EA Motive’s Star Wars: Squadrons has been well received for being a commendable follow-up to LucasArts’ classic space flight simulator and space combat games, but for many, 1994’s Star Wars: TIE Fighter remains king due to its combination of enjoyable gameplay and epic campaign, which transported players into the ranks of the Empire. TIE Fighter fans who want to experience the game again in a different way can now check out TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (TFTC), a mod for 1999’s Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance that ports the TIE Fighter experience (e.g., menus and missions) into its sequel’s more robust engine. The end result is a version of TIE Fighter that features dramatically improved visuals over the original. TIE Fighter: Total Conversion also includes modern tweaks, a remastered soundtrack, widescreen resolution options, and even VR support.
Having been in development for years, the project was finally and fully released over the weekend, and is so much more than just “TIE Fighter with better lighting.” Because this had to be rebuilt in a whole other game, the developers decided to take the opportunity to mess with the original, and have designed a “reimagined” campaign that goes for 37 missions and adds “more ships, bigger battles [and] in some cases completely new missions.”