Games can be played head to head by modem or across a serial cable, of course. They can also be played between up to eight people across an office network, and, most usefully, you can play with up to four opponents from anywhere across the world using the internet. Unlike some network play games, you don't have to sign up with a special network supplier like TEN or MPlay and pay an additional fee.

The way you meet your opponents is through The Zone, run by the computer industry's own Empire - Microsoft. Once all the necessary software is installed it is easy to find your way around the system, but there is a lot to do before your setup is complete. First you need Internet Explorer (Netscape won't work). It would be a lengthy download but it's on most magazines' cover-mounted CD-ROMs these days. Then once you've gone to http://www.zone.com/ you will need to download and install two separate packages - the "Zone" software (mandatory) and an Authenticode patch (unless you are using Explorer 4).

Once this is done, the Zone page will get an attractive, CD-ROM like interface and you will be able to register to play (there are several other games available through the Zone as well, including Backgammon, Bridge, Spades, Chess, Go and Checkers). But all is not over - you will still have to download the version 1.1 patch for the game itself. This includes internet play improvements and other benefits and is not compatible with version 1.0 so if you don't install it you won't be able to play against anyone else. Altogether these files you need to download and install add up to 6 MB.

The Zone interface is easy to use and during the evening there are usually plenty of potential opponents. Most of them, however, will effectively be disqualified because of the distance they are from you. Playing against someone from another continent, or even another country will probably be an intensely frustrating experience. When you play X Wing vs Tie Fighter in multi-player mode, one of the players is the host. In order to have a good game, there are several conditions that have to be met. The host machine has to be fast a P200 with 32Mb of RAM would make a good host. Your connection, and every other player's connection to that host machine has to be fast the Zone gives you a rough indication of the quality of the connection between you and any other potential opponents. And last, but not least, the more ships are in the game particularly other player ships and the higher the detail settings determined by the host, the heavier the burden on the host and the jerkier the game will be. Unfortunately, in my experience most hosts try to cram 4 players into their games, which nearly always guarantees a rocky ride. At best you will find that ships will blink from one position to another (infuriating when you are trying to draw a bead on one). At worst you will find that the whole game will pause for you for a few seconds every minute or so as the host computer tries to re-synchronise with you or with one of the other players in the game. Irritatingly, if you find after a few minutes that the game seems un-playable to you, you can't just quit you have to stay in the game until the mission is over.

If you can persuade someone to fly against you one on one and you are both from the same country you can get good results even over the internet, and playing head to head over a direct modem connection can be indistinguishable from playing against the computer. I haven't been fortunate enough to test LAN play (though I don't suppose many of you will be fortunate enough to have a network of fast Pentiums with joysticks knocking around) but I suspect it could work a treat. Sadly, at least in my experience, I have to caution you that if you were hoping to do a lot of three and four-player dogfighting across the internet you will have to put up with a lot of frustration.

On LucasArts' web pages the game's creator, Lawrence Holland is quite open about his own frustration with internet play "We have found it [the internet] to be an exciting but still inconsistent foundation on which to play computer games. The fundamental problems of latency, bandwidth and the unreliability of transmission work against the creation of a fluid action game experience". He commits LucasArts to a series of upgrades to improve things. I wish him and his team the best of luck.

X-Wing Versus Tie Fighter by LucasArts

Specs	O/S	Processor	RAM	Graphics	CD-Rom	Soundcard	MMX	Direct3D
Required	Win95	P90+	16Mb+	SVGA	X2	All major cards	No	Patch to be released
Tested On	Win95	AMD 166	32Mb	4Mb S3 Virge	X16	SB Pro 2 compatible	N/A	N/A

David Brake for Game Over!