X3: Terran Conflict

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 240 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 177 out of 240
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 240
  3. Negative: 32 out of 240
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  1. DanielP
    Jan 10, 2009
    5
    Don't believe the hype. For those of us, well some of us, who have played X3:Reunion with the Xtended Mod, the only main difference your ever going to notice in Terran Conflict is the story. It comes to no suprise that alot of the team that worked on Xtended was brought over by Egosoft to work on Terran Conflict. The game itself is rather much the same when it comes to complexity, Don't believe the hype. For those of us, well some of us, who have played X3:Reunion with the Xtended Mod, the only main difference your ever going to notice in Terran Conflict is the story. It comes to no suprise that alot of the team that worked on Xtended was brought over by Egosoft to work on Terran Conflict. The game itself is rather much the same when it comes to complexity, and thats not a bad thing. If you got the patience for it, and the motive to keep at it then your going to enjoy Terran. However, Terran Conflict is, Reunion. Only reason why you should get this is due to the story and we all want the story to end at some point, but I truly believe this is where Egosoft got it wrong. X3-TC gives off a rather rushed appeal, like it was rushed. They didn't have to do much when it came to content, Xtended did that, but storywise and yet the still very un-appealing poor voice-actors, could've been much improved beyond Reunions standards. If your very much interested in finding out the next chapter in TC, get this game! It has the same pro's and same con's as Reunion with Xtended, with exception to a few minor details. However, if you have Reunion and you have the Xtended mod to boot, and your not too pushed about finding out what happens in the next chapter, then don't bother. You'l find yourself playing a clone-copy of Reunion with Xtended.… Expand
  2. ArcticLynx
    Jan 17, 2009
    5
    The learning curve on this game is far too great, with a manual that barely does the game justice and almost no ingame assistance to speak of. This forces the player to attempt to remember huge amounts of information, or to ferret around in a variety of menus searching for it. The interface is difficult to use, and doesn't appear to have matured in the ten years since the first The learning curve on this game is far too great, with a manual that barely does the game justice and almost no ingame assistance to speak of. This forces the player to attempt to remember huge amounts of information, or to ferret around in a variety of menus searching for it. The interface is difficult to use, and doesn't appear to have matured in the ten years since the first game's release. Also the developers have seemingly avoided numerous shortcuts and simplifications that would make the life of the player easier. For example, most of the menu screens are lacking mouse buttons, forcing the player to bounce between to many intermediary screens using the keyboard. Unless attention to detail, micromanagement and a passion for space trading games, rule your life, then leave this one on the shelf.… Expand
  3. I_Am_Turok
    May 22, 2012
    6
    I really want to love this game. Having a decent 2012 PC, the graphics are so smooth and great, music great, open ended, huge universe, endless side-tasks, fun battles, and a trading system - so far, what's not to like - but niggles that begin early on become more apparent after 80+ hours of play. With my 10+ freight and 15+ combat ships, I should be having all the fun in the world, butI really want to love this game. Having a decent 2012 PC, the graphics are so smooth and great, music great, open ended, huge universe, endless side-tasks, fun battles, and a trading system - so far, what's not to like - but niggles that begin early on become more apparent after 80+ hours of play. With my 10+ freight and 15+ combat ships, I should be having all the fun in the world, but things are becoming a drag. Ships still crash into docks and get destroyed. Auto-trading is too slow that it takes hours to bring in cash. Manual trading is repetitive. With 15+ combat craft in a wing, you can win pretty much anything. And the UI feels like it was written by a Unix developer who hates UIs and likes lists of old. For example, look up who builds say a missile, and it'll give you a list of 30+ sectors alphabetised scrolled down - errr, how about simply pointing out on the universe map which are the closest sectors to me that sell the missiles, I'm not memorising every sector name!!???? At this stage, I am playing the main task/quest, if only to finish the game, which will probably take another 80+ hours of play! It's still very much worth the buy for $15 or less, either this or the generally cheaper X3 Albion Prelude which looks identical. You will enjoy the whole feel and really getting into the universe. I know I do and will probably pick it up for 2 hours of play a week for the next year. That's gotta make it good value for how much I spent on it. But for me, I'd struggle to give it more than a 6 because of how slow it is to get anything done. (to the developers, what if, for the next game, you start with a station, and resource collectors and your own sector, then build up stations and fleets, and either dominate trade by killing off competitors, or dominate the universe by conquering sectors - with those beautiful graphics and combat play, now that would be a fun game indeed).… Expand
  4. apaeth
    Jul 22, 2011
    7
    Not an awful game by any means. The concept is great and the developers did an exceptional job creating a vast and expansive universe. Combat can be fun if you can figure out what weapons you need in order to fight different opponents and find them somewhere that actually has them in stock. This leads me to the biggest problems with this game. The interface and menu screens, and theNot an awful game by any means. The concept is great and the developers did an exceptional job creating a vast and expansive universe. Combat can be fun if you can figure out what weapons you need in order to fight different opponents and find them somewhere that actually has them in stock. This leads me to the biggest problems with this game. The interface and menu screens, and the amount of micro managing you have to do. Everything you need in the game is always manufactured 5-10 sectors away and they are usually out of stock after you spend 10-15 minutes of research and travel just to get there. Do you have a small carrier with a few fighters ready to engage in battle? Guess what? Each ship requires different weapons that have to be bought at different locations that never have any in stock. You'll be banging your head against a wall after a while. I'm sure it gets better once you get factories set up and can manufacture your own goods but getting to that point is a monumental task if you have a life away from your computer.… Expand
  5. behastie
    Aug 23, 2013
    5
    The combat in this game is fairly fun and the trading is ok. Here's my main issue: the game advertises that you can build an empire where ships and stations will operate independently and give you income or you can command a squad of wingmen in combat to help you destroy enemy forces. Unfortunately, the AI is so broken that trade ships crash into each other (and stations constantly) andThe combat in this game is fairly fun and the trading is ok. Here's my main issue: the game advertises that you can build an empire where ships and stations will operate independently and give you income or you can command a squad of wingmen in combat to help you destroy enemy forces. Unfortunately, the AI is so broken that trade ships crash into each other (and stations constantly) and the wingmen just fly off into nowhere. When the biggest challenge in a game is that your empire suffers a 50% casualty rate while docking, you are in a Douglas Adams novel not a space simulator.… Expand
  6. ParGellen
