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Immersive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: November 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

A space flight / fight / trading / empire building game. It is like later day version of 'Elite'.

You can command a fighter ship which embarks on missions and captures enemy ships where you progress through a storyline. You can also command a trader which trades the space lanes, eventually you can build factories and gigantic fleets of ships, dreadnoughts, carrier ships.

The whole world is dynamic and filled with traders, stations and computer players that react intelligently to anything that you do or happens.

It takes about 3 hours just to get used to the controls and how to fly around and do anything, the graphics are incredible and you will just fly around looknig at things everywhere. I almost gave up on this game early on as I couldn't seem to really do anything or work out the controls. It then takes another 4 hours to start to understand the dynamic economy as a trader. Once you understand the game it becomes completely immersive as there is just so much to it.

Replay value is huge. You can spend an unlimited amount of time playing this game and enjoying it. You need a good PC to run it though.

Here is a good description.
[...]

Can't even install the game?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 31
Date: November 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Not sure why this has happened.

I bought a bogus copy (s) that I couldn't even install

so I took it back and bought another copy, the same.

It seems that there was a missing file on the CD(there are six) for the U.S. version. Now, I not new to this series. I have and played X Frontier and X2 and they both installed with no problem at all at the time. So I'm very frustrated to say the least.

I haven't played this because of this fact but I was wondering if anyone has had the same problem with the U.S. version? Ego-softs web site offered very little explanation on why this was happening and a few others had posted the same issue I was having but I found that the advice they gave these people did not work for me such as copying the exe to the desk top and cleaning the disks.

This has caused me to believe the integraty of such a publisher as ego-soft was invalid and insuficiant on solving the problem overall.

I'm sure the game is good as was the last two but when you can't even install it how would I determin such a thing?

Buggiest game ever

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 20
Date: November 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Complete waist of money!! Patches only make it worse, corrupted my system files causing a reinstall of WinXP. Constantly locks up your system requiring a forced reboot with chkdisc operations. This is equivilant to the Sony disaster! Dont buy this malware if you value your operating system. Its a complete joke and Ive was able to send it back to Amazon as malware and defective.

Couldn't Install The Game Either

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: November 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

My first attempt to install this game was unsuccessful. It appears that one of the CD's was missing critical installation files. I exchanged the game for a second copy, but this time discs were missing from the box. There are supposed to be 6 CDs, but my box didn't have them. A third attempt produced the same result. I have given up!

Craptastic

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: November 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game hoping the find an alternative to paying for eve online. Once I began installing, I knew I had made a huge mistake. This game was obviously not ready for release since it could not even install due to missing files. I had to patiently watch the website for patches to become available. Once installed, I went in hoping to create a character. It turns out that you basically get to play one person. There is no personalized charater creation. There are three other styles you can choose from, but they all are generic. Plus the character graphics and video streams will leave you wondering if this was made 10 years ago.

Aside from the above, the ship graphics are great. But all the ships and space stations tended to look the same and you cant really appreciate them unless you get close up. The graphics of space are mediocre at best and always seems to have this perpetual "space cloud" making everything look hazy. The learning curve is steep, but that would actually be ok if there was some form of guidance. The manual promises a tutorial that doesn't exist along with many other errors. This game was just incomplete when put out and does not look like it will get much better through patches. However, if you buy a joystick, you can pilot your own craft during combat, unlike eve online. But I was hoping for something more than just a buggy, glorified arcade game.

Only fans will be able to enjoy it

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: November 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

As someone who HAS been able to install the game, I can tell you that X3 improves on its predecessor in many ways. Unfortunately, stability is not one of them. X3 is indeed a very buggy game and the disc protection software has caused a good portion of players to have severe problems with their computer. This is the game's biggest drawback, as it is unlikely that such a problem will be fixed any time soon - if at all.

But for people who can look past this, they will find a game that is worthy of recognition. Should Egosoft manage to patch the game back to health in the following months, X3 will be far more enjoyable for the average gamer and not just diehard fans. As it stands, the game's flaws seriously overshadow its entertainment value.

X3 is a continuation of X2, with a slightly larger universe (with more sectors having been discovered and colonized by the major races), a new and better storyline, and remarkably improved visuals. The technology is impressive: celestial objects will bounce off the reflective surfaces of ships, clouds drift along the atmospheres of planets, and all the ships and stations are marvelously crafted.

No one who is unfamiliar with the X-universe games should buy this game, as the bugs and steep learning curve are almost guaranteed to ruin the experience. X2 would be a far better choice for interested gamers. Everyone else will have to make up their own mind.

Simply Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: November 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is just a Myriad of everything you could expect out of a great space game. This game is truely an original-nothing comes close at all. I know because I played just about everthing. As far as the poor people who wrote earlier-This is the explanation-I asked someone on the egosoft forum site before I received my copy:

My Question:

I don't have my copy yet, but I've been hearing quite a few players in the US either not being able to install this game: claiming that certain installation files are missing, corrupting their OS, or just simply not receiving all 6 of the CDs in the box. Has anyone else had this problem?

The response:

Best guess is that it's related to Enlight having trouble at the disc fab...

Enlight was having issues shortly before the release date, which pushed the date for US copies.

With the UK DVDs, you don't hear much about problems like this... it was mostly complaints (and trouble) about StarForce.

although I live in the US... i'm glad i bought the UK DVD version ((...)had it for a little while.)... luckily, i don't have problems with SF.

I bought my copy from amazon and it works like a charm.

