On the face of things, "X-Wing Alliance" has the makings of an extraordinary entry into the Star Wars franchise.  The characters are engaging, with enough backstory given in the accompanying written material  to start a small movie.  Conveniently, there *is* actually a small movie  which opens the game off with a real narrative bang.  It makes one wish  that Lucas himself had taken a page from the game producers when he was  making _The Phantom Menace_.