    May 25, 2011
    6
    This game is great fun and the combat is pretty intense. The main problems I see are the issues with stations and complex hubs. The AI is usually pretty good at avoiding collisions with other objects but sometimes stations (even ones placed by the AI) are facing in bizarre directions that cause docking ships to smash into asteroids or even other stations. Setting up your own complex hub isThis game is great fun and the combat is pretty intense. The main problems I see are the issues with stations and complex hubs. The AI is usually pretty good at avoiding collisions with other objects but sometimes stations (even ones placed by the AI) are facing in bizarre directions that cause docking ships to smash into asteroids or even other stations. Setting up your own complex hub is kind of a nightmare since you can't really see what's going on very well while you are doing it. A simple separate interface allowing you to place and rotate stations would have been great but is sadly missing. I always find myself enjoying the game until it comes to setting up my own stations and hubs then it gets very annoying very fast. Also the overly complicated menu system has you clicking submenus quite deeply for even simple tasks with no way that I can find to create hotkeys that take you directly where you want to be. One last bad thing is the voice acting. OH MY GOD! Where did they find these people that can't pronounce ANYTHING correctly? I had to reload and listen to a few Terran mission briefings simply because I could not understand what the guy was saying. A couple of them I just gave up on understanding because I swear he's not speaking English at all.
    Other than these issues I've had a lot of fun playing and fighting cap ship battles with the Xenon.    … Expand
  7. JamesM
    Feb 8, 2009
    5
    This game easily gets a 9 with me but the DRM makes me hate it. They count hardware upgrades as separate installations, even if you never touch the data on the hard drive, and you'll run out of activations. Then you have to guess at what to do until you stumble across an email address on the Tages website. They don't even have live operators either, you email them and wait. So This game easily gets a 9 with me but the DRM makes me hate it. They count hardware upgrades as separate installations, even if you never touch the data on the hard drive, and you'll run out of activations. Then you have to guess at what to do until you stumble across an email address on the Tages website. They don't even have live operators either, you email them and wait. So pay good money, enjoy the game, but never upgrade and hope and pray nothing ever goes wrong with your installation. Egosoft and Tages do not even seem to have any sort of relationship as their FAQs and support material both say to talk to the other one. No other Steam game requires me to activate like this. In fact, Windows is the only piece of software I own that does. That's pretty sad for a company like Egosoft. Bad bad decision.. fire the person responsible for that one because you've lost good business from a loyal customer.… Expand
  8. MikeT.
    Oct 23, 2008
    6
    To all of the reviewers that gave this a 10... If you are willing to give a game with this many bugs and balance issues a 10 I say you are either a paid company shill, or an Uberfanboy. I on the other hand are neither. This is my first game in the X series. My real problem is this, yes you can play however you, but when you reach a specific pilot rating, being the fighter pilot becomes To all of the reviewers that gave this a 10... If you are willing to give a game with this many bugs and balance issues a 10 I say you are either a paid company shill, or an Uberfanboy. I on the other hand are neither. This is my first game in the X series. My real problem is this, yes you can play however you, but when you reach a specific pilot rating, being the fighter pilot becomes more or less unplayable. To explain there are non plot missions littered throughout the galaxy some trading, some taxi, some station construction, and some combat. As you increase in pilot levels the combat missions become more and more difficult, not difficult as in L2PN00B sort of situations, but difficult as in the game spawns in numbers that you cannot possibly deal with unless you bring lots of support "wings" It basically makes you not be the hotshot fighter pilot that I'm sure many of us would like to be. Other problems I had with X3 Terran Conflict: On the subject of wings, they are near impossible to control effectively without a lot of practice. The living economy never seems to have anything resembling a weapon or shields in stock. And another gamebreaker is that as the game progresses your performance will degrade, you see the game keeps churning out new ships and not enough of them die off so (near as the forums can tell) your processor begins to get hosed by all of the extra ships in the universe. Don't be fooled though, there is a great game here, just waiting to be patched up and have it's balance fixed. Egosoft has a wonderful track record for that, so I say just wait about a month and then pick up this title, you shouldn't be disappointed.… Expand
  9. AlexV
    Jan 27, 2009
    6
    I played X2 and actually think that was better for it's time. They've tried to improve the interface and I think the flying and the less regular distribution of gates are good additions, but the new menu system works no better than the old really in that it still takes a lot of accurate clicks to do anything (remotely). The economy functions better (but still not that great I played X2 and actually think that was better for it's time. They've tried to improve the interface and I think the flying and the less regular distribution of gates are good additions, but the new menu system works no better than the old really in that it still takes a lot of accurate clicks to do anything (remotely). The economy functions better (but still not that great though). Like the the last I thought it was a bit too much like hard work (grind basically) though others may think differently.… Expand
  10. GaryL
    Nov 25, 2009
    5
    This game is OKAY. I bought it about a week ago.. and i cant seem to get the hang of it. The graphics are pretty old, not to good but good enough. The game play is slow. Very slow. And there seems to be a lot of bugs with my "up to date" game. My autopilot has killed me several times. Honestly, as some people have said, its a good game, but it depends on who you are. For me, it sucks and This game is OKAY. I bought it about a week ago.. and i cant seem to get the hang of it. The graphics are pretty old, not to good but good enough. The game play is slow. Very slow. And there seems to be a lot of bugs with my "up to date" game. My autopilot has killed me several times. Honestly, as some people have said, its a good game, but it depends on who you are. For me, it sucks and i REALLY wish i could get my money back. Eve online was much better, like a 10 better.… Expand
  11. HammerofHeaven
    Jul 31, 2012
    5
    A lot of this game is amazing. It is deep and doesn't hold your hand allowing for an interesting experience. The problem comes in with the AI. You can be playing for hours and non stop you'll run into issues with the auto-pilot non stop. Both with the player ran ship and with other ships, yours or otherwise. You'll find that you from time to time, the AP will run you into objects or otherA lot of this game is amazing. It is deep and doesn't hold your hand allowing for an interesting experience. The problem comes in with the AI. You can be playing for hours and non stop you'll run into issues with the auto-pilot non stop. Both with the player ran ship and with other ships, yours or otherwise. You'll find that you from time to time, the AP will run you into objects or other ships will run into you. Now, when this happens you explode and have to go back to your last save. Sometimes, you can recover and pull away, but most of the time you're dead. This combined with other ships running into you really brings down this game.

