Editor's note: I know; why is this still here? I am lazy, nobody has bitched about it and I am lazy. I know! I know!... In my opinion, Star Wars is OUT and "Mass Effect" is IN. So... Where is it? I'm lazy, too busy fixing computers for food to write about some fabulous new games, I don't have the time to play; considering, I also need to watch "The Deadlest Catch" on the tele. I will say this... MASS EFFECT is on my short list. I just need to work myself up to the 50 maybe 100 hours I'll need to play this outstanding game. Okay... back to Shawn's BS.

Reviewer's note: For those not familiar with the Star Wars references...either seek professional help or get off of the desert island you live on.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

Well, it was our galaxy, actually, but it was a long time ago that Lucas Arts released X-Wing. The first of a very distinguished series of space combat simulations (read simulations as any game that cannot be played the exact same way on the Playstation, this ain't no arcade game, after all).

(Editors Note: Shawn is in love with anything Star Wars.   Please be patient. Don't tell him I said this. - Ben V.)

I remember sitting down at my computer, sometime in 1993, and loading it. I was excited; and when I saw that introductory story line scroll back into space, just like in that very special theater in 1977, I felt my heart skip a beat. The gameplay was fantastic, and the story thick with tons of references to that very special movie. It has been years since I was as excited about a new Game title as X-Wing.

Until now, as a matter of fact, with the release of Lucas Arts' X-Wing: Alliance.

The story is set shortly after Empire's battle for Hoth. You take the role of Ace Azzameen: young son of the owner of a deep space trading company and a budding pilot. As the story develops (and the manual makes mention of this, so I'm not giving anything away) you join the Rebel Alliance and get to fly all of your favorites: X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings and those horrible slugs: the Y-Wings. But this game has something different. Because of who you are, Lucas arts was kind enough to let us get a chance at flying some of the more interesting craft. Most notable in the list of new craft are the Corellian transports, one of which is well known to all (or better damn well be): The Millenium Falcon. Technically, the Millenium Falcon is a souped up YT-1300 Transport and, as it turns out, there is far more than just that in the Corellian Shipyards. The YT-2000, your father's ship and one you'll fly on far more than one occassion is a great ship that, once you get used to it, you'll love. If you like being able to fly a large variety of vessels with lots of guns and missiles than you are reading about the game you should buy next.

The story line is great. Absolutely lush with references to the events that the Star Wars movies portrayed. Remember, This story line takes place between the beginning of Empire Strikes Back and the end of Return of the Jedi. So those Imperial Convoys you're flying strikes against are busy hauling supplies to the new Death Star. The placing of this story line during an existing, and very familiar, story gives this game more depth than the other Star Wars Space Sim installments, most of which involved story lines only distantly related to the films. One notable exception was X-Wing which allowed YOU to assult the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin. However, this contradicted with the existing story line in some ways which is never good but we'll let it slip just this once.

(Editor's Note: This does and will go on and on. - Ben V.)

Now to the REAAAAALLLLLYY good part: the gameplay. First impression (Once I was over a small install problem, see below) was simply, "Damn." The level of detail in the actual combat sequences was downright outstanding. The enemy AI is at least as good as it was in Xwing vs TIE Fighter(XvT) meaning: unless you're the best damn pilot on earth, the top dificultry level will kick your ass. The lighting effects in this are improved over XvT with nice lens flare and background effects. Most notable are the outanding particulate and explosion effects. When you clip the wings of an annoying little TIE, the ship doens't simply explode into little polygonal chunks. It breaks apart into pieces and then explodes in great detail. The first time I played the game, consisting of a short Melee in the training room, I was actualy blasted from the sky while following an exploding TIE Interceptor.

The controls are the same as every other one of the Star Wars simulation titles, so there is no learning curve for those of you already familiar with the older titles. For those of you new to this series, the controls are not complex. All flight controls can be handled with a joystick with a built in throttle (ie, Microsoft Sidewinder). A few keyboard commands could be necessary, but you can map these to your joystick as well. I personally play them from the keyboard.

The install for X-Wing: Alliance goes very smoothly and doesn't take up too much space considering the absolutely immense amount of gameply available in over 50 missions. However, users of the Voodoo 3 2000 card and up and other new cards will notice the first time they play that the graphics aren't quite what I've described. Patch time. That's right. Without the patch, X-Wing: Alliance does not recognize the card at all. You need to have Patch 2.02 at least. The patch is not too large: just slightly over 3 megabytes in size. You can find it here.

Despite that one minor problem, this is a very stable and simple game to install and play. Graphics, gameplay and all other settings are very easy to adjust at any point in the game by simply hitting your escape key.

Final analysis: The game rules. Period. Not since Wing Commander: Prophecy has there been a more enjoyable space flight simulation. If you don't have it and you love these types of games, this game is well worth the $50 or so that most of the software stores are asking for it. After all, blowing the evil Empire's lackeys (not Microsoft, the other empire) out of the sky is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Get to it, Pilot. The Alliance needs you.
May the Force be with you.