TIE Fighter Published: 1994 X-Wing is an undisputed computer gaming classic, but TIE Fighter is its superior, with refined gameplay, improved graphics, and a truly original premise. Star Wars is the ubiquitous modern myth of good's triumph over evil, but TIE Fighter was a game that uncharacteristically confounded the films' black-and-white approach by situating the player in the cockpit of an Imperial starfighter. All of a sudden, the rebels were the enemy, and the empire's ostensible goal was merely to quell the insurgents in the name of intergalactic peace. The whole idea was rather difficult to swallow if not downright shocking, but ask most any Star Wars fan, and he'll tell you that TIE Fighter was an incredible game. It made the imperial/rebel conflict seem much more problematic by situating the player in the traditional enemy role, but it treated this premise with the care and thoughtfulness it deserves. click to enlarge The TIE fighter itself, as X-Wing veterans already knew, was little more than a deathtrap, as its speed and maneuverability didn't go far to compensate for the craft's lack of deflector shields. A couple of lucky hits to its hull, and you were dead. The TIE interceptor and TIE bomber didn't fare much better, although the TIE advanced (designed after Darth Vader's ship from Star Wars) was every bit the X-wing's equal. The assault gunboat was a heavily armored mammoth that far outperformed the Y-wing toward a similar function. The game lets you fly five different craft as opposed to X-Wing's three, and its texture-mapped graphics were a big step up from X-Wing's comparatively sparse detailing. click to enlarge TIE Fighter also earned praise for integrating its story with its space combat. Its dozens of missions were challenging (although perhaps a notch easier than X-Wing's), but also included optional objectives that came from a higher authority, the emperor himself. Occasionally, these objectives would contradict your primary task, in which case you had to make a choice between following orders or heeding a higher calling. TIE Fighter's story tied into Timothy Zahn's Star Wars novels, with its references to the cunning imperial grand admiral Thrawn. And while the game's original story was even more satisfying than X-Wing's, some fans did criticize the game for ultimately pitching the empire against itself. click to enlarge LucasArts published an expansion campaign for TIE Fighter called Defender of the Empire, which introduced the tri-winged TIE defender, a powerful starfighter that made even the TIE Advanced obsolete. Another new campaign was released with the enhanced TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM, which included another new ship, the Missile Boat. All together, the Collector's CD-ROM included more than 100 missions as well as visual enhancements and full speech, earning TIE Fighter its reputation as (arguably) the finest space combat simulator ever. Only its noticeable absence of multiplayer features proved anywhere near disappointing. Read GameSpot's review of TIE Fighter. Next: Dark Forces