One of the worst games ever, hands down.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 57 / 92
Date: December 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have played alot of awful games. However, I have only very rarely paid $40 for them.

This is one of the worst games I have ever played, hands down. I played the previous game in this series "X2: The Threat" and I can tell you this game is pretty much the same thing, only not fun to play at all.

X2 was SO much better. You started the game with a better idea of what is going on, the controls were better (which is saying quite alot considering the controls in X2 were just plain bad) and you could atleast change your name, even if the computer players in the game still called you Julian.

With "X3: Reunion" none of that is true. It has all the faults of the previous game in the series such as a terrible mission system and dull tedious gameplay focoused on making money by flying from space station to space station with cargo for hours on end. But on top of that all that has changed is the graphics and the interface/controls.

The Grpahics are awful. I've read so many reviews of this game which claimed they were great, but they aren't. Sure they look pretty when you see screen shots of space ships, but once the graphics are actually in motion they are terrible. I have a system which easly meets the requirements of the "reccomended system" but I still see lag and random choppiness whenever I fly past another ship or station. There are no options to tune the graphics up or down either so fixing the problem is impossible. Worst of all is you constantly have the "flying stars" effect shooting past your ship everywhere you go and I found this to be a major distraction, not to mention that it doesn't make any sense in this game. This isn't Star Trek and we aren't at warp speed, Scotty.

Even worse than the grpahics problem is the interface problem. The controls and interface in X2 weren't very good, and were in fact quite a problem if you don't own a joystick. But somehow the contols and interface in X3 is even worse. You can now use the mouse to control the in-game menus, which is something X2 was lacking, but this option is not turned on by default. When I first started the game it took me 5 minutes of flying in circles and cusssing before I figured out how to even navigate the menus. It took and another 15 minutes after that to figure out how to fly again. A vetran of the previous game in the series should not have this much trouble learning the controls of a new game!

And before you ask, there is no tutorial either, so you WILL have to blunder blindly through the controls before you figure them out, just like I did.

I could forgive the faulty graphics and the steep learning curve if there was some reedeming and/or new gameplay behind this mind bending system, but there isn't. The gameplay is exactly like X2. They didn't even fix the combat system which was the biggest complaint of fans of the previous games. The best tactic is still to shoot wildly and hope your computer opponents don't ram into you by accident (which they still do far too often). The biggest problem I wanted to see fixed was the mission system, but its EXACTLY the same. In X2 you had to fly to space stations and read "bulletin boards" to find missions. Every mission had requirements and usually requirements you didn't meet. Because each station had only one or two missions AT MOST, if you didn't meet one of them, you had to fly to another station and check there. Sometimes you had to check 10 or more stations before you found a mission you were willing and able to take. Then the mission would take 1/15 the amount of time you spent just to find it, pay almost nothing and you were back to searching for another mission again. I've VERY SAD to say this EXACT SAME MISSION SYSTEM IS BACK FOR X3. Right down to the very names and descriptions for the missions. THE EXACT SAME SYSTEM.

Playing this game is even more tedious then trying to level up in Everquest or something. I would almost rather fight 100 rats to get to level 2 and afford a rusty sword than have to dock at one more space station.

Also, there is no Multi-Player as far as I can see, so if thats a deal breaker for you then consider this deal broken. Further, even the single player options are lacking. There are three options for a "storyline" game (which amount to an easy, regular and hard modes) and then three options for playing the game with the story disabled. Reguardless of which option you choose, you are unable to choose your race or even your name and pretty much all the options are the same. The only real choice is what kind of ship(s) you want to start the game with. There is also a "Custom game" option but there is only one choice under that option and it just launched me into a regualr storyline game.

I'm outraged at Egosoft that they managed to release a game this bad. X2 was a fine game that just needed a few minor improvements to become a great game. But somehow Egosoft managed to take a game that was fine and make it worse by taking the good parts and screweing them up and still failing to fix any of the problems from the previous game.

Don't buy X3: The Reunion. For $40 there are SO many better games here on Amazon to spend your money on.

Pretty Decent Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: December 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I havent played the first two games of the series but I like this game.. I read the reviews and found that i agree and disagree with a few of them.. I dont mind running around with cargo but I also like Microsoft's Freelancer. I dont have an issue with graphic and i run a the minmium graphics card. Yea the mission system sucks a bit but the what you can do in the rest of the game makes up. What other games can you build galatic empires in this format.

Not worth SQUAT

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: December 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I cant beleive egosoft would dare realease a game like THIS! First attempt at installing, no work. I bring it back try again, it works. *whew*. But my problems where just to get worse. gameplay is TERRIBLE and sooo slooooow annndd soooo booooring! I cant seem to do ANYTHING without it crashing the first chance it gets!! X2 in my opinion was great. Only the ONLY bug I got was that I couldnt talk to people because VERY occasionaly it would crash....and they fixed this bug. I expected the sequel to show more enthusiasm but nooo. I have to fly from this station to the next to the next more then I had to in X2 to find a job. Any jobs they have I need SOME requirement or another. I cant get heads or tails with the loopy controls which are WORSE then X2's. *shiver* Now for the best par of any space game...the combat! WHAT THE HELL!? Shooting is worse WORSE I say then X2s and thats saying a lot. You have to fire in every direction and pray that they wont collide into you and kill you instantaneously. Ugh. I think that X2 was MUCH better and just needed a few patches for it to work. It turned out great. But this? This is a disgrace to the history of space adventure games man has EVER made! ok maybe its not that bad. If you are realeasing a sequel, do a better job....

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