Did you ever imagine what Star Wars would be like without the Empire?  Or where Star Trek would be without the Klingons?  Whether they wanted to or not, the group at Egosoft put together a game that probably comes as close to that as possible.  Welcome to the universe of X: Beyond the Frontier.  You are thrown into a prototype spacecraft as the world’s first test pilot of such a vehicle.  Some preparation tests go wrong and BOOM – next thing you know is you are millions of light years from Earth in the middle of a spacecraft convention.  Your mission: to find someway to survive and return home – wherever that is…

Installation: Easy

Gameplay

A seemingly great idea, X is just short of becoming a classic.  Well, maybe quite a bit short.  X is the first game of its type.  A space sim that has all the makings of a choose-your-own-adventure novel.  The game is stacked of goodies.  X sports a whopping 150 different types of spacecraft and space stations.  Up to 10,000 objects float around in an enormous universe – all waiting to be explored.  This game is so large, that assuming you are a big enough geek, you could literally live in front of your computer screen for weeks (assuming that somebody is there to deliver the necessary Doritos and Mountain Dew on regular intervals).  Unfortunately, for a game of this magnitude, it is also magnificently boring.  Fighting is such a rare occurrence that you will find your heart pounding and your palms sweating every time you have the opportunity.  To compound the problem, when you do happen to be lucky enough to encounter somebody (or something) worthy of being blown out of the stars, the AI is incredibly weak and the opposition offers you not even a hint of a challenge.

X is a pacifist’s view of the universe.  A place where free trade rules and a guy can easily trade goods for a living and make a few honest bucks – who ever heard of such an absurd idea?  You are forced to become a trader of goods that may interest some people, but I’m afraid that Egosoft grossly exaggerated the number of “trading geeks” that populate today’s information highway.  This type of gameplay simply will not appeal to the masses and frankly, I’m not sure what Egosoft was thinking.  The idea is great.  You have the ability to completely choose your way home.  You have the freedom in this game that rivals any other non-linear storyline.  However, it is just plain boring.

Overall Gameplay Score: 4

Graphics

Excellent graphics are a standard among space sims these days, and X does not stray far from the bar.  The graphics are beautiful.  A 3D accelerator is required (something that I am not fond of usually, but with space sims I don’t think it makes that big a difference).  From the nebulas and planets to the space ships and the space stations, you will be just as in awe over the graphics of X as you will be for any other space sim on the market today.

Graphics Score: 8.5

Sound

The sounds in X are good.  Other than the fact that you can’t hear the good ones enough (like the sound of your lasers blasting and your opponent’s hull disintegrating into 5,000 pieces).  For the greater part of the game, you will be forced to listen to a sound track that is decent, but will annoy you enough to pull hair out from anywhere that you can find it.

Sound Score: 5

Difficulty

Too hard.  Well, not too hard, but too much of a pain.  I found it tedious to have to dock with 5 different space stations only to find that none of them carried the particular goods I wanted to trade for.  The game was not very intuitive and the HUD left too much to be desired.  This only added to my frustrations.

Difficulty Score: 7

Concept

You have to give credit where credit is due.  Considering the enormity of the X universe, it truly is a remarkable game.  If you like slow-moving fun and not a lot of action, you probably will actually love this game.

Concept Score: 9

Overall

I must be fair here and take this game for what it is – whether it was meant to be this way or not I don’t know.  But X is actually a great game if what you want is a long-term relationship with your hard drive and a slow-moving, but very scenic tour of an imaginary universe.   If you are interested in watching your foes beg for mercy because you have just pounded them with a volley of photon torpedoes, this is definitely not the game for you.  Unfortunately for Egosoft, I think that a vast majority of the gamers out there are more interested in wiping out aliens than trading supplies with them.

Overall Score: 6.5

Reviewer’s Recommendation:

If you want action, thrills, or excitement, look elsewhere.  You will find none of those here.  If, however, you are interested in exploration and simply taking some time to view some stunning views of what the outskirts of our universe may look like, this game may have some merit that you might want to look into.