STAR WARS™: X-Wing Special Edition

And no, not like Battlefront. Like the other reviewers, I would've have 4-starred this if the CD-ROM version was included. And if only the 1993 version was available, it's only 2 stars. That one did not age well. It gets 3 stars for the 1998 version which improved the play graphics slightly but just slapped the old low-res briefing animations into the higher-res backgrounds. And for the extra tours. LucasArts can do a good single-player campaign when they care to. I didn't really need to buy this since I have the original media but it was in a good bundle with X-Wing Alliance which is the pinnacle of the Star Wars space sims. Good for the nostalgia factor, but for the best space sim feel, Alliance skinned with the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Craft Pack is the way to go.

Some people are saying this isn't the game they remember. This is exactly what I remember from my childhood. I have a huge smile on my face as I reminisce back to my childhood obsession with this silly PC game. I remember being impressed with the graphics. But they are there in all of their pixelated glory. Some of the sounds effects are perfect (like the distinct sound of X-Wing lasers) others are awful (like the shuttle engines). But every bit of this game makes me giggle with joy. I hope I spelled "squadron" right.

The X-Wing game series was LucasArts' answer to Wing Commander. They took the genre by storm letting everyone take part in the "Star Wars" story. The winners of the competition between Origin Systems (Wing Commander) and LucasArts were fans of the genre. We got several incredible, fun, and amazing games from 1991 through 2000. Back when this was originally released, I was a huge fan (and still am a fan of) the Origin Systems Wing Commander series. I was afraid this was going to be a rip off of Wing Commander using the Star Wars license (in short, I was afraid it was going to suffer by comparison). However, LucasArts created an excellent series of games (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance). The story was engrossing, the controls intuitive (without being a carbon copy of Wing Commander), and it was incredibly engrossing to finally fly the Rebellion starfighters we'd seen on the big screen since 1997. Being a simulation, you had to learn the controls well, how to balance your shields, change weapons quickly when needed, and how to be a good space combat dogfighter. As I noted earlier, the control scheme and "feel" of the ship vary from the Wing Commander. That doesn't make either of them better than the other, but it just makes each game a fun and unique experience. I had the original games, then purchased the X-Wing Trilogy Collection when it was released in 2000 (still have it...http://www.ign.com/games/star-wars-x-wing-trilogy/pc-855091), which was a collection of the games when they were reworked for Windows using DirectX. I see that this purchase includes all versions of the game along with the two "Tour of Duty" expansions (Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing). Imperial Pursuit was good, but B-Wing gave the game an incredible depth and added more replayability then ever before. If you enjoy space combat sims, this game, X-Wing, and X-Wing Alliance are "must haves" for your collection. All three games are highly recommended. A+++

A few years after Wing Commander was released, Star Wars fans got their own space sim magnum opus in the forum of X-Wing. An amazing game for its time, and still a legendary sim in the genre, I played the hell out of this and its two expansion packs (Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing) to death. Why only four stars then? Because TIE Fighter is the far better game. Don't get me wrong, if you're into these games at all, you'll own and play both, but this game laid the groundwork for all the Star Wars space sims to come after it. There were some missions that were way too puzzly and difficult in the initial release (gorram medical frigate), but these were actually made easier in the special edition (and humorously was used as a marketing bullet point). If you have any interest in Star Wars or space combat, you owe it to yourself to add this to your collection. Just, again, keep in mind that TIE Fighter is the better game, but it wouldn't have been had X-Wing not blazed a trail for it beforehand.

GOG staff comment: The 1994 DOS CD version is now included as of 28.04.2015. Just as awesome as I remember it from 20+ years ago, however I have to agree that the 1994 Collector's CD-ROM version should have been included instead of the inferior 1998 remake. If you're going to go though the effort, go all out. Despite that, it's wonderful to see this game as a digital download and it's well worth the purchase price for the original DOS version alone.