X3: Reunion

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 310 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 310
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 310
  3. Negative: 89 out of 310
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  1. Broyax
    Mar 27, 2017
    1
    Chouette graphiquement et c'est vraiment le seul compliment qu'on pourra lui faire, car pour le reste, on a beau chercher, on ne voit rien de valable dans cette daube intersidérale sidérante d'amateurisme dans ses mécaniques bancales et mal foutues. L'interface est un bordel sans nom et l'ergonomie la plus élémentaire y est bafouée régulièrement avec un aplomb qui laisse pantois. Un étronChouette graphiquement et c'est vraiment le seul compliment qu'on pourra lui faire, car pour le reste, on a beau chercher, on ne voit rien de valable dans cette daube intersidérale sidérante d'amateurisme dans ses mécaniques bancales et mal foutues. L'interface est un bordel sans nom et l'ergonomie la plus élémentaire y est bafouée régulièrement avec un aplomb qui laisse pantois. Un étron injouable.… Expand
  2. stankymeat
    Jul 16, 2015
    0
    This is not so much a game as an accountant's version of a space holiday.
    Pirates are ridiculusly powerful. Resources are ridiculously hard to find. There is no plot. There is no point. After over two hundred hours on this I can safely say that this game is poorly designed - meaning that it is not enjoyable, hard to understand and counter-intuitive which results in a frustrating    This is not so much a game as an accountant's version of a space holiday.
    Pirates are ridiculusly powerful. Resources are ridiculously hard to find. There is no plot. There is no point. After over two hundred hours on this I can safely say that this game is poorly designed - meaning that it is not enjoyable, hard to understand and counter-intuitive which results in a frustrating experience all-around. Definitely an example of what not to do. Go ask the guys who built Galaxy On Fire how to make a space trading game    … Expand
  3. Baenlynn
    Sep 16, 2011
    0
    Don't believe the hype: this is EvE Online without the flowcharts. What X3R tries to do has been done better a thousand times before with more realistic everything. I actually bought this game when it came out many years ago and when the computer I intended to play it on died it sat in a box for many years waiting for a machine that could run it. I dug it out recently (being a space freak)Don't believe the hype: this is EvE Online without the flowcharts. What X3R tries to do has been done better a thousand times before with more realistic everything. I actually bought this game when it came out many years ago and when the computer I intended to play it on died it sat in a box for many years waiting for a machine that could run it. I dug it out recently (being a space freak) and thought it'd be worth a bash... but was I ever wrong. The learning curve is beyond vertical with no tutorial and no introductions, Just an endless list of email spam the first time you do something new, and if you can't find your ingame inbox you're out of luck anyway. There doesn't appear to be any way to plot a course, you've got to do it from memory and if you happen to forget one of the totally generic and forgettable names along the way you'll get lost or dock at the wrong base, and forget about issuing orders in a hurry if you're flying with an automated ship.

    Trading is completely inscrutable, prices don't fluctuate nearly as much as the game claims and the only useful profits are small-potatoes on short hops for minimal returns, add to that the fact that there is no easy way to gain freelance work and no real money to be made off contract and the only sane choice left seems to be piracy. But even then it's such a huge grind-fest the game box may as well have contained a pepper mill instead of a DvD.

    The interface is BEYOND disgusting, flight is fine and the addition of inertia to the turns and acceleration is nice, It's not actual newtonian physics but it's nice, but doing everything else that requires doing in a space sim seems to have been made MUCH harder by way of compensating. Navigating the menus seems to require its own manual, and the context dependent keypresses mean that if you're in a menu screen and need to stop in a hurry or turn off the autopilot you're SOL. I have gotten lost in the menus more times than I care to count and it took me half an hour to figure out how to buy stuff, even with help from the game forums.

