Reviewed: May 27, 1999
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Lucasarts
Developer
Totally Games
Released: March 24, 1999
Genre: Action
Players: 8
ESRB: Everyone
10
10
10
10
10.0
System Requirements
Even though Lucasarts is one of my favorite software companies and responsible for over half of the games on my top 10 favorite list, they have admittedly had some problems releasing quality titles when it comes to their Star Wars franchise. This has finally changed with the highly anticipated release of X-Wing Alliance.
The original X-Wing and Tie Fighter games released several years ago took us to the limits of available technology at the time and offered great action and space combat in the true ambiance of Star Wars. Those first games shipped on a half-dozen floppy disks and are still considered classics. Lucasarts followed with some add-on mission packs for each game and finally the Collectors' CD-ROM's a few years later that bundled everything together on a single CD.
Then we suffered a drought for many years until the ill-fated released of X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter and its subsequent add-on pack, Balance of Power. The main problem with XvT was that Lucasarts was trying to capitalize on the multiplayer online gaming frenzy and in doing so left out the bulk of the gaming community - the SINGLE PLAYER. While the online gaming community embraced XvT, most of us either returned the game or put the box on the shelf next to our dusty copies of previous Star Wars titles.
Apparently Lucasarts heard our pleas for a new and better space-combat sim set in the Star Wars universe that would cater to the online gamer and the space jockeys with lousy Internet connections, and X-Wing Alliance was born.
X-Wing Alliance features everything fans were expecting: an immersive story line, incredible 3D accelerated
graphics, 3D sound, a massive amount of missions to fly, and enough
flyable ships (over 50) to take on a Death Star. So let's break down
this game and check out each of the components that blend together to
form perhaps the best Star Wars game to date.
Just like no movie can survive without a good script, no solo gaming experience can survive without a story to carry the action, and XWA has a great story. The opening movie sets the stage and puts you in the role of Ace Azameen, a young man who has spent his life playing computer-sims until his big sister gets him involved in the family shipping business.
The game eases you into the action with several family related training missions that increase in difficulty and expand in scope to cover all the basics; navigation, docking, weapons, energy management, etc. The story begins to develop quickly during these training missions and soon you will find yourself forced to flee your home and join the Rebel Alliance.
Once you join the rebellion you will have access to the Pilot Proving Grounds. This is loosely based on the training courses from the previous games in the Star Wars series but has also been greatly enhanced to include a wide variety of training. The ring courses now have randomly placed lasers that you must shoot, and each ring accelerates your craft faster with each pass. Assuming you don't crash, you can almost achieve lightspeed halfway through a course. Other courses will have you flying into and through asteroids and through fiery lava tubes into the molten core of these planet-size rocks.
The majority of XWA missions take place from onboard one of several rebel cruisers. The missions range from strike missions to escort and reconnaissance patrol duty. There are no branching story lines here. If you fail a mission you simply keep replaying until you get it right. Hints are available after each failed mission that will hopefully clue you in on what you need to do to succeed in your next attempt. If you get frustrated you can opt to skip a particular mission. You can only do this 3 times per campaign, so you may not want to start skipping missions too early into the game. You can always go back later and replay any of the 50+ missions in the combat simulator and try to better your score or finish a skipped mission.
The main story of XWA runs parallel with the movie script from Empire Strike Back and Return of the Jedi. You will take part in many "behind the scenes" missions that directly tie in with what you saw on the big screen all those years ago. There is one mission where you will fly with the legendary Luke Skywalker and another where you actually steal the shuttle Tyderium which is used by Han and Leia to land on the forest moon. Your tour of duty beings shortly after the evacuation of Hoth and ends in the famous battle over Endor.
Throughout the course of the main plot you will also participate in an underlying story dealing with your family and their recent forced-relocation. These personal excursions are spread out about every 5-6 missions and usually have you flying your Corellian transport ship on missions with your sister, uncle or brother. Some of these missions can be much harder than your normal rebel missions but the auto-targeting turrets on your ship make things a bit easier.
Each mission is scripted so there isn't much variety when replaying. The first time through this game will offer you many surprises. There's nothing like coming out of hyperspace expecting to find a cargo container and instead finding yourself looking down the business-end of six Star Destroyers and a few squadrons of Tie Fighters.
