Due to the success of X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter, and the sheer popularity of STAR WARS, X-Wing Collector's CD and TIE fighter collector's CD have received a facelift.
TIE Fighter Collector's CD, originally was the complete edition of TIE Fighter including all of the missions (including the separate expansion disks), as well as additions such as spoken briefings and slightly enhanced inflight graphics. The new release has completely revamped the in flight graphics to the level of X-Wing Vs.TIE Fighter, and A new intro movie sequence. It also has added music run from CD tracks instead of the original General MIDI, and the CD tracks are directly from the STAR WARS Soundtracks. You can play the music on a CD player when you are not playing the game. The CD music is only heard during spaceflight in the game. TIE Fighter itself is an excellent spacecraft simulator in which you fly Imperial fighters against the criminal activities of the Rebel Alliance. Missions in TIE fighter range from training missions to chasing after Imperial defectors. Mission structure is better than that of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (I have yet to play Wing Commander Prophecy).
The movie portion is where Wing Commander soundly defeats it. The plot is good but not to Wing Commander standards. The time span of TIE fighter is during Empire Strikes Back starting shortly after the Rebel defeat on Hoth (X-Wing goes from before A New Hope up to relocating to Hoth)and ending somewhere before Return of The Jedi (The upcoming X-Wing: Alliance will deal with the rebel side of Return of The Jedi and posibly afterwards).
The plot to TIE Fighter is separated into "Battles" which are sets of missions in various systems (there are twelve battles, the first seven are the original game, the rest are from the expansions). Battle One deals with securing the Hoth system, and capturing Rebels attempting to flee to The Outer Rim Territories. Battle Two deals with ending a Civil war between two neigboring planets in the Sepan system. Battle Three involves establishing a space platform near the Outer Rim. The first three battles can be completed in any order but the later ones must be done in order. The plot thickens later on with defections and advancments in technology. I do not want to spoil the rest of the game for those who have yet to play it, so I won't go into much more detail. TIE Fighter Collector's CD has been re-released in two versions. There is a separate TIE Fighter Collector's CD and There is a boxed set called X-Wing Collector's Series that contains X-Wing Collector's CD, TIE Fighter Collector's CD, and a stripped down version of X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter called X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter: Flight School.