    The storyline is instantly uninteresting. You're dumped into the middle of a universe sometime after the last instalment, your father in a coma after an encounter with the bad guys, and no reason to care about either his plight or their motivations. You're expected to know how to fly (fairly straightforward) but everything else is left inscrutable and unless you do some reading you'll never learn how. the game has some wonderful innovations (like an economy-tracking device) but they're not worth holding out for. I have seen better work done on every facet of X3s gameplay some of them by indie firms producing free software. This game SHOULD get a 1 just for being a space sim, but what it's doing is poisoning the well by the fact of its every existence. If people think 'X3: reunion' when they think of space sims then the game has done a disservice to the genre.    … Expand
  4. goomfish
    Dec 31, 2008
    1
    I Have to agree with others on the controls. They are poo basically. Not enough options to configure the controls the way I want them. & the hat on my joystick didnt work. Awful intructions also. Leaves u confused. Basically i didnt bother playing it much, because it was so VERY user unfreindly at the start. Verdict: Waste of Freakin time.
  5. Ducky
    Dec 23, 2008
    4
    I was really looking forward to playing this game. I've spent 2 days trying to figure out the basics without reading the manual (I love figuring out a game's mechanics by myself) and finally gave up. I started reading the manual, which was pretty annoying too because half the stuff they mention in it seems to be written for people who have played previous versions of this game, I was really looking forward to playing this game. I've spent 2 days trying to figure out the basics without reading the manual (I love figuring out a game's mechanics by myself) and finally gave up. I started reading the manual, which was pretty annoying too because half the stuff they mention in it seems to be written for people who have played previous versions of this game, and not for newbies to the series. So I started playing anyways. The graphics are pretty nice, and the amount of customization really excited me at first, but... wow, it got soooo boring. I would never call this game fun. Maybe if I eventually learn to play it, it could turn into a nice experience, but never into a fun game. I stopped playing after I tried to make one of my ships land on the same station my main ship was in, but suddenly it blew up to pieces. I mean, wtf? I guess the best thing about this game is that it makes 15 year olds feel smarter for having the patience to play this, hehe, no offence. Anyways, I'll try this game again someday (when they fire me from work and I have more time in my hands) but for the meanwhile, I'm gonna play fallout 3.… Expand
  6. CraigWalker
    Dec 4, 2008
    0
    I can't see how anyone could really want to put so much effort into learning how to use this game. I meen the game 'could' be good if i new how to use it. But then its so slow and borring its like a mental challege just to stick in to learn how to work everything. The controls are just anouther thing that gets in the way. They should make people complete this game as a punishment!
  7. GlennT.
    Jan 12, 2008
    0
    Near as I can tell this game suffers from a flaw that no game should suffer from this century. A flaw that should give almost every game that has it a zero rating. That flaw is the lack of fully reconfigurable controls. I could find no way to reverse the mouse Y axis and as a result I can't and don't play the game. It is too bad that magazines and game sites don't get down Near as I can tell this game suffers from a flaw that no game should suffer from this century. A flaw that should give almost every game that has it a zero rating. That flaw is the lack of fully reconfigurable controls. I could find no way to reverse the mouse Y axis and as a result I can't and don't play the game. It is too bad that magazines and game sites don't get down on games for this. It would be so simple for the programmers to make all the controls reconfigurable that there is absolutely no reason not to do it for every single game and that includes consoles not just PC games. Unfortunately this fact isn't in most reviews so I am still buying games only to find out afterwards that I can't change the controls, and it's the rare game that doesn't need it. One of the reasons I play PC games, besides the graphics, is to have better control. I use a programmable gamepad and a mouse (simultaneously because I use the mouse in my left hand) to play almost all games but having a programmable gamepad doesn't help if you can't reconfigure the controls. Instead of useless age ratings for games, they should pass a gameplay certification and one of the requirements should be FULLY reconfigurable controls. It's 2008 dammit, not 1980.… Expand
  8. MikeH.
    Jan 2, 2008
    0
    I bought X2 when it was new, and it was terrible and broken. It still is. Egosoft never adequately patched X2 so that it will run on my system at an adequate framerate, despite the fact that I can play Half-Life 2 no problem. So, in light of this little bit of fraud, I decided to pirate X3 instead of buying it. Joke's on me, because this one is just as bug-riddled and shitty as the I bought X2 when it was new, and it was terrible and broken. It still is. Egosoft never adequately patched X2 so that it will run on my system at an adequate framerate, despite the fact that I can play Half-Life 2 no problem. So, in light of this little bit of fraud, I decided to pirate X3 instead of buying it. Joke's on me, because this one is just as bug-riddled and shitty as the last one. I will never even bother STEALING another Egosoft game again, simply because they're not worth playing at any price, unless you want to use them as punishment for bad kids. Garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage.… Expand
  9. ColorFinger
    Dec 24, 2007
    3
    Beautiful graphics, but horribly confusing gameplay combined with terrible acting when you finally do catch up with your mission really kill the mood.
  10. RandyL.
    Dec 8, 2007
    2
    Good points on this game include: Nice design (for what little there is), good basic trading setup, 150 sectors (240 if you add the Xtended mod) to play around in. Bad points: Cookie cutter design! So the ships and objects in the universe look great, but sadly, after the first 10 hours of play everything in the universe starts looking the same, all the gates are all in the same condition Good points on this game include: Nice design (for what little there is), good basic trading setup, 150 sectors (240 if you add the Xtended mod) to play around in. Bad points: Cookie cutter design! So the ships and objects in the universe look great, but sadly, after the first 10 hours of play everything in the universe starts looking the same, all the gates are all in the same condition and look perfect and new, evern though they're supposed to be "made by the ancients" This game fails visually. period. Terrible Introduction Path: As someone who had only played X1 ages ago, and skipped X2, I had forgotten all about the details of this universe, so with the sparse details on backstory behind the game it was hard to become immersed in the world. In fact, I wasn't. I was too busy learning the controls, looking for explanations of what kind of ship is which, and why 95% of all the purchasable content in the game was not available to me. I learn a few new games every week, so after I downloaded a user tutorial (yes, there is no tutorial in the game of any value), I was up and running and working