[jdjtcagle]

This game rocks
You must try out this space sim made in germany
download the demo from one of the links this game does have a english version.
the demo is pretty cool and maybe its moddable

[diamondgeezer]

<-- lieks spaceships

[Corsair]

<-- lieks spaceships too

Note how the Gamespot.com review compares it to FS2 multiple times. And says that it comes up short compared to FS2. Especially when it comes to space battles.

Looks sorta cool though.

[jdjtcagle]

on the demo you can fly a small capship and use its turrets
the scene is breathtaking also. I wish the story of freespace would be in the engine of something like this

[Stryke 9]

If'n it gots Newtonians, I'm there.


Hell, guess I'll go for it anyway. Hope the gameplay doesn't suck ass.

[Kamikaze]

The ships look pretty horrible and the x series has been pretty horrible in the past, so I think I may steer away from it.

[jdjtcagle]

I'm not to big a fan of those ships but the gameplay is awsome:)

[Setekh]

Oooh, Mik panned this quite heavily earlier. Should I risk it? Between the both of you... well, it's worth a try I s'pose.

[Flipside]

It's an excellent game, but it's not a space combat game like FS2. Most of the game is more like a very slow RTS mixed with an RPG.

I quite enjoy playing the game, but it's not something where you're going to be up and attacking the enemy from the word go. You spend a hell of a lot of the game praying the Pirates don't see your poor unarmed hauler which is your main source of income.

If you're into Empire Building games, and you like it to look damn good while you're at it, get this If you're in it for the combat, stick with FS2.

This has been an impromptu review

[Stryke 9]

CURSES!

Actually, wait a minute, you mean something like EV with tactics and non-sucking weapons? Or something completely other?

[Killfrenzy]

X2 is a superb piece of work. It's been a long time in the making and if you ignore the crappy storyline it's a crowning achievement for the PC games industry in general.

It looks superb, plays very well and you can really get lost in the universe that Egosoft have put together. I bought it on import from the US as soon as I could and I've been playing it quite heavily. Sure, the combat's not FS2 but the game isn't about combat like FS2 is. It's about exploration, profit and expansion.

Elite was superb, X - Beyond the Frontier made a valiant effort to recapture that essence and X2 has pretty much got it. Okay you can't land on planets but why would you want to? There's plenty to do outside of the atmosphere!

[mikhael]

I guess you could say it 'plays very well' if you don't mind some of the crappiest flight dynamics ever. It does not measure up to even Freespace in terms of flight dynamics.

The Economic sim is groovy. The engine is gorgeous. The 3d models are absolute garbage. I cannot pan them enough.

I'd say stay away from this game if what you want is a space combat game.

Oh, and Stryke: No, those ain't newtonian physics. Not even close. They're dumbed down airplanes in space physics.

[Killfrenzy]

It's not a space combat game by any stretch of the imagination. It's a space trading game, so comparing it to something like FS2 is pointless. It's like trying to argue about why Deus Ex is better than Half Life or vice-versa.

Incidentally, am I the only one who doesn't mind the ship designs? They're nicely different from the ones I've been used to for ages.

Either way, X2 is miles better than Freelancer.........

[mikhael]

I dunno. I actually dislike X2 far more than Freelancer. Even though X2 lets me use my stick, in the end, the game was by far and away the worst spent $50 in a long time--possibly ever. Everything about this game is bad EXCEPT the graphics and the economic sim. The story bites, the story exposition (both animation and voice acting) makes Resident Evil 1 look like it deserves and Oscar for excellence in acting.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that EgoSoft didn't provide a complete keyboard reference? Did I also mention that they were rather rude to me twice when I tried to get them to provide one via Email and their forums? Did I mention that I never actually got one? There's keystrokes not listed in the manual NOR in the game's interface screens. How messed up is that?

Let's put it this way: I'd be angry if I had warezed this game. Even Freelancer doesn't descend to that level. In the end, despite the control problems, Freelancer was a solid, though slightly unsatisfying game. X2 is solidly unsatisfying, and not worth the bandwidth or disk space it would take to get an illegal copy, let alone spending money on it.

