Star Wars: TIE Fighter
1994 · Space Combat · PC/DOS
Overview
Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994) is Totally Games' follow-up to X-Wing that puts the player in an Imperial cockpit. PC Gamer ranked it the best game of all time in 1997.
Deep Dive
The player is an Imperial starfighter pilot in the period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the original campaign ends with the pilot stopping a coup against Emperor Palpatine. A mysterious figure from the Emperor's Inner Circle hands out secret objectives that earn extra medals and promotions. The engine added Gouraud shading, a 3D target view, an in-flight message log and the ability to target parts of capital ships, such as shield generators and weapons.
Developer Story
Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham designed it at Totally Games, and LucasArts released it for MS-DOS on 20 July 1994. The expansion Defender of the Empire followed, and the 1995 Collector's CD-ROM added SVGA graphics, voiceovers and a second expansion, Enemies of the Empire.
Did You Know?
- Pirated copies leaked in early July 1994, before its release on 20 July.
- The novella and strategy guide name the pilot Maarek Stele.
- The TIE Defender and TIE Avenger it introduced later became part of Star Wars canon.
Sources & further reading
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter — Wikipedia