through the interface after a couple hours. Cudos to the community for putting out content that made the game playable to a new user, sadly, Egosoft fails here too, miserably. Learn 2 tutorial egosoft... Interface: The method of control in this game past the basic first person combat is absolutely unrefined and pathetic. Sure, you have many options, you can control fleets of ships with great accuraccy, trade from afar, while you're off fighting pirates, BUT, I found that some very basic commands took up to 9 screen selections to complete. Example- [sending a wingman to protect my ship]: Hit [ENTER]/Personal/Property/[Select from ship list, may be pages long]/Command Console/Combat/Protect Me And voila! One of your ships will try and protect you! If I actually had to command wingmen and the like in a hurry, I'd be in huge trouble. This interface does not need to be streamlined, it has to be torn down and replaced with a much better one. I'd be happy to design one for you Egosoft, just send me an offer with a solid advance, and I'll get started. AI: The enemy artificial intelligence is predictable and at no time did I find myself trying to out-think the computer. Many good games get away with this, so I'll let Egosoft off the hook here even though they could have done better. The part that really irritates me about the AI what it does with your allied ships, ramming them into space stations, asteriods, the sides of jumpgates, or anything else they can find. I know a lot of work probably went into the mildly retarded AI that is in this game, but they should have kept working. With dual processor systems, and the average gaming system including 2gb of ram or higher, there's plenty of headroom for the computer to start crunching real math. Plot: Terrible. After the first 10 missions I still didn't care about any of the characters, didn't know why my character was involved with any of these people, and if there was something I'm missing from X2 (like this plotline continuing, etc), there was no way for me to find out what that might be. Utter failure here, I'd be happy to write a branching structured plotline for the right price, I'd just call it my ninth novel. Cutscenes: Pathetic. I personally know animators who have done better over a long weekend. Voice acting was terrible too, and the lack of music through cinematics left them hollow and bland. Couldn't wait for them to be over. Backstory: I seriously don't know all that much about it, and after 50 hours of play I should. Egosoft fails here too, there should be more information presented in-game to the player, I shouldn't have to visit their forums, play through more of their terrible plotline, or read franchise novels that I expect even less from to learn more about it. Oh, and the gate system being built by "Ancients" is some thing that has already been done right several times, Egosoft is once again proving plotline and backstory ineptitude by leaning on this very old fallback. A Galaxy of Little Boxes: Seriously, this is just lazy. I understand that space is so big that it would have to be divided into sectors, and a faster than light travel system has to be implimented into a space flight/combat/trading game, but the poposition that the only method of travel between any inhabited area in space will always and forever involve a jumpgate, and that each area fits fairly neatly into a little box on a very large sector map is so unbelievable and limiting (vissually as well as conceptually) that it was one of the major turn offs in the game. No Conquest Zone: So, it's a trading/building/space flight/combat sim with great big destroyers, carriers and bases but I can't take over a few sectors and call them my very own Deadly and Profitable Private Territory? The fact that I can't plant a flag somewhere, or capture a base, but I can be hated by every race out there if I want to be may work into the backstory, but it is a major detraction point to the entire game. Domination would be fun, and I'd love to stand up and say; "I am the supreme ruler of the entire galaxy!" Nerds like me love subjugating digital people, it's almost as good as the joy we see in the eyes of a hot neighbor accross the way after we've fixed their computer or cellular phone. Almost. They could have done better: It feels to me that they grew X2, and forgot that someone, somewhere would buy just X3, and may now virtually nothing about their little franchise. I'm not a fan of the X1/X2 series since I didn't know anything about it, didn't have anything against it either, until I bought X3. The incredible number of sectors is nearly meaningless, since the travel is boring (even with jumpdrives), "scenery" is cookie cutter, the layout and conceptualization of travel as well as the depth of design is lazy. What they did design looks great, but it's stretched waaay too thin over way too much playtime/play area. Menu systems are clear, but there isn't a software designer in industry and few in gaming or information technologies that would actually sit back and be proud of a selection and function system that makes you go through more than 5 screens / selections to do anything simple, X3 forces you through over 10 at times, and on average 7-9 for simple functions. I brought the box, DVD and manual to a used game shop and got $10.00 credit for it because he already had 11 copies sitting on the shelf. I also handed him a DVD with the latest Xtended, and he thanked me profusely since it might help him get rid of a few copies of X3. Egosoft has the makings of a great game here, but dropped the ball. Try harder, if you want help from someone who can 1) write a good plot 2) provide you with the actors you need and 3) design a concept for an interface that works, drop me an email, but it won't be free. I don't like the game enough.… Expand
  11. SunR.
    Sep 13, 2007
    4
    I must admit the most, and only, exciting element of this game is nothing but its splendid scene, and that's why i am here to give it a 4. it could be better if the designers would like to spend a couple of hours playing this game in person, but, they did not. if you are willing to waste a good many of times to do something with extremely low efficiency, then x3 is your choice. the I must admit the most, and only, exciting element of this game is nothing but its splendid scene, and that's why i am here to give it a 4. it could be better if the designers would like to spend a couple of hours playing this game in person, but, they did not. if you are willing to waste a good many of times to do something with extremely low efficiency, then x3 is your choice. the aweful autopilot, poorly designed docking place, discoordinated combat command, and perfunctorily designed story line, all and all, make the game a piece of junk. trust me, don't be hookwinked by the beautiful ad poster if you are looking for a really imaginative and excellent space game!… Expand
  12. MikeW.
    Aug 2, 2007
    0
    Ok the space flight, fighting & trading is superb, but i thought space games were about exploring planets, other ships & space stations not to mention meeting new alien lifeforms. This game is difficult to learn & very time consuming to master, then when you have, you realise that your a paralysed from the waste down astronaut in space who can never leave the cockpit which is most peoples Ok the space flight, fighting & trading is superb, but i thought space games were about exploring planets, other ships & space stations not to mention meeting new alien lifeforms. This game is difficult to learn & very time consuming to master, then when you have, you realise that your a paralysed from the waste down astronaut in space who can never leave the cockpit which is most peoples idea of a nightmare.… Expand
