A second wave of Lucasarts games has arrived on gog.com, this time all Star Wars related.

Amongst these are the two followers of the classic space-sims X-Wing and Tie Fighter that were released in the first wave. X-Wing vs Tie introduced multiplayer to the series, neglected any real single player content but had that flaw addressed with the Balance of Power add-on (which gog have included). Go have a read at Just Games Retro.

X-Wing alliance was mostly oriented towards fighting in rebel starfighters, just like the first game, but added in some missions with you flying in smuggler ships. Which sounds exciting, right? Some Han-Solo style action. Except I seem to recall those missions being a chore, with you stuck in a cargo ship that’s slow, lumbering and poorly armed. I guess the Millenium Falcon was an upgraded model. However, it’s been years since I played and I may not have given the game a fair chance.

Looking at the rest, Dark Forces was Star Wars Doom, because back then all first-person shooters were described in relation to Doom. When did the term FPS take over? Quake-era? Anyway, this was amongst the first of its kind to allow actions such as jumping and looking up and down. Unlike later games in the series, Kyle Katarn has yet to take up the ways of a Jedi so there are no lightsabers. This is purely about shooting stormtroopers in the face with assorted kinds of blaster. You rebel scum!

The other games I’ve not yet played because this image I project of being a retro gaming expert is in fact a total sham! But I really should try the KOTOR series sometime.

No adventures in this release, but a week or so earlier Gog did open pre-orders for the re-mastered Grim Fandango. I never played that either, sorry! It seems to be very well thought of, though. I also hear that Day of the Tentacle is getting a remaster and hopefully that will appear on gog also. That one, I can confirm, is brilliant, one of Lucasarts’ finest.