By JAMES
ANTHONY
Not so long ago (mid '70s, actually) in a cinema not too far away, an
unwilling teenager was bemoaning the fact he had been dragged, kicking and
screaming, to see the preview of a new movie called Star Wars.
"I don't want to see it," he snarled, "it's kids' stuff.
I'm 16, I want to see A Clockwork Orange."
Then the credits rolled and THAT spaceship - you know the one - thundered
ponderously overhead. It seemed to go on and on, endlessly. The moaning
teen shut up and sat, rapt, as one of the greatest movies of all time spun
its on-screen magic.
Two decades on, the special effects unleashed in Star Wars still have
the power to amaze. While the robots, Imperial stormtroopers and the big
hairy thing with the mean nature captured the gaze, it was the blazing red
laser cannons, light sabres and the fantastic collection of spaceships that
won the hearts and minds.
So, it was with great excitement that the box of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
was ripped open, loaded and fired up.
Not being terribly au fait with flying an X-Wing, the best of the rebel
alliance's fighter-bombers, the tutorial scenarios were a godsend. Easy-
to-follow voice commands guided this novice pilot through the full use of
weapons, shields and tactics. Then it was off into the dark-blue yonder.
"Come on then, you Imperial swine. Where are you hiding?"
Yike, just there. "Hold on chaps, Tora, Tora, Tora and all that."
Sending a couple of laser-cannon blasts into a TIE Fighter, it spins away
madly before exploding. But there is no time for celebration, two more of
the quick little devils have popped on to the radar. Lock on weapons and
away we go again. "Cop that, Darth Vader, you great lump of black plastic;
get out of the way you snail . . . oops, sorry Luke."
The scenarios in X-Wing vs TIE Fighter offer a terrific choice of spacecraft
and missions ranging from mine clearing, attacks on convoys and transports,
to the good, old-fashioned all-in brawl against dozens of enemy vessels.
Gameplay is challenging but, fortunately, is not so hard that it is impossible
to win through the various scenarios.
Graphically, this game is stunning and brings back all the old memories
of watching the movies on the big screen. The sound is marvellous and adds
an extra dimension to the experience. (It is almost worth a suicide attack
on a starcruiser just to hear C3PO's scream as your craft is blown to smithereens
by the Imperial heavyweight.)
While X-Wing vs TIE Fighter is sensational for solo
play, its designers have developed it for use as a multi-player game that, by
all accounts, is out of this world. Get a modem, find some
colleagues-of-the-force and take to the stars.
