X3: Terran Conflict (PC)

“(was also posted on gamestop.com) If you enjoy or love games like Eve Online, but wished you weren't paying $15 and/or just want to play at your own pace, then the X-Series of games is what you want. If you love simulators and sandbox worlds,...”

“(was also posted on gamestop.com)

If you enjoy or love games like Eve Online, but wished you weren't paying $15 and/or just want to play at your own pace, then the X-Series of games is what you want.
If you love simulators and sandbox worlds, and are a fan of space, you cannot miss out on the X games (including X3: Terran Conflict, the latest in the long series).

X-3: TC is the current, and best (technically and in polish) of the X games; games where you are thrown into space in a ship, and are free to roam. Yes there are plots (multiple plots even) that you can play and enjoy, but frankly that's there to provide you with at least one fixed thing to do, because frankly, like many sandbox games, the game is about providing you with a rich environment in which to enjoy your time. The things you get to enjoy:

- trading ; very common for space simulator games (think all the way back to Elite!) is trading. The idea? Make Money. X3:TC has a dynamic and true economy, meaning that AI ships are constantly flying around trading and thus affecting prices. So you never can really "exploit" the game, but rather you are part of it and finding a good trade run (a place where you spot a low price and a high selling price for a ware that aren't too far part) is rewarding because you know it really showed up there, and if you had missed it the CPU would eventually fill that spot.

- fighting ; X3 dogfights are as good as they get for space games (think Freelancer, say). Lots of weapons (all with real physics, that is bullets travel and aren't instant hits, etc.), all with very different attributes. Thousands of ships, shields, turrets, missiles, etc. Ships vary from small fighters (what you've played in just about every game out there) to huge carriers that can dock 40 fighters, and can shoot barrages of hundreds of missiles... and yes, you CAN FLY THAT CARRIER.

- building ; you can construct stations so that you can participate in the economy as a supplier, and not just be shipping cargo left and right. You also can own any number of ships, stations, etc. essentially building up a huge space empire that is entirely under your control.

- thinking ; landing on stations may offer you a variety of 'missions' you can do, missions are goals, with time constraints or not (the latter being handy to just "get to someday"), that reward with money, ships, or race reputation (which eventually leads to better cash or better ships)... because the universe (over a hundred "sectors" to fly) is so large, and there are so many races, aligning yourself with one might mean having to shun another...

Technical comments:
2.1 greatly improves performance, but in general you want a good machine with lots of CPU (X3 prefers CPU over say GPU, since a lot of the game is being simulated in real time running scripts and AI...). That's not to say it isn't the prettiest space game I've seen when you have a high-end card! (ATI HD 4850 = a treat)
Sound is just right. Nothing special. Music is there, sounds work very well for what they are.
Controls: keyboard and mouse heavy; you can use a joystick but inevitably there are so many commands, you need a keyboard handy.

Closing notes:
X3: Terran Conflict, Aldrin Missions is basically the 2.0 version of X3:TC. This game is unbelievably worth its purchase price, is very often updated with patches and new content (2.1 released in June 2009 and added a new ship, a new mission, ...), and can last you many months if not years. Ask anyone who plays this over at http://forums.egosoft.com/ to see that this is the kind of PC Game that is worth the ticket.”

“I liked it but its a bit overwhelming for me. So much to do and so little instruction.”

“I liked it but its a bit overwhelming for me. So much to do and so little instruction.”