    There is a lot of areas that need polish. There are major areas which have no explanation as to how they work and you NEED to reference out of game material to have a chance to fully understand the way the game works. Now it is a complex and deep game, which is good, you need to learn some things for yourself, which is also good. Though when there are large parts of content that you are never told exist, then it becomes a problem.

    If this game introduced itself better, had better AI (or disabled collisions), and more refinement it would be much more enjoyable. If you can fight past the bad bits and enjoy space sim games, then you may enjoy this game. Though, be prepared for some rage moments when you look away and look back and see your one of a kind ship ramming itself into a gate over and over and leaving you with a "Game Over" screen.    … Expand
  12. MikeM
    Oct 25, 2008
    7
    A "twitterized" review:

    "I really like the new interface and mission alert system this game has. Much improved." - 10:05am yesterday from Bedwyr "Just got my first millions after a few trade runs. W000t!!" - 1:23pm yesterday from Bedwyr "Dunno though, there's a bunch of gobbledygook the missions spout at me." - 1:35pm yesterday from Bedwyr "What the hell does    A "twitterized" review:

    "I really like the new interface and mission alert system this game has. Much improved." - 10:05am yesterday from Bedwyr

    "Just got my first millions after a few trade runs. W000t!!" - 1:23pm yesterday from Bedwyr

    "Dunno though, there's a bunch of gobbledygook the missions spout at me." - 1:35pm yesterday from Bedwyr

    "What the hell does sector.name@L2M008.TL mean? Oh, someone else on the forums is getting the same thing." - 1:40pm yesterday from Bedwyr

