Amazon.com Review: Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance casts you as the youngest son of the Azzameen family, a merchant dynasty operating in a galaxy far, far away. The game is set in the turbulent time period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Caught amid increasing tensions between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, with business rivals watching for any sign of weakness, the Azzameens are on the edge of financial ruin. Worse, their Rebel sympathies may endanger their very survival.
As the family's newest pilot, you fly tutorial missions at first, under the supervision of your sister Aeron and the droid Emkay. But even as you are training, the situation heats up. Before long, the family has been betrayed, your space station has been seized, and you're forced to turn to the Rebellion. Though the game's focus is on combat, the development of this story is tight and suspenseful.
The story and the merchant/smuggler setting give the game plenty of variety. One mission may have you piloting a loaded freighter through an Imperial blockade, while another may place you in the cockpit of an X-Wing on a hit-and-run raid against an enemy battle station. Every ship, every weapon, every sound effect is pure Star Wars, totally faithful to the look--and feel--of the movies. This extends to the missions themselves: nothing works as planned, but somehow you and your Rebel allies manage to make it all the way to the climactic Battle of Endor. If you've distinguished yourself in the earlier missions, hot pilots will get the chance to take the controls of the Millennium Falcon and cram a torpedo into the gut of the Emperor's second Death Star.
Controlling the fighters, freighters, and transports in X-Wing Alliance is easy, with all the options you'd expect in a Star Wars simulation. Shield, engine, and weapon power levels are all adjustable, so you, too, can transfer all power to front deflector screens while attacking, or shut down power to weapons to outrun a swarm of TIE fighters. Novice players may find it difficult to control wingmen or to keep track of the changing objectives when missions go sour. But practice makes perfect, and the truly frustrated can simply skip up to three missions without penalty.
With a modest learning curve and graphics that put you right in the milieu of the Star Wars films, X-Wing Alliance will have you flying combat missions for the Rebel Alliance in no time--and loving every minute of it. --Alyx Dellamonica
Pros:
Loving attention to detail
Fantastic sound effects and John Williams's music
Interesting and changing mission objectives
Wide variety of spacecraft
Con:
Occasional bugs within missions can render them unwinnable
Amazon.com Product Description: A neutral family is swept up in the struggle against the encroaching Empire. You must defy the strong-arm tactics of a rival family who will stop at nothing to destroy your trading company. Ultimately, you will join the Rebel Alliance for a series of covert assignments and uncover information about the Empire's second Death Star project. The finale? You'll find yourself at the controls of the legendary Millennium Falcon, flying against the massive Imperial fleet in the Battle of Endor.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Don't Pay Alot for this game
I think all the previous posts have said what needs to be said. This is a great game in the series that picked up where Tie Fighter left off.
If you don't have it, try to find it on an overstock website. You'll get it for 15 bucks new there, instead of paying the outrageous 75 that some people are trying to rip you off with.
Rating: - Best game for even this timeline.
What can I say? This game is absolutly the best of the best. The older X-Wing and Tie Fighters had choppy controls I think, and the option to litteraly play the mission from the film room took away. Why would it do that? Anyways, I've turned my head towards the flight sims of Star Wars, because I have been thoroughly dissapointed by almost every Jedi game. Dark Forces II and Mysteries of the Sith were great, but Jedi Outcast really took away the challenges. The only 3 Jedi games I'm actually proud of owning are Dark Forces II, MotS and KOTOR. But Alliance still flys rings around them. Graphics don't make the game, and this is the perfect example. Yes, an older game, but the replay value is always a 5. Different stuff happens, you don't just do the same thing over again. This game offers such a challenge that even I sometimes must flee from a battle. The only real problem I saw was in the Death Star, where either you had to be your slowest or probably had to have mastery of the force in your own body just to evade the obsticles. But overall, great game, and I wouldn't trade it in for a million dollars.
Rating: - Star Wars X-wing Alliance
This is a great game, starting after the Battle of Hoth with the Azzameen family and ending with the Battle of Endor with the Rebel Alliance.There were so many types of ships, and different missions. It has great Chapters with bonus footage. Ilove it!
Rating: - The Most Excellent Star Wars Game
I was a fan of the first X-Wing game, and, immediately purchased this game upon its release in 1999. The inclusion of the Battle of Endor at the end was the selling point. Ever since, I have not needed another computer game! The other reviews have pretty much spoken for the game's plot and basic features, so I won't comment on those. This game, despite its age, is simply one of the best flight simulator type game out there!
If there is one way to describe this game, its detail! From the complicated story, of which you feel a part of, to the 3-D ships, to all the stuff that happens in the missions it is simply incredible! In the heat of a difficult mission, I have often lost myself in the game, only to shudder when returning to reality!
There are over 50 different family business and Rebel Alliance missions. In these you fly YT-1300 (Milinium Falcon type) freighters, Z-95s, X-wings, A-Wings, B-Wings and Y-wings. Compared with all past games, there is alot of function. You can dock with capital ships, carry containers, operate gun turrets on the freighters and fly through space stations. Space battles are replicated down to the smallest details - sunglare, blast shockwave, large debris, even ejected pilots! You have the ability to communicate with the pilots in your squadron, and there is a variety of "comm chatter" that you get from them!
I have beaten the game twice (it takes a long, long time). The final treat is that you get to fly the Milinium Falcon in the Battle of Endor (the big space battle in Return of the Jedi), complete with a VERY challenging run through the Death Star's interior! Strap on your flight helmets...
In addition to the missions, there is a "flight simulator" section where you can review past tour of duty missions as well as create your own missions! Here you can fly most of the starfighters (Rebel, Imperial, Pirate, Civilian, etc.) see elsewhere in the game. There is a third "Pilot Proving Grounds" section where you can fly Rebel starfighters through a series of mazes and obstacles while competing for the best time. In between Tours, there are some excellent cut scenes. You also earn awards in the Rebel missions and gather various "souviners" during your family missions.
This review has gotten way too long and no one is going to read it anyways, however, X-Wing Alliance is a supurb effort put out by Lucas Arts Entertainment and is well worth the purchase!
Rating: - A Great game
This is one of the best games I have ever played. You start out with some family missons, and later get to do missons for the rebels. After each family misson you get a cool souvenir. There is also a combat simulator where you can replay missons you've already won. You can also create your own missons! The best part of the game is the end, where you get to attack the second death star while piloting th Millenium Falcon! This is a great game. You should buy it.
- Don't Pay Alot for this game
