Star Wars: X-Wing vs TIE Fighter

Copyright: KBkids.com 1997

Multiplayer games which can be played over the Internet are extremely popular with teenagers and adults everywhere. In the past two years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people playing games against people they will never meet through their phone lines. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is one of the more popular Internet games, and with good reason. It is also an excellent game to play alone. While testers did not enjoy this game as much as Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy, this is a very good flight simulation program.

X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is a Star Wars based flight simulation program. The avid pilot in your house can choose to be an Imperial pilot, or Rebel pilot. There are dozens of crafts to choose from, and several difficulty levels. Each craft has certain characteristics which you will see at the bottom of your screen. You may need a craft with a certain hull strength, or one with a better acceleration. An instructor will walk you through your first missions as you learn the basics of targeting, shooting and craft maneuvers. Each mission becomes increasingly difficult as you learn to fight off enemy craft of various types, and learn to work in conjunction with other pilots.

This is a program which requires a joystick. Many programs recommend a joystick, but this one absolutely requires one. If you have not purchased a joystick and are anxious to play this particular game, you will want to invest in a decent one. Testers found low-end joysticks with only a few buttons not nearly as much fun as more expensive models. A higher quality joystick also provided much smoother flight control and craft handling with this program. The Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro works very well with this program as it has so many programmable buttons. This becomes an important issue when playing X-Wing vs. TIE fighter. As you configure your joystick, you will find approximately 95 key stroke commands for maneuvering your craft and fighting off the enemy! It would take most people a very long time for these commands to become second nature. The more commands you can assign to the joystick, the better off you will be. As you can imagine, all of these key strokes make this a rather complex program to master. That is a good thing if you are looking for replay value, but a drawback if you have a child or teen who is easily flustered.

In general, testers found the flight simulations challenging and enjoyable. This is a program which most teenagers will love. Star Fleet Academy offers more in the way of a story line and video quality graphics. If you are looking for Internet play, however, X-Wing vs. TIE fighter would be a more appropriate choice. While Star Fleet Academy can be played over a network or Internet, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is a more popular Internet program. If you are looking for Internet play, stick with this program. If Internet play is not a strong motivator, testers felt Star Fleet Academy would be a better choice. You can always find someone to play X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter any time day or night when you sign on to one of the many online gaming sights.

Bottom Line: A very good flight simulation program which offers a wide array of battle functions. This one is a bit on the difficult side, however, due to the massive number of key strokes which must be learned. Very good program!

Ratings: (based on KBkids.com's 4 star rating system)

Overall: 3

BrainGain: 2 1/2

FunFactor: 3 1/2

EasePlease: 2

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