  13. baldric55
    Jun 23, 2007
    0
    This game is complete dung- you cannot change the controls!
  14. JustinA.
    May 19, 2007
    4
    Alot of people gave this game a 10, thats probably because they like sitting on their butts for hours at a time not getting anywhere and just flying around in space. This game is such a waste of time and if you die somewhere in a mission and dont save the game frequently you will have to start all the way back from whichever save you did. You wont get to try again from the region you just Alot of people gave this game a 10, thats probably because they like sitting on their butts for hours at a time not getting anywhere and just flying around in space. This game is such a waste of time and if you die somewhere in a mission and dont save the game frequently you will have to start all the way back from whichever save you did. You wont get to try again from the region you just entered, the game should really autosave everytime you enter a new zone. The game is still buggy in storyline mode even with the 3 patches. Oh and you have to play this game a VERY long time to understand all the concepts like trading and buying new ships, not to mention making your own space stations. I dont have the patience for these types of games so if you think you dont either dont spend the 20 bucks.… Expand
  15. PeterL.
    Jan 27, 2007
    2
    This game could have been good. It has the rough beginnings of what could eventually become a fun, intuitive and immersive game. But instead it's boring, slow and uninteresting. I tried to like this game, I really did. But in the end, all I got for my trouble was 10 hours off of my life and an unhealthy dose of frustration. If you're looking for a cool, fast-paced, exciting, fun This game could have been good. It has the rough beginnings of what could eventually become a fun, intuitive and immersive game. But instead it's boring, slow and uninteresting. I tried to like this game, I really did. But in the end, all I got for my trouble was 10 hours off of my life and an unhealthy dose of frustration. If you're looking for a cool, fast-paced, exciting, fun and innovative space game, keep looking.… Expand
  16. jssi_03
    Dec 22, 2006
    0
    This game is the WORSE! GAME I have ever laid eyes on!. The contorls? lol.. don't get me started on how stupid it is. they didn't take the time to configure this game did they? NO they didn't! This gets a BIG FAT 0! The graphics are really the only thing in this game... sort of. The gameplay is horrible! it's really slow! there are over 1,000 controls to get to know! This game is the WORSE! GAME I have ever laid eyes on!. The contorls? lol.. don't get me started on how stupid it is. they didn't take the time to configure this game did they? NO they didn't! This gets a BIG FAT 0! The graphics are really the only thing in this game... sort of. The gameplay is horrible! it's really slow! there are over 1,000 controls to get to know! the story? !!!! there is NONE! it's a meaningless game. If it were a movie or a book! it would never be read cause its like the worse B film in history with horrible actors!... The only way to improve this game is if they make better scenes with good actors! adn get some frikin good artists to make better looking/animated short transmissions. the ones that happen when someone talks to you, plus make more of a veriaty of people... i hate seening the same person over and over again!.... plus there are like 3 movies per person on there lol what a JOKE! I laughed at how much the main charactor resembled a comedian i know of!... The story the gameply and the style are teh soooooooooooo bad it almost made me puke lol.... plus there are too many menus.. not enough game!… Expand
  17. KevinA.
    Dec 11, 2006
    2
    Game has way to many bugs to list game should have spent about 2 more months getting finished and it would have been a great game but as is its crap!
  18. Gabdewulf
    Oct 15, 2006
    1
    I'm not new to space sims..and I'm lost..be prepared to waste the first couple of game session learning to use the basic keys.
  19. AnonymousMC
    Oct 12, 2006
    2
    Boring! This game is the slowest thing since molasses. You will spend most of your time floating meaninglessly through space. The tutorial is basically just a quick combat scenario with no real information about the game. If you have nothing better to do with your time than sit and watch the stars pass by then this is the game for you. The only reason I gave it a 2 instead of a zeroBoring! This game is the slowest thing since molasses. You will spend most of your time floating meaninglessly through space. The tutorial is basically just a quick combat scenario with no real information about the game. If you have nothing better to do with your time than sit and watch the stars pass by then this is the game for you. The only reason I gave it a 2 instead of a zero was because it has beautiful scenery. But I would rather play EVE online.… Expand
  20. SedatK.
    Oct 2, 2006
    3
    A game with poor quality in all aspects. The interface is too cumbersome and not intuitive at all (double-click buttons?? who invented that?). Labels look like expandable containers, scrollbars are hard to see. It doesn't allow you to save the game in space (you know it would be very easy if they would have done that!). But regardless the game crashes so often so you become a regular A game with poor quality in all aspects. The interface is too cumbersome and not intuitive at all (double-click buttons?? who invented that?). Labels look like expandable containers, scrollbars are hard to see. It doesn't allow you to save the game in space (you know it would be very easy if they would have done that!). But regardless the game crashes so often so you become a regular of the last station you docked. Very bad design decision. I don't want you to give me 10 save slots just don't forget where I was last time that would be enough. The gfx is relatively slower compared to EVE Online (which is an online game and shares it's CPU time with network handling and synchronizing with 17776 players online at the moment). Navigation and commanding interfaces are too complicated if not everything in the game. You have to memorize many keyboard shortcuts and the fact that some of the rectangular objects on the monitors can be "menus" actually. There is a tutorial which says "you'll receive rest of the tutorial in messages" but it doesn't tell you how to read them so you need to explore your screen until you figure out a 8x8 icon in your 1600x1200 resolution. It's year 5000 but still every ship needs to explore the universe once again from scratch. Just plain stupid. That same high technology invented an autopilot which doesn't recognize an asteroid before almost hitting it and makes 90 degree uncomfortable turns for ship's passengers. The game starts with a simple patrol mission around your home planet but accompanied with a "Victory March" soundtrack? What the hell dude, we just started the game, relax. Intermission screens are simple flash-like animations with embedded Robot Chicken quality 3d characters. Disoriented gate jump effects, lousy station dock interfaces (and design), almost everything makes playing this game a painful experience. On the bright side, atmosphere moves separately than the planet itself. But planets are only props, you can't land on them, you can't interact with them. So even that is not a plus I think. Fortunately there is a time acceleration feature to shorten the earth minutes you spend on this game.… Expand
  21. Andre
    Sep 10, 2006
    4
