gerwin wrote:

So The list above should serve its own purpose, at least for me. Then there is a question too: Which of these games give the best play experience for a newcomer?

TIE Fighter.

I was really, really disappointed with X-Wing puzzle-like gameplay and difficult combat (it's very difficult to score a hit on a TIE from your slow-ass X-Wing), so the first time TIE Fighter computer game was released, my reaction was 'meh'. But then in 1996, I decided to give the game a shot.

And then I had the best gameplay time of my life.

Nobody remembers Tachyon: The Fringe?

Zup wrote:

Nobody remembers Tachyon: The Fringe?

I remember Tachyon: The fringe 😀 Bruce Campbell! And it supported force feedback, every time you entered a tachyon gate if you let go of the stick it did a little rumble and dance all on its own 😀. In fact I think it was one of the games that came with the wingman force 3D I had. Full game too.

Fond memories of that game, singe player that is.

Darklight Conflict is missing from your list, a 1997 DOS game with a software 3D engine only:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/darklight-conflict

Sorry, I couldn't elaborate more because I was writing on a phone.

Tachyon: The Fringe was an underrated space shooter (well, at least it was not very known). Some things that made it unique:
- The ability to fly "backwards" or brake like in Top Gun (in an arcade context, those sims flying with newtonian style could do it before).
- Very big space stations (even those found in X-Wing Alliance felt "smaller".
- You must choose between two sides with different kinds of ships (Galspan with agile ships, and Bora with heavy stuff).
- Multiplayer (with Novalogic... I guess it's not available anymore).

Also, there were other forgotten DOS games like Renegade: The Battle of Jacob's Star, Line Wars 2... but most of them can't compete with WC or X-Wing series.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

TIE Fighter.

I was really, really disappointed with X-Wing puzzle-like gameplay and difficult combat (it's very difficult to score a hit on a TIE from your slow-ass X-Wing), so the first time TIE Fighter computer game was released, my reaction was 'meh'. But then in 1996, I decided to give the game a shot.

And then I had the best gameplay time of my life.

Yeah, TIE Fighter is a great game. SO different from the WC series, though. Much more realistic and "simulator-like", whereas WC was more simplified, action-oriented and more emphasis on story and cinematics. This would be why I would choose the WC series for a newcomer.

Zup wrote:

Tachyon: The Fringe was an underrated space shooter (well, at least it was not very known).

It is on the front page of GOG currently. Since it was just added there. The name of this game... what does it mean?

I guess it's simply a "cool" name.

In that game, ships uses tachyon waves to achieve FTL speeds. The game has "tachyon" portals to travel between planets and space regions.

"The Fringe" is one of those regions, much like far west. It's a place full of old colonists, new colonists, bandits (pirates), some barons that control their own systems and some unexplored space.

About the Wing Commander games: first of all the game engine has really inaccurate controls. With mouse, keyboard or joystick, you won't be able to aim accurately. The gameplay is quite repetitive and frustrating in 1 & 2 and their expansion packs. I could never beat some of the missions without cheating. The games are worth playing in release order and finishing for the storyline, though. Just cheat when it gets frustrating and you'll be happier. Privateer and Righteous Fire can be beaten by mortals without cheating. Wing Commander 3 and 4 are worth playing for the FMV cutscenes 😀

Tie Fighter Collector's CD-ROM (= NOT the original floppy release and NOT the Collector Series for Win95) is one of the best games ever released. Great soundtrack (ruined in the Win95 version), gameplay, and storyline, and the game is very long (~100 campaign missions if I remember correctly). The difficulty is very scalable. Try to complete all secondary and bonus/secret/hidden objectives in all missions!

@Zup: ok thanks for explaining. Those sound like interesting parts of the game world.

@ripa. I agree 100%. TIE Fighter (floppy) blew me away in 1994, and the DOS CD release adds 640x480 graphics without any of the drawbacks of the 1998 Windows version. Just that the later expansion battles are kinda tedious compared to the original battles.

Bang gunship Elite
Dark horizon
Diaspora (free)
Babylon 5 Ive found her (free)
wing commander saga (free)
Wing commander secret ops (free)
Iron Sky Invasion
Tarr chronicles
homeplanet gold
The Tommorrow War
starshatter (has strategy elements)

gerwin wrote:

skitters wrote:

There's also a space sim called Starlancer.

Thanks. added it to the list. Is it good?

I can swear by it. However, it is not a fantasy like for example WC is. If you want to go through something like pacific naval battles- but in space, Starlancer is great fun.

Nobody has mentioned it (I think?), so I'll mention Eterium. It's a game made for more modern systems, and can be had on Steam but I think it was a fun game to play. It has a story of sorts I think with some branching (I can't remember) but it was made very much in the style of Wing Commander etc. The way ships control feels a little weird, but its pretty playable with keyboard and mouse too.

clueless1 wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

TIE Fighter.

I was really, really disappointed with X-Wing puzzle-like gameplay and difficult combat (it's very difficult to score a hit on a TIE from your slow-ass X-Wing), so the first time TIE Fighter computer game was released, my reaction was 'meh'. But then in 1996, I decided to give the game a shot.

And then I had the best gameplay time of my life.

Yeah, TIE Fighter is a great game. SO different from the WC series, though. Much more realistic and "simulator-like", whereas WC was more simplified, action-oriented and more emphasis on story and cinematics. This would be why I would choose the WC series for a newcomer.

Yes, WC series is more arcadish. Although TIE Fighter\s flight model isn't really accurate either.

I picked up Tachyon : The Fringe from CeX for about 50p, still haven't played it yet.. Space sim wise I've been playing a bit of Privateer, and trying to get into TIE Fighter

I want to pick up a (legit) copy of Privateer again in the box and stuff, wish I had saved mine. I got it from K-Mart when I was a kid but couldn't really get into it because I couldn't make my joystick work with it. Didn't even have a soundcard back then I think, 🤣.. But now its pretty expensive to find a boxed copy 🙁

I can understand the box love if you really enjoyed it at the time (I certainly did, although I never played Righteous Fire). However, it's available cheap on GOG.com and easy to get working on a real DOS system.

yeah I like to have certain games with complete retail kit. I've still got boxes and stuff buried in the attic I can't get to at the moment, but I know I've got stuff up there like my original Ultimate DOOM & DOOM ][ boxes (CD-ROM versions), I think I have my MechWarrior2 Mercenaries box still (sold MW2 derp).. a few other things as well. Asheron's Call, a couple other MMOs, stuff like that. I hope I still have my X-Wing Alliance box and CD's (can't find them elsewhere) that game is ridiculous expensive in the box now. Also regret selling Star Trek Armada for same reason, and my copy FF7 too.

Probably won't be getting Warcraft / Warcraft II in the box anytime soon unless I win lottery 😵

Fair enough. I'm mostly limiting my boxed games to Ultima games, and some of the Infinity Engine games I already had. I have recently bought some Monty Python games boxed (and sealed!) but that's generally because they're not available for download.

ynari wrote:

I picked up Tachyon : The Fringe from CeX for about 50p, still haven't played it yet.. Space sim wise I've been playing a bit of Privateer, and trying to get into TIE Fighter

What machine are you using? I found the game runs too fast on Intel i5 2.4 GHz.