So all the games in the pack are fun and a great blast from the past for all of us who came of age in the early 90s. But there is a ton of confusion surrounding what versions you are actually purchasing--here on GOG.com and elsewhere. The GOG versions of X-Wing and TIE Fighter are the original 1993 and 1994 releases, respectively. They are labeled "Special Edition" and include a few enhancements (SVGA graphics vs. VGA, an additional campaign for TIE, etc) but they are more or less the original games. The "Collector's CD-ROM" which came out in 1995 is a radically upgraded version of the original games that had and has to be purchased entirely separately. The confusion, I think, stems from the fact that The Collector's edition was built in 1994 and therefore you will sometimes see both this product and the *1993* X Wing referred to erroneously as "X Wing CD 1994" or "X Wing Special Edition 1994" or some other variant with the year 1994. As if that wasn't confusing enough, LucasArts released in 1997 a completely new product (though I think it recycled much coding from the early 90s games) entitled "Star Wars X-Wing VS. TIE Fighter" and, in 1998, a new scenario add-on "Balance of Power." X-Wing vs. TIE was intended as a medium for multiplayer game play and, as such, had only a limited number of stand-alone missions and one (relatively weak) campaign. The multi-player world was in its infancy and games like this never had staying power. It's a nice change of pace, but you have to decide if even that one campaign is worth $10. The Alliance game is a totally different animal and, while a generation ahead of the XWing and TIE Fighter games, not something I remember at all from the 90s. So . . . you'[re not really getting the best LucasArts had to offer from the 1990s . . . probably not worth $40. For $25, I'd say go for it. I believe all four games are available at old-games.com where you pay $10/month for unlimited downloads.