    Fantastic Grahpics! But oh what a shame about the gameplay and the annoying voice of the shipcomputer.........what a waste....
  22. SteveA.
    Aug 25, 2006
    4
    I could see this being a great game if you have 18 hours a day to really get to grips with it. I was not interested in the story part of the game and was looking forward to the free trading and empire building side of things but found the game far too slow to get going. At the start of the game you have to manually tell your ships what to do and in order to get more ships you have to earn I could see this being a great game if you have 18 hours a day to really get to grips with it. I was not interested in the story part of the game and was looking forward to the free trading and empire building side of things but found the game far too slow to get going. At the start of the game you have to manually tell your ships what to do and in order to get more ships you have to earn a LOT of money. I found this to be an incredibly tedious task. After about 30 or 40 hours of play (most of which just envolved trading in the most basic of items) i did not seem to have made any real progress and eventually gave up. I have not played the story game and would be interested to hear what people have to say about it, but at the moment i fear i might go insane through boredom if i give the game another go. I short if you are willing to put in a serious amout of gameplay this could be a very rewarding game otherwise dont bother.… Expand
  23. Neil
    Aug 18, 2006
    3
    I guess 3 is a good score seeing as i just can't get into this game. And please before i get slagged for being a computer playing one-night-stand kinda guy i do like my strategy games and i do invest time into deep games. But X3 promises so much and delivers so little. I agree it comes so close to being an all time classic, but then all time classics never had so many people slag it I guess 3 is a good score seeing as i just can't get into this game. And please before i get slagged for being a computer playing one-night-stand kinda guy i do like my strategy games and i do invest time into deep games. But X3 promises so much and delivers so little. I agree it comes so close to being an all time classic, but then all time classics never had so many people slag it off. No tutorial on a mass interstella giant of a game is not only ridiculous but down right lazy. I guess it would have pushed the release date back but cmon!! Yes a generous 3 from me.… Expand
  24. RichardC.
    Aug 17, 2006
    3
    It looks like a great game on the cover but, there are many game-killers. For one, people not familiar with this sort of massive-space-sim genre it will be nearly impossible and incredibly confusing to get into it. Also, for those who want action, let me tell you I shot at a random space-station floating in space, then was informed on my radio that the space police were coming for me, and It looks like a great game on the cover but, there are many game-killers. For one, people not familiar with this sort of massive-space-sim genre it will be nearly impossible and incredibly confusing to get into it. Also, for those who want action, let me tell you I shot at a random space-station floating in space, then was informed on my radio that the space police were coming for me, and it took them half an hour to reach me, I watched them approach very, very, very slowly. And this game does pretty much drag on. So, if you're new to this genre, want action, don't have patience don't waste your time with this.… Expand
  25. AntX
    Aug 6, 2006
    1
    This game gets a 1 for graphics and potential. This was the worst game Ive ever bought. Correction...it was the worst 'Almost game' I've ever bought. Egosoft, the publisher, they can both stick their $ where the sun doesn't shine after pulling this fast one. Good developers finish their games before release. Good publishers let their developers finish their games This game gets a 1 for graphics and potential. This was the worst game Ive ever bought. Correction...it was the worst 'Almost game' I've ever bought. Egosoft, the publisher, they can both stick their $ where the sun doesn't shine after pulling this fast one. Good developers finish their games before release. Good publishers let their developers finish their games before their release. And they also trust their customers by NOT putting programs like Starforce to crash the hell out of people's computers on it. It was like I was opening a jewelry box that was supposed to contain a diamond ring and instead got a fat piece of sh%t with FU written in it. Don't buy this game unless you get it from Steam. SInce its supposed to be somewhat finished now its probably a good buy for $20.… Expand
  26. PaulM.
    Jul 31, 2006
    4
    Wow, this could be such a great game, if my computer could only run it at greater than 4 fps. The lack of a good manual did not bother me, I played X2, and the controls are similar. My computer is good enough to play Half life on medium-high settings, but X3 barely runs. I gave the game to my brother, who has a brand new "super computer", just to see what it really looks like. He let me Wow, this could be such a great game, if my computer could only run it at greater than 4 fps. The lack of a good manual did not bother me, I played X2, and the controls are similar. My computer is good enough to play Half life on medium-high settings, but X3 barely runs. I gave the game to my brother, who has a brand new "super computer", just to see what it really looks like. He let me play it for a few hours, and I loved it. My brother finally gave up on the game, he said the learning curve was too high (he has a life), and "the lack of a good manual sucks". If you love open ended space sim game play, and have a "super computer", get the game you will love it. For the rest of you- don't bother!… Expand
  27. AnonymousMC
    Jul 29, 2006
    1
    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. I thought I had done all my research into all the different reviews, and read about the pros and cons to this game. I thought I could get around a challenging interface, but this game SUCKS. Pure and simple. The dogfights are insanely difficult, the plot is there just for show, the targeting system is crippled, the AI is too smart for its own good, it cuts you down atDO NOT BUY THIS GAME. I thought I had done all my research into all the different reviews, and read about the pros and cons to this game. I thought I could get around a challenging interface, but this game SUCKS. Pure and simple. The dogfights are insanely difficult, the plot is there just for show, the targeting system is crippled, the AI is too smart for its own good, it cuts you down at every turn, outsmarts you, outright cheats at times. The manual is nonsensical and is a loose collection of gameplay tips. Finally, this game uses Starforce copy protection. This is easily the most frustrating game I have ever played in my entire life. Do not buy it. The only thing it has going for it is pretty graphics.… Expand
  28. WretchedW.
    Jul 25, 2006
    2