[Nico]

bah, you and your stick
ANyway, I agree with him, the ships are plain. No originality, nothing, seen them a thousand times in 80' shooters
Oh, and they can't even UVmap a sphere properly ( http://www.x2-diebedrohung.de/x2/sotd1/(6).jpg )?

[IncendiaryLemon]

Its a decent effort but the flaws do drag. Egosoft is only a four man crew which helps to explain some of the game's difficulties.

 They use a centralized texture bank which let them do ten twenty ships at once, but all of them poorly (This isn't Il-2 and matching panel lines correctly.) They pulled together a massive list of sectors by doing them all to the same form, which feels bland and kills exploration. Models share many of the same pieces to where you don't think "consistent design ethic" but rather "thats the same ship, just with wings."

Combat is weak, very much not their focus.

 If you consider it an economics sim then it plays better, building factories, controlling the market. That takes a patience for the grind though, and while that may make the rewards more satisfying the trip still wasn't fun. Really its like playing Monopoly as the shoe! and having to walk each step around the board. They'd be better served by abstracting the whole deal and making it into a tycoon game.

 My rec is go try  the Starshatter demo, its a combat sim more in line with the space operas - but - the campaign is dynamic. Both sides have limited supply, what you take down stays out. If you don't eliminate the frigate it remains as does the damage you inflicted. You can return to take it out, if it hasn't been destroyed by that bomber wing that was set to launch at 0200. You get a very cool Battle of Britain effect as you fly repeated waves against an oncoming fleet or just watching HQ scramble fighters midmission.

 The caveats are it is an indie game, the renderer is a basic directx7 job and the audio is quite limited.

A final release is "close," and its only going to be 20$.

[jdjtcagle]

I played starshatter demo and I don't mean to be a hater but I strongly dislike but then again maybe I'm just different:nervous:

[Lightspeed]

X² is my nomination for worst graphics on modern games.

1) models are completely garbage
2) textures are so low-res even FS1 had better ones (look at the thrusters! The thrusters! And you can have 70x70 pixels on your screen when approaching 'localized nebulae' - which look like some flaky rotating milk & cereal)
3) Look at the FOV you have - UGLY DISTORTION (eeevil) all around. I can have a round planet looking like some weird ellyptic form.
4) Planets look absolutely garbage - they're not only low-poly, but have horrible cloud textures (yay 7x7 pixels)
5) You can see odd compression artifacts on the backgrounds
6) Story is pretty cheap (from what I saw), and the 'cutscenes' - are just wrong. Look how the people walk, and at the ehhh 'special effects' O.o
7) Interface is horrible, and complex to use
8) cockpits are rubbish - They prevent me from using my joysticks throttle axis (earthquake!)
9) The bump maps are really over powered and look crap - Like a sketch scanned in and embossed
10) The suns... are... ehh... probably no better than a 6 year old would be able to do with Photoshop
11)  The glows are a bit odd, a fair bit tbh
12) The engine is probably the worst coded one I ran into - It drains ****loads of performance for giving you actually nothing in return. Wouldnt be surprised if it were coded in VisualBasic.
13) You can really feel that's a sloppy made game, without any detail or 'love'.

[Flipside]

I like the game, though I find the storyline tries to rush you along, which is not always a good idea, and I'm a wee bit peeved cos I built a Silicon mine in Ore Belt and have Khaak wandering throughout the system, quite literally killing business.

But then, I much prefer to sit docked at my station using the sector maps to control my Empire and make as much mullah as possible before setting out.

I'll agree with you about the Engine though, if the SCP Bump mapping runs at half the speed as it does in X2, I'll still have to turn it off. This is not a game to get personally involved in combat with, leave it to the AI. I played FS2 immediately after X2, and the thing ran like ice

If I compare this to anything, it's to a sort of low-level Imperium Galactica or Master of Orion, where you can jump into one of the ships. Problem is you're about as affective as you would be if you controlled a ship in Homeworld.

Still think it looks good, and the music is nice and atmospheric, it's a late nighter

[Setekh]

So tell me, how moddable is this hunk of junk?