The graphics in XWA are second to none. I played the game using my pair of Monster II cards, but found the Viper 550 AGP card achieved a faster framerate and easily supported those missions where there were over 50 ships on the screen at any given time. Explosions look like they were captured from the movies and the insert window on the HUD which shows your targeted ship displays some of the finest 3D models and textures seen in any space combat sim. Tie fighters break apart and spark as each piece explodes into space dust and the larger capital ships explode into satisfying large chunks and tumble off into space.
Switching to an external camera and panning around any of your ships will reveal detailed textures which were taken directly from the vaults at Lucasfilm and are advertised as being the best textures in any Star Wars game - I agree. Scale is immense. Some of the space stations are massive and you can even fly into them. A strafing run down the topside of a Star Destroyer can easily take 20 seconds and Vader's ship, the Executor simply fills the screen with its awe-inspiring evil presence.
The background planet images look like NASA photos. Asteroids, nebula, and other fantasy space objects are rendered in almost obscene detail. Colored lighting has been added to the enhanced XvT engine to render some beautiful images. Other touches include a 3D hanger that actually has activity going on in real-time. Ships will dock and leave, cargo is manipulated, and weapons are loaded onto fighters. You can sit back and watch the cargo bay to witness some incredible animation.
Perhaps one of the nicest visual treats is the 3D cockpit and gun turrets. You can now pan around the cockpit of any of your ships. While this may seem a novelty at first, its true purpose is only revealed through the use of the new Padlock view. This view, which has up until now been reserved for the flight simulator genre, will lock onto your enemy target and keep your view locked onto him. Thus, if your targeted tie fighter flies past your right side and behind you, your onscreen view will track him as you look out the side of the canopy and then behind. If you happen to be in a droid-supported fighter you will even see an R2 unit sitting in the "backseat".
The sound in XWA is stunning. Support for all of the major 3D sound cards is offered and with a 4-speaker system you will be thrust into some of the most awesome sounding combat you will ever experience. All of the ship's engines have been perfectly reproduced and laser fire and explosions will rock the house - especially if you have a subwoofer. Constant radio chatter adds to the realism and over 8000 lines of dialog carry each mission and the overall story along.
As always, Lucasarts offers the classic John Williams score to backup the action. Using the famous iMuse system, the music will constantly change to reflect the situation you are in. If you hear the Imperial Death March you had better check your scanners for a Star Destroyer because one just warped into the system.
When it comes to the replay value of XWA I would have to say it is almost limitless. Many of the 50+ missions can be flown with a choice of ships. While the story and missions are linear and are presented in a pass/fail style there are lots of strategic decisions you can do differently each time. You now have control over your wingmen - something I never took advantage of but look forward to doing in future replays. There are also lots of BONUS points available for going above and beyond the call of duty.
Of course after you finally finish this massive game you may want to take shore leave for awhile before taking a second tour of duty. I got this game the day after it released and finished it 57 days later. I would guess I have more than 120 hours invested in this game - seven of those being spent on the final Death Star mission. XWA features a skirmish mode that lets you create your own missions with various objectives and endings.
Of course multiplayer support always offers more longevity to a title and XWA shines in this department. Since Totally Games (the actual developer of both XvT and XWA) had already perfected the online code for XvT, seamless online gaming was to be expected and that's what I got. Get hooked-up on the Microsoft Game Zone and kick some Imperial butt, or just get a few friends together using your own IP address. Either way, you are in for some real fun when the ships you are blasting out of space are being piloted by real people with unpredictable strategies of their own.
Unfortunately the online gaming experience is limited to deathmatch only. As Lord Vader would say, "I find your lack of cooperative campaign play disturbing." Even with this limitation, there is still lots of fun to be had online and we can always hope for a patch that offers cooperative play at a later date.
Of course no game review would be complete without the "Dark Side". XWA has a few glitches out of the box, but most of these have been fixed with the Version 2.01 Patch. The few bugs that remain are minor and include such things as improper timing of messages, mission objective failing to be marked as complete and perhaps my biggest complaint, imprecise targeting commands. While I can pick from a wide variety of target classes, I cannot scroll through a specific class which adds some unnecessary difficulty to some already-difficult missions.
Lucasarts has always known the kind of game that they wanted to make and the technology has finally caught up to their vision so they could offer us the game we have always wanted to play. While X-Wing Alliance may not be the "perfect" space combat sim; it comes closer than anything else ever has, and it does so in all the richness and splendor of the Star Wars universe.
"May the Force Be with You"