    I was very excited to try this game out. I'm sadly stuck on 56k, so I couldn't download a demo. Well I could have... But honestly every time I went by the game shop, I stared at the box, and finally gave in. I knew X2 was a hit, so figured this would at least follow in it's footsteps. Wow. I have a machine with specs high enough to play Half-Life 2. Battlefield 2. TES: I was very excited to try this game out. I'm sadly stuck on 56k, so I couldn't download a demo. Well I could have... But honestly every time I went by the game shop, I stared at the box, and finally gave in. I knew X2 was a hit, so figured this would at least follow in it's footsteps. Wow. I have a machine with specs high enough to play Half-Life 2. Battlefield 2. TES: Oblivion. All at decent framerates (at least 30+ FPS in Oblivion), with alot of pretty eye candy. Fire this up and... What a joke. This has got to be the crappiest smell I've had in my nose for years. The instruction manual was amazingly... Misinformative. Tons of typos and bad grammar. Some items were listed twice (Page 11, ). X3 has so much going for it... But it just falls short. Because of laziness. And greed. Oh, don't even get me started on the fact it uses StarForce protection. That simple fact right there shows that Egosoft just wanted money. The story is like one of the worst B movies I've seen. Good idea, badly put together. Then of course the fact that there is no way to really change any options. The in-game video changes system codecs... Which teed me off. If I try to play X3, then exit and go to play Battlefield 2, without restarting... It forces the game to run in 16bit color, and all the background movies cease to exist. Why should we have to shut down explorer to play a game? I mean, on some systems, that don't meet minimum specs, I can see this helping greatly. But for a system that *EXCEEDS* specs?! C'mon. I have to spend 3 minutes shutting stuff down, and running a few tweaks (I revery these every time, only reason I have to do them again) just to get mediocre performance from a game. Because they force us to play with bumpmapping on everything, without the option to turn it off. Pure and simple- this is crap. I'm holding onto it though, just in hopes that it won't be abandoned, and future patches will further improve performance.… Expand
  29. DejanMaletic
    Jul 21, 2006
    3
    Nice game. although... the BUGS are killing me. Ok, i expected a few bugs from the 1.0 version... but to suddenly exit from the game causing general fault error.. well! That should not happen! After a few patches it finally works :)
    For the graphics.. well.. they are impressive.. but NOT that impressive to lag on max settings on a P4 Dual Core with/2 MB L2, 2 GB RAM and X850. i guess the    Nice game. although... the BUGS are killing me. Ok, i expected a few bugs from the 1.0 version... but to suddenly exit from the game causing general fault error.. well! That should not happen! After a few patches it finally works :)
    For the graphics.. well.. they are impressive.. but NOT that impressive to lag on max settings on a P4 Dual Core with/2 MB L2, 2 GB RAM and X850. i guess the game engine really needs some tweaking. next time i hope it will be much better.    … Expand
  30. PhilipH.
    Mar 20, 2006
    4
    This game is so dissapointing because you can see how good it could be. I have both enjoyed and cursed it. My pc is not shabby to say the least and yet it practically crawls through sections. The storyline is not worth doing- I could not hear half of the dialogue and it looked ameteurish. I think i could do better with a few flash cartoons. Worst is the in game functions. the autopilot This game is so dissapointing because you can see how good it could be. I have both enjoyed and cursed it. My pc is not shabby to say the least and yet it practically crawls through sections. The storyline is not worth doing- I could not hear half of the dialogue and it looked ameteurish. I think i could do better with a few flash cartoons. Worst is the in game functions. the autopilot turns itself off at random times, meaning you crash into objects ad-nauseum and the computer cannot be trusted to control your assets. I have watched a Centaur I paid 10,000,000 credits for simply fly itself into an asteroid repeatedly until it was nothing but space debris. some weapons are good but once the frame rate drops they become useless. They are lucky the graphics are so fantastic, because you get the chance to study each frame very carefully once someone fires a psg (one of the area effect weapons). In summary, if they were rushing this one out for christmas, it would be the gift Santa would give the bad kids.… Expand
  31. [Anonymous]
    Feb 20, 2006
    3
    Dispite the fact that upgrading all sorts of things will help the performance of your computer, I expect that a full priced game would not require as much effort as asked for by this game. I have a high expectation of things being easy to use right out of the box. If they want to make it as hard as it is to tweak the performance they should add "Some assembly required" and "Good Dispite the fact that upgrading all sorts of things will help the performance of your computer, I expect that a full priced game would not require as much effort as asked for by this game. I have a high expectation of things being easy to use right out of the box. If they want to make it as hard as it is to tweak the performance they should add "Some assembly required" and "Good performance settings not included" to the cover box.… Expand
  32. ReaV.
    Jan 15, 2006
    3
    I am quite surprised there are so many positive reviews for this title. IMHO the game feels very amateurish when compared to say Privateer 2 or Allegiance. Sure the graphics are great, but you would expect the designers to have integrated the best interface elements from successful predecessors rather then create such a clumsy mess. To add to the fustration, the engine just shugs. It is I am quite surprised there are so many positive reviews for this title. IMHO the game feels very amateurish when compared to say Privateer 2 or Allegiance. Sure the graphics are great, but you would expect the designers to have integrated the best interface elements from successful predecessors rather then create such a clumsy mess. To add to the fustration, the engine just shugs. It is very telling when even on the startup screen the mouse response lags! I installed the 1.3 patch and it helped a bit, but not enough. EGOSOFT if you're planning on an x4, do us all a favour and hire some talent!… Expand
  33. JohnS.
    Dec 24, 2005
    4
    OH NO!!! I am a big Science Fiction Fan - played Wing Commander 1 on a Super Nintendo ;), I loved Elite and Privateer. So X³ should be the perfect game for me. Well - wrong. The Game is soooooo slow - it take MINUTES to fly from one Sector to another - and ofte you have to fly trough 9 Sectors until something happens. The Music fits right to this - it nearly makes you sleep. The Game OH NO!!! I am a big Science Fiction Fan - played Wing Commander 1 on a Super Nintendo ;), I loved Elite and Privateer. So X³ should be the perfect game for me. Well - wrong. The Game is soooooo slow - it take MINUTES to fly from one Sector to another - and ofte you have to fly trough 9 Sectors until something happens. The Music fits right to this - it nearly makes you sleep. The Game also is - well - just a Alpha stadium. Mouse in Menu needs 1 second to respond (!!!!!!!!) and in the Option Menu you can select Video and Audio (not more) - in Video you got ONLY one Option - AGQ. THATS IT!!!! I am not able to shut down the kind of nebular that always surrounds me when i am flying the first ship you got in the Storlyline makes speed about 150 - whatever. I was calculating the speed - 10 km in 1 Minute. Thats 600 km / h. EVERY Fighter Plane on earth is faster than that. A Space Shuttle has to fly 30 000 km/h to stay in Orbit.....whatever. So the game is not only buggy - the user interface is HORRIBLE. Nothing really works. People from EGOSOFT - did you had BetaTester??? It looks like I have to wait for another Privateer.… Expand
  34. TyroneKnight
    Dec 14, 2005
    0
    First time 2 of my cd's were blank. Never had that before in 11 years of CD games and hundreds of CD's bought.

