One more young pilot takes a change of career and a huge pay cut in
order to help take down the Empire. Oh, and you get to fly the
Millennium Falcon (What XWA review is complete without mentioning
that?)
This most recent installment of Lucas Arts' highly
popular X-Wing series was eagerly awaited by many fans of the previous
games, not least among the online X-Wing VS TIE Fighter (XvT)
community. However, if fans were expecting an online experience to
remember, they were to be sadly disappointed by the adequate, but
ultimately flawed XWA.
If looked at from a purely
non-gameplay point of view, the games certainly seems very impressive,
with several long FMV cutscenes and a full cast of characters providing
in-game story telling. However, what truly makes a game is the gameplay
(of course) and it is my opinion that XWA falls down badly in this
regard.
Even in single player the flight engine seems less
''realistic'' (strange choice of word considering it's a Star Wars
game..) than XvT's. The controls range from the very basic ''move stick
to turn, push button to fly'' to using almost every button on the
keyboard, depending on how you choose to play the game. You would find
it very difficult (perhaps impossible) to get through the game without
using many of the keyboard functions, but there are also many which are
completely unnecessary, and only serve to confuse the gamer. An example
of this is the open/close s-foils button when flying craft such as the
X-Wing. Although this adds a little more ''realism'' (there's that word
again) to the game, it is ultimately useless and having your s-foils
closed will only cost you valuable seconds if you are attacked. Small
things such as that overcomplicate the controls a little, and can take
away from the enjoyment of the game if you find such things
frustrating.
The multiplayer gameplay is unfortunate to say
the very least. The game is heavily ''lag dependant'' which basically
means if you have a cable connection to the internet and you play
someone on a standard 56k phoneline, it's very unlikely that they are
going to score a victory. To the person with the 56k, you will seem to
be able to move and turn much quicker than they can, while their
movements will seem sluggish to you, giving you every chance to blow
them from the sky before they know what's happening. In a time when
internet gaming is so popular, this terrible attempt at a multiplayer
came as a shock to many games, who expected a follow up to XvT, which
was designed with multiplayer in mind.
On the other hand, XWA
is very impressive graphically, sporting good ship design and some very
cool explosions. The dynamic lighting from explosions and lasers adds
more realism and helps you to get more of a feeling that you are really
there. The FMV cutscenes tell the story very well, and really add to
the game. At a few points in the game, the cutscenes recreate scenes
from the Star Wars films very well, which also helps immerse you in the
Star Wars universe.
The sound effects in the game as about as
good as I can imagine them being for this sort of game. The say in
space no one can hear you scream, but that has never stopped dying
Alliance pilots giving it a go in the X-Wing games anyway. The
distinctive TIE Fighter sound is reproduced as ever, and the sound
effects in the game are really not much improved from XvT, but they
didn't need to be, so that's not a problem. The in game dialogue,
however, is very good, adding to the story and giving you a much better
look at how pilots react to each other than in previous games. From
family bickering to Luke Skywalker telling off Dash Rendar, this game
has all the talking you could want and more. This contrasts sharply to
XvT which has barely any speach, and this wingman chatter gives XWA a
better feeling of belonging to a group.
The background music is,
as ever, based on the original Star Wars score and therefore it goes
without saying that it is excellent at setting the mood for each
mission.
One of the most noticeable differences between XWA
and its predecessor XvT it that XWA has returned to the classic story
format for missions, instead of just giving you a list of missions and
skirmishes to choose. The story builds around a shipping family, most
specifically the youngest son of the company's owner, as he serves his
family's business and later the Alliance. You will grow to relate to
his family, and probably to hate his brother, as the story progresses
and we see everything slowly fall apart for the group as a whole.
In
conclusion, XWA is a good single-player game that should have been a
great single- and multi-game. On the surface it looks fantastic, but
with serious internet connection issues and an inferior flight engine
to it's precessor XvT, the game proves to be a little disappointing.
