Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994)

I started playing back in 1996. Then I put the game away for many years. Later on, I played again in Windows XP and had to figure some things out to make it work. Finally, today, I just finished the game under Windows 10, with a joystick. I played both expansions: Defender of the Empire, and Enemies of the Empire, all of Hard, while accomplishing all the Primary, Secondary and Bonus objectives.

It is the hardest game I've played in my life. I've had to cheat in many of the end-game missions. I cheat by editing the Mission files and removing the warheads from the enemies.

Still, as a review, I would say this game offers incredibly difficult challenges and if you try to accomplish them, or just play on hard, it will make you into a better pilot.

Of note, Tour of Duty, Battle 2, Mission 5 is very difficult and to get all the objectives took me 50+ hours, even after editing the mission file. So I cheated to make the mission easier but even there, it still took me 50 hours of retry. But doing that made me a much better pilot than before.

From controlling your energy allocation (Shields, Lasers, Engines) to controlling your speed and selecting targets, you will improve in all those areas. There are multiple warheads and selecting the right payload for a mission is a strategic choice. For the basic Tie Fighter and Tie Bomber, to the more advanced Tie Interceptors, all the way to the Tie Advanced, you will experience and get to know intimately your cockpits.

Then you will move on to Assault Gunboats, Missile Boats and the feared Tie Defender.

The music did not work during my playthrough but I did not care. The game offers medals and ribbons to show your accomplishments. There are training simulators, virtual missions in a simulator and the real "Tour of Duty" missions. All taken into account, you have about 111 missions to do in this game.

I have experienced a lot of glory after finishing difficult missions. It nearly made me cry. Spending 50+ hours on a single mission drives you nuts.