    Tried them on 2 pc's, even stuck them in my Hi-Fi to see if it came up with the "Data" error - Nope - blank as a liberals perception of consequence. Went back to Walmart - they insisted in checking themselves - got a man in a suit to examine the CD's (in    First time 2 of my cd's were blank. Never had that before in 11 years of CD games and hundreds of CD's bought.

    Tried them on 2 pc's, even stuck them in my Hi-Fi to see if it came up with the "Data" error - Nope - blank as a liberals perception of consequence.

    Went back to Walmart - they insisted in checking themselves - got a man in a suit to examine the CD's (in case i'd faked them I guess ?) In return I insisted they check the CD's they were replacing them with ...guess what ... they were blank as well !!

    After nearly 90 minutes in the shop i left with a full set of CD's with data intact.

    Fired up my system, spent 40 minutes installing and registering with Egosoft (don't bother with Enlight, they know nothing, go to Egosoft, they know a little bit more, but not much)

    The menu stuttered, thought it must be HD cacheing, but the stuttering didn't go away, MY system is way above minimum spec (Intel 3200 HT - 6800 Ultra 256Meg and a gig of RAM) but the game played in slow motion

    Fiddled for an hour, downloaded something called frap to see how fast it was running. played with settings and turned them all to minimum (at which point the game changed from looking like a fab space sim like in the magazines, to something from the 1990's) defragged hard drive, messed with grafix settings on desktop, disabled loads of background processes. frap said a get about 12fps sometimes as low as 1fps

    for a game that should look spectacular, but now looks immesurably worse than freelancer, this just ain't good enough. in short it's unlpayable even with the second patch. people in the forums at Ego are talking about a 3rd patch to get the game running.

    Should looked here first, seems like i'm in good company, though why the magazine scores so hi? do they get the same game, or they running it on Cray 50?

    Gameplay should be about enjoyable anticipation, then exciting discovery.
    Many more beta releases like this and it will be more about "pay to test unfinished game, then give up and play something that works"

    The whole experience is very dissapointing. if i could give a negative score i would. feel like someones just nicked $40 dollars outa my wallet and wasted a day of my time - thats not a zero, thats a negative ten.    … Expand
  35. SteveT.
    Dec 12, 2005
    0
    Anyone giving this a high score is downright fibbing,..never have i seen such a badly put together game,as others have said,its worse than beta,it jusy isnt what it says on box. learning curve is huge because theres no tutorials,way too many keys,by the time you have told your ship to do something its been destroyed....the economy is a joke...everything in it is either missing or Anyone giving this a high score is downright fibbing,..never have i seen such a badly put together game,as others have said,its worse than beta,it jusy isnt what it says on box. learning curve is huge because theres no tutorials,way too many keys,by the time you have told your ship to do something its been destroyed....the economy is a joke...everything in it is either missing or broken.....only redeeming factor is the graphics...but that doesnt help when NOTHING in it works.....as for the tech forum,well thats just being ignored or given generic excuse of blaming your pc or codecs......they do promise to fix it,but will not say when,if ever.....steer well clear of this, as i returned it the next day, JUST from reding their own forum.… Expand
  36. SamIAm
    Dec 7, 2005
    0
    It was released early alright. It was released so early the box didn't have any CD's inside. The first box I purchased was empty. After a second trip to the store, I finally had a box with the game inside..

    And that's where the fun ended. The game is so buggy & patches thus far have done little to bring this game to a playable level. Egosoft & Enlight has screwed the    It was released early alright. It was released so early the box didn't have any CD's inside. The first box I purchased was empty. After a second trip to the store, I finally had a box with the game inside..

    And that's where the fun ended.
    The game is so buggy & patches thus far have done little to bring this game to a playable level. Egosoft & Enlight has screwed the gaming community by releasing what is basically a beta and then offering next to no support.

    Utilmately this wasn't worth one trip to the store; let alone two. It's PC games like this that drive people to XBox.    … Expand
  37. MaxMac
    Dec 5, 2005
    0
    Not much to comment on,its a year from the beta testing and was released non working,2 patchs later it still isnt working for most people.
    plot broken in many places,CTD`s and frezes every 3 minutes for most,needs a super computer using bio memetic sync to even get 15 fps.

