD-ROMs, which included their respective expansion packs. These re-releases also incorporated various improvements, such as bug fixes, enhanced graphics, reworked cutscenes, additional missions, and the addition of voice-overs for mission briefings and in-game radio communications.
In addition to these, two collections were released that featured significant updates to the original games:
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X-Wing Collector Series included the Collector's CD-ROM versions of the first two games, but with redesigned cutscenes and concourse areas. The mission engine was updated with the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter graphics engine, which utilized texture mapping instead of Gouraud shading. A limited version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was also included in this collection.
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Star Wars: X-Wing Trilogy featured the updated versions of X-Wing and TIE Fighter with the enhanced graphics engine, as well as X-Wing Alliance, and a demo version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.
These two collection remakes did not achieve widespread popularity, as their updated look and feel, while technically advanced, were perceived as "cold" and dark compared to the original versions. While most of the cutscenes remained the same, they were given a slight blur effect to accommodate the higher resolution. The replacement of the original iMUSE music, which dynamically responded to the action, with CD audio also contributed to the loss of the original atmosphere.
These games were created by Totally Games, a company owned by Lawrence Holland, under license from LucasArts Entertainment Company, who also later published the games. Currently, there are no plans to develop any further games in the series. However, in a 2003 interview, Mr. Holland suggested that he might consider revisiting the series in the future.
- Totally Games
- X-Wing Game Series ( @xwinggameseries ) on Twitter (backup link (xwinggameseries) not verified!)
- Czech X-Wing site