X - Beyond the Frontier (PC)

I've been gaming since I were a nipper, and while the power of computers these days means that first person shooters are now my genre of choice, I've yet to find a game that makes me feel the way I did when I first loaded up Elite on my Commodore 64, and later Amiga. I've seen X - Beyond The Frontier (XBTF from now on) get more than it's fair share of good reviews (but to be fair some magazines have trampled all over it) and I quite fancied the look of it, but due to my being a student, I rarely buy full price games (Deus Ex was the last) I was in Game a few days ago, and saw XBTF plus X-tension (the add on pack) on the shelves for ...  Read the complete review

Test machine: PII 350mhz, 128mb RAM, 16mb Diamond Viper 550. NOTE: I haven't been playing the game for long, I think there is a mission to get back to Earth, but I haven't seen that yet. ***Updates at bottom*** Installation Simple and straight forward if you decide to install everything, a friend said if you don't install the media player and codecs you crash often. Just give it a few minutes to install everything and don't halt it half way through the process. It may hang for a second or two, don't get jumpy and start pressing keys. Basic Plot Your a test pilot and when testing the latest jump capable ...  Read the complete review

First, some things this game is not. It is not original, in any way what-so-ever. Basic plot - revolutionary new star ship goes wrong and blasts you across the galaxy - is Star Trek voyager and Farscape, travel by Jump gates is Babylon 5, and the main game is of course Elite. It is also not a traditional space blaster. Even when you get good weapons and shields, the best way to fight is to use the autopilot and let that steer. Now for the good bits. This game is truely addictive. It wears its Elite credentials openly - you even start with the same sized cargo bay and amount of money. Most of the keys are identical - all it missed was the Right On Commanders. ...  Read the complete review

This an elite type of game where trading, bounty hunting and the odd mission (Get back to earth) are thrown in. The graphics are great especially on a 32 bit graphics card, installation was easy and so was changing the game configuration. A superb intro leading to the training missions then well play the game. It can be boring don`t get me wrong I love these types of Games, but someone experiencing this type of game for the 1st time may get sick fast. Download the latest patch and your away fully supports dx7 joystick or mouse, sound is good with 3d supported outstanding graphics. Watch out for Xtension out soon the addon. ...  Read the complete review

Having read various glowing reviews about this game with tags such as 'Elite for the millenium' etc I rushed out to buy it. True enough, at the start the graphics are great but then as time wears on this novelty fades and what you are left with is a very long winded and slow game. Combat is nigh on impossible with your ship being totally outclassed for the majority of the game. Trading is incredibly tedious as it takes absolutely ages to get between systems, and unfortunately you have to spend a significant amount of time doing this. All in all lets hope that x-tensions delivers what X-BTF promised. ...  Read the complete review