junior
11-08-2005, 02:33 AM
- What may be a good game is tarnished by a number of problems.
X3 is the latest in the 'X' series of space sims. The X series of games, like the earlier Elite series and Wing Commander: Privateer games, are based around the idea of playing as a freelance pilot your own ship. You can collect bounties, fly VIPs to distant locations, or just run cargo between two stations. You can even build giant factory stations, and use a fleet of automated spacecraft that you've purchased to handle the supplying of the stations, and the sale of the product that the stations produce.
There's also a story that follows the further adventures of Julian Brennan, the main character from X2. You can follow the storyline as you choose, or diverge and engage in your own activities. The storyline will wait if you choose to ignore it. And if you're just not interested in the storyline at all, there are also three other starting template characters provided. Using one of them will ignore the story completely, but start you out with the equipment and cash you need to pursue a vocation. For instance, the trader template starts you out with a small cargo hauler, and a nice pile of cash that you can use to buy cargo.
The graphics in this game are gorgeous. They're eye-candy in and of themselves, with massive spaceships, huge stations, and giant planets. They provide a beautiful setting to what should be a good game.
Unfortunately, the key word is 'should'.
The game has, to put it bluntly, problems.
First is the system requirements. The game has some moderate requirements, and if you're short in one area, you're going to notice it. Make sure your system can run the game before you buy it.
The manual mentions tutorials that will help get you started playing the game. Unfortunately, the tutorials don't exist. And in some cases, the keys mentioned in the manual as doing one thing actually do something different. The end result is a confusing mess that the player needs to get hold of on his or her own without any help from the game itself. Once you figure out how things work, its not so bad. But this can take a while.
Due to poor design choices, and the inability to customize the colors on your HUD, the aiming point on the HUD tends to blend in whenever you have a cluster of ships in the middle of your screen. This makes it difficult to tell if you're actually aiming at the ship you want to hit if there are a number of opponents directly in front of you.
Finally, there's the second story mission. This mission has you sitting in the turret of a cargo ship while someone else handles the piloting. The mission is cut up into separate parts, and has quickly acquired a reputation as overly difficult due to one sequence that has enemies whipping back and forth from one side of the screen to the other. Some people swear that its easy, but the majority concensus seems to be that the difficult of the sequence in question needs to be toned down.
Overall, X3 - Reunion appears to be a good game. But there are annoying problems that should have been fixed before release, and that diminish the quality of the product.
X3 is the latest in the 'X' series of space sims. The X series of games, like the earlier Elite series and Wing Commander: Privateer games, are based around the idea of playing as a freelance pilot your own ship. You can collect bounties, fly VIPs to distant locations, or just run cargo between two stations. You can even build giant factory stations, and use a fleet of automated spacecraft that you've purchased to handle the supplying of the stations, and the sale of the product that the stations produce.
There's also a story that follows the further adventures of Julian Brennan, the main character from X2. You can follow the storyline as you choose, or diverge and engage in your own activities. The storyline will wait if you choose to ignore it. And if you're just not interested in the storyline at all, there are also three other starting template characters provided. Using one of them will ignore the story completely, but start you out with the equipment and cash you need to pursue a vocation. For instance, the trader template starts you out with a small cargo hauler, and a nice pile of cash that you can use to buy cargo.
The graphics in this game are gorgeous. They're eye-candy in and of themselves, with massive spaceships, huge stations, and giant planets. They provide a beautiful setting to what should be a good game.
Unfortunately, the key word is 'should'.
The game has, to put it bluntly, problems.
First is the system requirements. The game has some moderate requirements, and if you're short in one area, you're going to notice it. Make sure your system can run the game before you buy it.
The manual mentions tutorials that will help get you started playing the game. Unfortunately, the tutorials don't exist. And in some cases, the keys mentioned in the manual as doing one thing actually do something different. The end result is a confusing mess that the player needs to get hold of on his or her own without any help from the game itself. Once you figure out how things work, its not so bad. But this can take a while.
Due to poor design choices, and the inability to customize the colors on your HUD, the aiming point on the HUD tends to blend in whenever you have a cluster of ships in the middle of your screen. This makes it difficult to tell if you're actually aiming at the ship you want to hit if there are a number of opponents directly in front of you.
Finally, there's the second story mission. This mission has you sitting in the turret of a cargo ship while someone else handles the piloting. The mission is cut up into separate parts, and has quickly acquired a reputation as overly difficult due to one sequence that has enemies whipping back and forth from one side of the screen to the other. Some people swear that its easy, but the majority concensus seems to be that the difficult of the sequence in question needs to be toned down.
Overall, X3 - Reunion appears to be a good game. But there are annoying problems that should have been fixed before release, and that diminish the quality of the product.