TITLE: First Impressions - X3: Reunion AUTHOR: Tom Carrick DATE: 11/13/2005 02:39:00 ap. ----- BODY:

X3 seems to have been released without hype. Strangely, though, it's been released without hype from *gamers*, but with hype from *stores*, who mainly run away from anything even remotely nerdy looking. Something's wrong, here. Here are my first impressions of the game, but I've not had much chance to play it yet. Intro to X Ok, I haven't played X, but I've played X2. X2 is like Elite, but with a realistic economy. You can even buy your own space stations and stuff, woo. And there's races and a bunch of other stuff. The graphics "Dude, whoa, there's like graphics". "Whoa, totally!". Indeed, the visuals are pretty impressive, I must say. I thought space games couldn't get any prettier since it's just a black background with a few polygons flying around it, but EGOSOFT have managed to make space pretty, like it should be. But isn't in real life. Sound Well, for better of for worse, they've kept the same music and voiceovers AGAIN, and the new voice acting sucks mega penis. The SFX is really good, though. Although we shouldn't be able to hear things in space, it's nice to marvel at how we actually can, and it sounds nice. Or maybe there's some onboard computer that just generates sound so we know what's happening based on sensor input. I can always dream. Interface The interface isn't shit anymore. It's still a very similar interface, but it's been cleaned up, and is much easier to use. Combat Enemy ships don't ram you anymore. Well, ok they do a little. I've been rammed once in the time I've been playing, but usually they react pretty well, comparable to Privateer 2, as I recall it. Combat is now pleasurable. The economy I think this is an improvement, but it's a frustrating one. I keep losing money. A lot of the time people will buy for less than other people sell, so you really have to look around to make a profit. It stops me from being lazy and just running randomly between solar plants/cattle thingies/meatsteak making places/random factory thing, and makes me actually look around for profitable runs. This is a good thing, but it does force you into running all over the place to turn a profit. The plot I've only done the first two missions. The first mission was fine. You just patrol a bit and shoot some stuff up. The second mission, while fun, lasts too damn long. For two reasons. One, it's a long mission. You start in a turret thing, stationary, and blast stuff. Then you're in a turret while moving, blasting stuff. Then the same while flying around a cityscape. Then you have more stuff to do that I won't get into 'cause it's a bit of a spoiler. The other reason is that it takes *ages* to load between each mission bit. Which brings me nicely onto the most annoying thing about X3. Loading... It loads. A lot. Each time you go through a gate, you're waiting for a minute or two. Not too bad, but every time you load your game you're waiting about five minutes, and before every plot mission, at certain points during plot missions, and after plot missions, you've got to wait five minutes, for each of those. Ugh. In conclusion It's a nice game. An obvious improvement over X2, but the loading times are so annoying that rather than playing it right now, I'm instead going to dance with some governor's daughters, or maybe conquer the last of Gaul.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Tom Carrick EMAIL: URL: DATE: 02:41 And yes, I do like stealing Fuzzy's titles and changing the name of the game ;/ ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  KyoshoBallard EMAIL: URL: DATE: 03:00 I'm highly curious about these space games. I have honestly never played one. Everyone tells me my first should be Privateer, but I have trouble running it. Plus from what I've seen it's kind of oogly. I've been thinking of trying the Privateer remake, but I don't know yet.

Yeah, so, I'm rambling off-topic. Anyways, would X3 (or X2) be a good game for some one new to the genre? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Tom Carrick EMAIL: URL: DATE: 03:13 Not unless you're willing to put the hours in to learn it. The manual is a bit light on info and there's no tutorials. Privateer 2 is good if you can find it. And not as oogly.

Terminus is on hotu, but it's a bit annoying. I-war is an obvious suggestion, too. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  Tom Carrick EMAIL: URL: DATE: 15:21 Fuzzy, I'd say buy X3 if you see it second hand anywhere. The interface hasn't been fixed, but it's been improved. Same for the combat. It's playable now. Still crap voice acting though. ----- --------