    "Ok, so I've failed 3 missions in a row now and everybody hates me." - 3:02pm yesterday from Bedwyr

    "So I claim a ship and send it to its destination. Didn't get there in time. Now I'm a thief?!? WTH???" - 5:30pm yesterday from Bedwyr

    "I tried tailing a ship and got intercepted by pirates. Took too long fighting. Lost the tail. Failed the mission. Again." - 7:22m yesterday from Bedwyr

    "Am I supposed to be psychic? Where in the manual do the missions get described?" - 10:05am today from Bedwyr

    "Oh, so lightbulb means think? What in the world does that have to do with the lightbulb missions? Why didn't the manual say that?" - 11:20am today from Bedwyr

    "Huh. A guy just up an gave me his ship. How weird is that?" - 1:00pm today from Bedwyr

    "At least the trading part is working well. I got two ships making me money." - 1:22pm today from Bedwyr

    "So now they send me off to claim a ship and it's blue. How am I supposed to attack the dude without getting ganked by police? Is that in the manual?" - 2:30pm today from Bedwyr

    "I don't get this, doesn't "average" difficulty mean I've got a fair chance at completing it? Whose definition of average is this?" - 3:10pm today from Bedwyr

    "Yeah. I really want to like the game, but I'm not a masochist. Maybe I'll come back later when the game's finished and there are some guides on how to fight. I'm getting pwned" - 5:20pm today from Bedwyr

    "What in the world is going on with Egosoft? It's like they actually want middling reviews. Where's the polish?" - 6:05pm today from Bedwyr

    "This will delete all X3: Terran Conflict game content from this computer. The game will remain in your Games list, but to play it in the future you'll have to first re-download its content."
    "Delete"

    With tongue firmly in cheek - Bedwyr    … Expand
  13. DanielD
    Oct 14, 2009
    7
    It takes a little time to get going if you want an immersive space sim you cant get much better than this. To the users complaining that travel takes too long, try pressing the j key.......
  14. OrionF.
    Sep 23, 2009
    7
    For all the readers looking at the really low scores, lets be honest, this is a hard game, with a very steep learning curve and is fairly unforgiving. Its not a game one really should compare to EVE, as they really are two different beasts. Combat in X3:TC can be very hectic unlike the strangely simplistic target, click, and forget mechanics of EVE making it much more of the old fashioned For all the readers looking at the really low scores, lets be honest, this is a hard game, with a very steep learning curve and is fairly unforgiving. Its not a game one really should compare to EVE, as they really are two different beasts. Combat in X3:TC can be very hectic unlike the strangely simplistic target, click, and forget mechanics of EVE making it much more of the old fashioned space sim. Commanding fleets of ships, even with the new interface, is clunky and takes a lot of time to learn but also becomes very satisfying. The biggest gap between the games is that although in many ways X3:TC feels like a multplayer experience, you and you alone have real control of the world where EVE becomes much more dynamic with other players interactions within the universe. Bottom line, X3:TC looks great but is not a pick up and play game, you'll need hours to learn the basics, days to learn the addictive ins and outs of this truly massive game. If you got the time, this has more bang for your buck, but be warned, it takes a really devoted gamer to play this one.… Expand
  15. CoreGamer1408
    Dec 17, 2018
    7
    It starts out looking like any space combat/trading game in the Elite format, but really flips into a long drawn out first person RTS. The UI is not well designed and the tutorial is trash. Not even extensive re-read of the 100+ page manual really helps. You know this game has serious learning curve problems when you have to watch a many long form community fan tutorial. Very slow 2001 theIt starts out looking like any space combat/trading game in the Elite format, but really flips into a long drawn out first person RTS. The UI is not well designed and the tutorial is trash. Not even extensive re-read of the 100+ page manual really helps. You know this game has serious learning curve problems when you have to watch a many long form community fan tutorial. Very slow 2001 the Space Odyssey paced game that ends up with a lot of busy RTS work. I still find the game universe and models very beautiful to look at. Niche, janky, nerdy out of 10.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

71
#71 Best PC Game of 2008
25
#25 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
25
#25 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. GameStar
    62
    X3: Terran Conflict is the last episode of the space saga from Egosoft. There is a huge war going on, a war against the Xenon and against the game's controls. Terran Conflict looks great, there's more action than before and it's possible to control lots of ships - theoretically. But in reality controlling more than one ship is very complicated, if not impossible. But if you liked the other X-series games, then you might like this one, too.
    Read full review
  2. GamePro
    75
    The saving grace in this title is the level design. A living breathing world has never looked so good.
    Read full review
  3. IGN
    80
    Lovingly concocted, generally well executed, and hampered only by a few niggles, this is a game that not only achieves its goal -- plunking us into another time and place to live the life of an entrepreneurial spaceman -- but shows us that some titles can truly take us places.
    Read full review
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