X-Wing
Alliance:
It's Worth the Price of Admission
Review by Cory
"UberJedi" Mickelson
3/26/99
When I decided to fork out 50 bucks for "X-Wing Alliance", I was hoping I wasn't wasting my money. Lucasart's last X-Wing series game was "X-Wing vs.TIE Fighter", which was one large disappointment from the beginning for me. If you weren't really excited by multiplayer, you were screwed, with only 20 or so single player missions. There was little story line, and only one cut-scene to dazzle us in the beginning.
When I got home, finally opened the box and installed and played it, I was surprised. A five to six minute cut-scene is one of the best I have seen on a LucasArts game since "Jedi Knight", and it has a comprehensive storyline. You are taken to the time between the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Endo, as the youngest son of the Azzameen family, the owners of a small shipping company. Your mission is to save the company and the family from a takeover.
The choice of ships during the actual missions is smaller than "X-Wing vs.TIE Fighter", but in the combat simulator, it's abundant. They range from A-wings to TIE Defenders, and from the Millenium Falcon to the Corporate Sector's Patrol ships. There is also a skirmish mode, which is actually a custom-built mission. If you have played the most recent WWII fighter games, you will recognize this. The skirmish mode actually gives you unlimited different types of missions, added to the 50 "story-driven" missions.
The graphics quality in "X-Wing Alliance" is virtually unchanged from "X-Wing vs.TIE Fighter", but the interior cockpits have been greatly enhanced. With 3D cockpits you can move your head in various directions. This is a cool feature, but makes it difficult to find enemies behind you (having to move your head takes time!). There are also improved lighting effects (the cockpit lights up when you fire the lasers). The controls in "X-Wing Alliance" are also the same as in "X-Wing vs.TIE Fighter", so it's not too hard to adjust.
"X-Wing Alliance" is really, a MUST buy, and is arguably the best SW game since Jedi Knight.
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