Star Wars: X-Wing

Star Wars: X-Wing is the first space simulation video game inspired by the Star Wars franchise for PC. X-Wing was the start of a series of space combat simulation video games consisting of X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X -Wing vs. TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance. The game takes its name from the X-wing, one of the fighters used by the Rebel Alliance to fight against the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars universe.

This first installment of the series was published in 1993 by the Lucasfilm video game company (George Lucas' company, director, writer and producer of the Star Wars film saga).

The game offered a 3D combat system, following the particular physical laws of the Star Wars movies (sound in space, travel light-years away in a matter of minutes, unrealistic spaceship movement). The player was dedicated to carrying out missions that contributed to an overall plot that relied on cinematic sequences to keep the player interested.

The game was not really intended to be a simulator in the strictest sense of the word, but rather is intended to bring the feel of fighting in the movies to the personal computer. The ships behave more like futuristic versions of World War II airplanes (with the logical sci-fi components for the setting) than real spaceships. Not surprisingly, the main creators of the game, Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham, are responsible for the previous series of combat simulators set in World War II, which include titles such as Their Finest Hour, or Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

The game incorporated a successful sound system, iMUSE, which allowed background music to respond to the current situation and actions of the pilot. Thus, the player could tell from the music if enemy reinforcements had just arrived, if their objective had been destroyed, and so on.

The game first appeared for PC with MS-DOS as a floppy disk. After the success two expansions of missions and ships were published. Later a compilation was published for Macintosh, and for PC on CD-ROM with slightly improved graphics and integrated expansions. With the appearance of Windows 95, a last version compatible with this operating system was published, with a graphic system that now included textures, high resolution and CD music (unfortunately this edition lacked the interesting iMUSE). The game is out of print and the latest version is barely compatible with the latest operating systems such as Windows XP, although it can be made to work acceptably with some technical advice or using MS-DOS emulators such as DOSBox. Although it can currently be purchased on the Steam and GOG platforms running on Windows 7,8 and 10.