Star Wars: X-Wing - Space Combat Simulator
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| Star Wars: X-Wing | |
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| Developer(s) | Totally Games |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Designer(s) | Lawrence Holland, Edward Kilham |
| Platform(s) | PC (DOS), Macintosh |
| Release date | 1993, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Space simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Five (5) 3.5" floppy disks. |
| Input methods | Keyboard/Mouse/Joystick. |
Star Wars: X-Wing (or X-Wing for short) is the first LucasArts DOS computer game set in the Star Wars universe, as well as the lead title in the X-Wing computer game series. It simulates the experience of combat in the A-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing starfighters of the Rebel Alliance. X-Wing was built on an evolution of the same game engine that underlay the Air Combat Classics series of World War II flight combat games, (Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain, and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe), that were developed by Lawrence Holland for Lucasfilm Games. X-Wing's main advance is that it features a fully 3-D engine for the flight combat simulation instead of the bitmaps and sprites of the earlier titles.
X-Wing also features an original narrative that parallels the events of Episode IV. At crucial points in the storyline hand-drawn cutscenes complement the narrative that is told mostly through the mission briefings and in-flight radio messages. The scenes were entirely original, though inspired by the movies.
X-Wing also features MIDI music from the original movie trilogy as well as pieces of original scoring. In perhaps the first example of the use of adaptive music in a combat simulation game Lucasarts' iMUSE dynamic music system enabled the intensity of the music to change in response to the changing situation experienced during gameplay. The score included themes for specific events such as the completion of mission objectives or the arrival of new enemies that were blended seamlessly with the main score.
The Collector's CD-ROM version of the game, which was labelled as "Limited Edition", offered a novella titled The Farlander Papers (q.v.) written by Rusel DeMaria. This was later expanded upon in the game's strategy guide which was sold separately and featured extensive mission tactics in the form of "after action reports" written by the game's chief mission designers, David Wessman and David Maxwell.
In 1994, X-Wing won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1993.[1]
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[edit] Plot
The story that drives the missions is linear, and consists of three campaigns of varying length. Interaction with other pilots occurs within the missions as players are able to issue wingman commands to the AI pilots. Progress through the game depends on fulfilling each mission's primary objectives. Failure on a mission results in one of three outcomes: death, capture or retry.
Players assume the role of a Rebel pilot (implied to be Keyan Farlander) during the spaceflight actions of the Rebellion before and during the Battle of Yavin.
The player must complete missions ranging from simple dogfights with Imperial starfighters, to the escort or capture of freighters or capital ships, to attacks on enemy convoys and capital ships. Dogfighting is designed to resemble the free-wheeling duels of World War I and World War II, but the game also offers the challenge of managing power resources (lasers, deflector shields, and engines), commanding wingmen, and effectively using a variety of weapons (laser cannons, ion cannons, proton torpedoes, and concussion missiles).
The storyline evolves through three tours of duty of 12 missions each (except the third tour, which has 14 missions):
- "A New Ally" — The search for new Rebellion allies and the Imperial campaign against the Rebels. The tour ends when the Rebels smuggle a nuclear weapon aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer (ironically named Invincible) and detonate it.
- "The Great Search" — Rebels discover the plans to the first Death Star and deliver them to Princess Leia Organa's corvette, the Tantive IV. The campaign ends with the protection of the princess from an Imperial attack, allowing Leia to ferry on the Death Star plans.
- "The Gathering Storm" — Portrays the Rebels' route to the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star. The last three missions cover the attack on the Death Star. In these missions the player recreates the role of Luke Skywalker. The inconsistency with the player's previous role as Keyan Farlander is simply ignored.
[edit] Expansion packs
Two additional tours of duty were later available separately on 3.5" floppy disks, and then included in the subsequent Collector Editions:
- Imperial Pursuit — Depicts the evacuation of Yavin IV and the search for a secret location for a new base. The Rebels must resist growing Imperial pressure and the new Interdictor Cruiser.
- B-Wing — Covers production of a new craft, the B-Wing, and its delivery to the Rebellion. The tour ends with the Rebels' arrival on Hoth.
The medals case for the expansion pack obviously leaves room for another campaign and ribbon row even though one was never produced. Rumors of a sixth campaign, as well as a Snowspeeder expansion, were widespread after the release of the B-Wing package.
[edit] Editions
Original Floppy Disk Edition — (X-Wing engine, iMUSE MIDI music) Star Wars: X-Wing was originally released on five (5) 3.5" floppy disks in 1993. Its expansion packs, Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing, were also released on floppy disk the same year.
Collector's CD-ROM Edition — (TIE Fighter engine, iMUSE MIDI music). In 1994, after the release of Star Wars: TIE Fighter on 3.5" floppy disks, X-Wing was re-released along with its expansion packs, Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing, on CD-ROM. This edition includes various tweaks, bug-fixes, easier versions of certain missions, improved graphics, redesigned cut-scenes, bonus missions, and voiceovers for the mission briefings and the in-game radio messages. The in-flight engine, having been upgraded for this release, is the same as the one used in TIE Fighter, which is actually an improved version of the original X-Wing engine, modified for the initial release of TIE Fighter to support gouraud shading and other rendering enhancements. Owners of the floppy disk version could, at the time of release, send the back of their instruction manuals and money to LucasArts and receive a special "Gold Edition" of the CD-ROM version, which included the game on a golden CD-ROM and a free gift.
X-Wing Collector Series Edition — (X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter Windows 95/98 engine, Red Book audio). In 1998, X-Wing was re-released again, this time as part of the Collector Series, a compilation containing revamped versions of both X-Wing and TIE Fighter retrofitted with the 3D-accelerated X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter ("XvT") engine and tuned to run under Windows 9x. The Collector Series also includes a cut-down version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter called Flight School. This version of XvT was included to renew interest in the full-version of XvT, as it was selling poorly at the time.
The iMUSE MIDI soundtracks were replaced with looped Red Book audio recordings of the Star Wars score.
[edit] Easter eggs
The game contains a little-known Easter egg. In the first mission of the first tour of duty, there are five enemy freighters which must be destroyed: Orcim, Esorp, Arreis, Nigiro, and Murtceps. These are backward spellings of rival game companies MicroProse, Sierra, Origin and Spectrum HoloByte, the company which developed Falcon 3.0. The chief mission builders, David Wessman and David Maxwell, both worked as testers at Spectrum Holobyte.
Playing the game on certain holidays (Christmas, for example) would trigger the appearance of Santa Claus in the main menu area of the game.
[edit] References
- "The Dark Side Illuminated." LucasArts The Adventurer Magazine Summer 1994, Issue 8, p.9-11.
[edit] External links
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