    who pays to fix the bugs in a game ?...x gamers do
  38. AverageJoe
    Dec 2, 2005
    1
    The game starts well and has so much going for it, but is soon unplayable due to Bugs! Egosoft & Enlight, lots of your customers aren't rich & pay good money trusting they'll receive the descibed product, but all you've done is cripple your reputation to make quick bucks off a Beta product - you really suckered us......hope your happy!
  39. BugzLife
    Nov 21, 2005
    2
    I was off to such a good start. My copy of the game came with all the CD's in the box. And none of the code was missing - the game installed without a hitch. However, what did install is basically an expansion pack for X2. And it's chock full of bugs!! Definitely wasn't worth what I shelled out for it. Major disappointment.
  40. A$40SetofCoasters
    Nov 19, 2005
    0
    Egosoft and Enlight have some explaining to do. My X3 discs were missing files that aborted my install of the game. What good is a game that won't install?!! And Enlight's Tech Support was an exercise in futility. I didn't need another $40 set of coasters; I got those when I purchased Master of Orion 3.
  41. DON'TWASTEYOURMONEY
    Nov 19, 2005
    0
    Was really looking forward to playing this game. However, it appears that game manufacturers have some serious production problems. Other users have noted bugs. I have experienced the biggest bug of all. The copy of X3 that I purchased didn't have any game discs inside. Zilch. Nothing. Well, the box did contain a booklet, but what good is the booklet without the game?!! Now I'm Was really looking forward to playing this game. However, it appears that game manufacturers have some serious production problems. Other users have noted bugs. I have experienced the biggest bug of all. The copy of X3 that I purchased didn't have any game discs inside. Zilch. Nothing. Well, the box did contain a booklet, but what good is the booklet without the game?!! Now I'm out $40 because the store refused to exchange. @#$%^&!… Expand
  42. DCUnited
    Nov 19, 2005
    0
    CD was blank Couldn't install the game No tech support or customer support A BIG THUMBS DOWN!!
  43. PissPoor
    Nov 19, 2005
    0
    The reviewers must have purchased a European edition. One with the CD-ROMs actually in the box.

    It appears that the US edition was shipped either with blank CD's in the package or NO CD at all!! I purchased two copies - the first had blank CD's .. I returned it to the store & exchanged it for another copy of X3 and this time there were NO CD's in the box!! And now the    The reviewers must have purchased a European edition. One with the CD-ROMs actually in the box.

    It appears that the US edition was shipped either with blank CD's in the package or NO CD at all!! I purchased two copies - the first had blank CD's .. I returned it to the store & exchanged it for another copy of X3 and this time there were NO CD's in the box!! And now the store is giving me a hard time about returning the second one - so I may be out $40!!. Un-f'in-believable.    … Expand
  44. MaxM.
    Nov 18, 2005
    0
    IF this gamewas X3 it would be superb,BUT it is simply an expansion that was sold as a full game,..it`s bugged and broken to an almost illegal degree,...it runs terribly [if at all] on monster machines...a miriad of features were removed...and very little added,...the official forums is awash with complaints and ranting,..but they do promise to "fix it",...but as it is its a pale IF this gamewas X3 it would be superb,BUT it is simply an expansion that was sold as a full game,..it`s bugged and broken to an almost illegal degree,...it runs terribly [if at all] on monster machines...a miriad of features were removed...and very little added,...the official forums is awash with complaints and ranting,..but they do promise to "fix it",...but as it is its a pale comparison to its earlier incarnations,....waiting till oct-nov 2006 is the best bet to get to see the complete game,...as the present release is only half finished and only a lucky few can run it,or complete the plotline.… Expand
  45. Mobius
    Nov 13, 2005
    2
    For the amount of programing that has gone into this game i will have to say it terrable. i know eve is a online game but its dam better looking that this tripe. i know freelancer maybe older but it has a better story, Take my advice people and wait for christmas 2006.
  46. spikesspikes
    Nov 11, 2005
    0
    I was looking forward to a game that you could play like freelancer... have better polygons... and some nice game play, while installing it was 6 CDs... And 3 gigs of space, it
  47. PaulC.
    Nov 2, 2005
    4
    My fellow Mad Goners would probably disagree with the high mark I've given this game. Thinking it worthy of maybe a 1 or 2. On release in UK it is still the brilliant game idea X BTF was, it has fantastic graphics..so that's really good yes ?? Well......? Firstly, it's not really much more than any of the previous games, a lot of the features are not (yet) present. (Mobile My fellow Mad Goners would probably disagree with the high mark I've given this game. Thinking it worthy of maybe a 1 or 2. On release in UK it is still the brilliant game idea X BTF was, it has fantastic graphics..so that's really good yes ?? Well......? Firstly, it's not really much more than any of the previous games, a lot of the features are not (yet) present. (Mobile Mining - User Bases etc etc) and the graphics while very nice, make even reasonably good systems splutter. People with 3.5Ghz processors and 256Mbyte cards are getting very poor frame rates after what is, after all, a game set predominantly in space... I mean what is there is very well done, but theres a lot of black empty space in the mix as well. When it's released int he states it will have the 1.2 (and maybe 1.3) patch included. Without them the game doesn't really play at all (Patch was released on game release day in the UK) Egosoft blame it on publisher pressure for release date, as the end customer that should all be completely transparent to me. I couldn't give two hoots what a publisher wants, I have paid for a working game with the features as advertised. This is not what I get. Like the X2 USA release in 2003, Egosoft will fix all/most of these issues in time. and this may well be the game of the year. I love X games, and haver a lot of respect for Egosoft, just release games that are finished please lads, not ones that need a patch on release day just to get more than 10 mins play before COTD. Clarker… Expand

Awards & Rankings

97
#97 Best PC Game of 2005
13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2005
27
#27 Most Shared PC Game of 2005

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 32
  3. Negative: 4 out of 32
  1. AceGamez
    100
    By far the most engrossing game released so far this millennium.
  2. GameZone
    90
    The eye candy will lure you in, the gameplay will keep you intrigued and the free-roaming feel will keep you occupied for hours. X3 – Reunion takes the X franchise to new heights.
    Read full review
  3. Boomtown
    80
    X3 is a great game, but if Egosoft grasped the challenge and offered immersion of the type seen in "Freelancer" and similar ship handling, combined with its own beautiful and complex universe, then we might finally have a game that deserves to called the new "Elite."
See all critic reviews »