The campaigns told roughly the same story with one featuring the Rebel point of view, and the other being from the Imperial point of view. TIE Fighter was also criticized because the polygon models were reused from the then-dated TIE Fighter, with only enhanced textures. However, due to the reduced focus on story elements, community backlash prompted LucasArts to release the Balance of Power expansion pack, which includes two story-driven campaigns of 15 missions each complete with cutscenes. It was conceived as a multiplayer-focused version of the first two games its single-player element is simply a set of unconnected missions, and there are no cutscenes. TIE Fighter ( 1997) is slightly different from the other games in the series. This can be partially explained by the player being part of a special task force headed by Thrawn, tasked with destroying the rogue Grand Admiral Zaarin.
As a result, the gameplay ends up similar to X-Wing, since the player's side does not feature mass overwhelming attacks with expendable craft (as the Empire would do at the height of its power), and often the player does not have the benefit of wingmen. By the fifth campaign, the new TIE craft replace the fighters depicted in the films. These included the Cygnus Assault Gunboat, TIE Advanced "Avenger", TIE Defender, and Cygnus Missile Gunboat (in the Defender of the Empire and Enemies of the Empire expansion packs). Besides allowing the player to fly the TIE fighters, TIE Bombers, and TIE Interceptors seen in the films, the game also adds new craft with shields, weaponry, and hyperdrives. TIE Fighter had advanced features including Gouraud shading for more realistic polygon models, and a more advanced targeting computer (showing a miniature polygon of the targeted vessel, which allows the player to see the target's relative orientation). The main character of TIE Fighter is Maarek Stele, although his name is only revealed in the strategy guide and The Stele Chronicles, a short work of fiction explaining the backstory to TIE Fighter. TIE Fighter includes a number of cameo appearances, including Mon Mothma, Emperor Palpatine, then-Vice Admiral Thrawn, and Darth Vader (who in one mission fights alongside the player). The game ends just before the Battle of Endor. The game has special objectives in certain missions that increase the player's prestige with the Emperor. One sells his services to the Rebellion, while the other attempts to overthrow the Emperor. The game shifts to a growing internal threat to the Empire from two rogue Admirals. The player is initially assigned to various tasks around the galaxy, including helping protect a space station under construction on the Outer Rim, quelling a war between two non-aligned planets, and hunting down pirates. TIE Fighter ( 1994) picks the story up just after the Battle of Hoth.
In 2020, Electronic Arts and EA Motive released Star Wars: Squadrons, a spiritual successor to the X-Wing series focused on space combat simulation and virtual reality features.
LucasArts later released the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series which also feature the X-wing fighter however these are arcade-style action video games geared towards consoles with their gamepads, in contrast to the X-Wing series which are traditional flight simulators for the PC which is meant to be played with a joystick. In addition to dogfighting designed to resemble the free-wheeling duels of World War I, the games also offered the challenge of managing power resources and wingmen, and using weapons effectively. To complete the games, players must complete missions such as simple dogfights with opposition starfighters, reconnaissance and inspection tasks, escort duty for freighters or capital ships, or attacks on larger opposition ships. The player took the role of a pilot of the Rebel Alliance, and, in later games, the Galactic Empire.
Star Wars: X-Wing is a series of space flight simulator video games based in the Star Wars media franchise that attempts to simulate the fictional experience of starfighter combat, while remaining faithful to the movies.