Score
Gameplay:	6
Graphics:	10
Sound:	4
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	7

X3:Reunion Review
January 31, 2006 by Jillian Ryan

by Jillian Ryan - January 31, 2006

When a person hears about a space simulation game they usually don’t get all too thrilled, but X3 broke that barrier and began to unfold into an immense and all too gorgeous game that takes any gamers’ previous notions of space simulation and throws them out a window.

For the Love of Flying

X3 is the third installment in the X series made by Egosoft. The game focuses mainly around Julian Brenan, the returning hero from X2. In Reunion you can choose your own path in an open ended universe.

If you choose to be a trader, you can profit from buying and selling goods. With too many items to count for trade and a deep and complex trading system it’s sure to keep any gamer occupied for a long time.

You can choose to be a rebel pirate and go around attacking other ships in the vastness of space. By pirating you can get into more random dogfights with your ships and watch the beauty of battle from the cockpit.

On the other hand you could also help enforce the law, taking jobs and hunting down criminal vessels. You can lead your entire fleet against law breaking crews and bring them to justice. Unfortunately if you’re only in it for the money then trading is the way to go!

It is all open ended gameplay in which you get to choose your destiny. There is an immense amount of flying in the game, going from mission to mission which means a lot of sitting and waiting while you travel through deep space. There are over 70 ships and 150 immense sectors of space to explore!

Drool Worthy

GORGEOUS!!! The ship models move seamlessly throughout their environment giving the ships the more rounded and less blocky look that most gamers are looking for. Not only are the ships incredibly detailed but space itself is a wonder to look at with galaxies, stars, and planets in a full 3-D environment. Even space stations are done in such levels of detail that I have not seen in a long time. I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of simply looking at my surroundings while flying from one mission to another. Explosion effects and battle scenes also leave little to be desired as even the pickiest of gamers will simply drool over the graphics. Way to go Egosoft!

Add Some Spice

Sadly while Egosoft seemed to be very much concerned with graphics they dropped the ball in the sound department. The voiceovers and sound effects all seem bland and tired compared to what Egosoft did with the graphics. All of the sounds were either muffled or felt out of place and decently unoriginal. If the sound were tweaked a little more and sharpened then X3 would really shine as a true gem. Unfortunately one falls out of amazement when you’re flying your ship through the beautifully rendered solar system and suddenly you’re interrupted by glitchy voice acting.

I Just Want to Land!

X3 was decently fun to play, although I really didn’t get too attached to the story line. It could be possible that I wasn’t drawn in because I did not get to play X or X2. On the other hand it could be because the story just seemed bland and irrelevant. You didn’t really have to even stick to the story line at all. You could just go off and trade with other ships and come back to the story whenever you choose. Now open ended games are fun but they usually just have dry or lacking story lines. Most of the time is spent flying aimlessly attempting to find a mission so that you can fly around some more. The flying from place to place became repetitive and boring. You can choose to use Energy Crystals to get from one area to another but those are costly. If you don’t have the Crystals then you’re forced to just sit back and wait for your ship to reach its destination. You can set the computer to take you on your route but you still just have to sit and wish the time was going by faster. The one thing that makes the time seem to go by is being able to look at the environment around you… truly a saving grace in X3.

Just Too Pretty

It’s all about the looks. I have never come across a game that made my jaw drop as X3 did. Even if you’re not a fan of space games you’ll drool over the incredible look of X3, for it was nothing short of breathtaking. Being right in the front seat of huge space battles and seeing the explosions happen in perfect graphical harmony is gorgeous. Egosoft has truly spent much time and effort to make X3 the most beautiful game in ages.

 

Great Simulation

X3 is a fantastic flight simulation game that will become an instant classic for fans of the genre. Breathtaking graphics, amazing dogfight scenes between ships and an open ended choice on game play with too many trade items to count make X3 stand out in the pack. Though the dry storyline and off key sounds throw off the experience X3 is truly a sight to behold and it’s a definite must for space fans.