As a programmer, any game that lets you actually create "software" to manage your space-trade-fleets, has got a leg up already. While I'm not fan of the "jump-gate" type galaxies, that is probably my only complaint about this game. Individual combat is fun, but I have yet to build a combat fleet, so I'm not sure how that will go. The economic system is quite impressives, with dozens of different space stations you can dock at, and trade with. Eventually you can even build stations of your own. The game lacks a good tutorial, built into the main plot, so I was fumbling around quite a bit for a while. But once I got the hang of things, you can really see how well the various components of the game work together.

As many other people said,the x3 series are one of the best games i have ever played.
When you take the first look,its seems boring and content-less:try it,and you'll see that everything you expected,will be horribly wrong,so lets review positive/negative:

POSITIVE:
-Open world,you can be WHATEVER you want,do whatever you want
-"Money-managing" is a key to the game,and it needs strategy,which is cool,finally the trading system is REALLY important.
-Impressive space stations of course!
-Lot of different ships
-A lot of replay-ability (even though i only played for 2 hours,i already know that,its obvious)

NEGATIVE:
-Really hard to bein with
-♥♥♥♥ty UI
-Absolutely no tutorial for beginners

Here we go,thats all i have to say,so YES i clearly recommend this game,its a must have,aswell as albion prelude or terran conflict!

Buggy, but still really fun. If you don't have the time to drop in Eve, this is a good alternative. Just don't buy Rebirth.

This game is what it promises - a Sandbox. you can do many things here, be a trader, a hired gun, a pirate hunter or hero of the universe. you can build stations, manufacturing complexes, wage war with the empires, and with help of the mod even take them over completely. you can own sectors and much more. If you want freedom and reactive economy - this is a game for you.

It has its downsides as well however. For one, be prepared to sink in a lot of time into it. and i mean 100+ hours. the game moves slow, and if you pick a regular start youll spend your first couple real life days scrapping the bottom for cash. The unbalanced missions and bad UI does not help much here, however once you start to get bigger, have regional traders hired, start building stations you can devote yourself to more fun stuff - exterminating enemy systems.

Overall the game is pretty good, but it is by far not perfect. if you want to have basically same game, but more refined, your better off playing X3: Terran Conflict

ENDLESS hours of fighting, tradeing, and exploring! One of my favorites.

Ah the X Series. I haven't heard anything good about rebirth the latest installment to the series but this review isnt about that. X3: Reunion Was the game that turned me on to the whole series. In fact just thinking about it now is making me want to sink even more hours into a title i have already sank more than what would commonly be called healthy gaming. Once you get past the steep learning curve and learn how to fly and fight and trade effectively, this game suddenly turns into how you would want to live in a future that affords you your own space oddesy. Space suddenly turns into your own playground and you become immersed in a universe that is fully dynamic.

With that said i think this title, X3 Terran conflict and X3 Albion Prelude were accidental. Terran conflict takes place after the events of this title, and adds a Major graphics overhaul. And prelude again expands on the story of Terran conflict as well as this title adding features and interfaces that were touched on in this title but done poorly. It is pretty evident the beauty of this game and the other X3 titles is the immersion of the struggle you are put through to learn, and adapt to the changes that happen around you all while getting the sense of achievement from overcoming and growing from the experiences you encounter.

What these games lack is a sense of person however. You sort of create a character or take on a storyline however you rarely interact as that character. You never really see the character and the universe usually refers to you as pilot. In Reunion, the main story you play as julian brennan. working along side Elena Kho. Trying to find your place in the universe. There is an extensive storyline and it all seems to fit very well all things considered. The other characters however offer a backstory as to why you start out where you do, and how the other races react to you in the beginning. Ultimately it defines how difficult the game is in the beginning to get started. Once you get on a roll however and you grow all plots start and play out no matter who you play as with the exception of Julian's plot. his has a little more frosting so to speak. Otherwise its all essentially the same. Reunion is also of the three X3 games that has a main character. Terran Conflict and Prelude do not feature main plot character who playing as change the dialogue or offer any additional content.

Pros:
Dynamic Universe - Everything you do or not do effects the universe in some way.
Rich plots - The back story to each of the plots are very compelling and their rewards give a strong sense of achievement
Diverse spacecraft - Each ship has its own classification as well as strength and weaknesses. Even some that are unique and rare.
Races - Each race is unique in its own way and their ships fit the typical role the races engage in.
Fleets - You can build, or buy your own fleet and wage war against anything within the universe, ofcourse doing so will have consquences such as you may end up destroying something you want later. The good news is there is one race you can attack and murder with extreme prejudice and not have to worry about losing a future trading station.

Cons:
Voice acting - Its there but at the time this game was released other studios did it better.
Races - While each race is unique there is nothing unique among their individuals. Humans however occasionally have diversity among males and females but you will be hard pressed telling a male or female split, paranid or teladi.
No planetary exploration. The planets in each system are just there to look pretty it seems.
No station exploration. Each station you only dock at and interact with through the ship.

From what i understand Rebirth attempted at affording planetary and staion exploration however at the cost of starship diversity. Further more these features were not done well and as such losing the ability to fly and construct a diverse fleet was too great of a sacrifice against bland cookie cutter stations.

Fun at first, but then you start to realise your all alone in a large universe and nothing you do really matters or accomplishes anything. So you built an empire? But no one is around to show it to....

I can fly a Spaceship.





I like Spaceships.

One of my top favorite games, still play it now five years after I bought it. Great atmosphere and many things to do. It's up to you how you want to play it. Have fun.

I don't understand the gameplay yet but it's fun nevertheless. I liked to fly around shooting anything I see and then getting shot down myself but at least being able to do some climatic barrel rolls in order to avoid some missiles.

After years of playing on and off again with over 500 hours both on and off Steam under my belt, I can say this is my favorite game. This won't be universal, though, as the game has a very large learning gap and very little instruction, coupled with a format of gameplay that is best discribed as "love it or hate it". The lack of a tutorial doesn't help.

For those wondering if this is worth playing or buying, one must ask themselved what do they want first. Do you want to be a pirate in space firing on ships outside of the areas controlled by the law, and don't mind the high dificulty?
Do you want to spend many hours trading items from one station to another to gain money and eventually buy your own states, hiring ships to trade for you and leading your new found corporate empire to grand wealth?
Do you want to explore the universe, and all it's mystory and see it's dark secrets, with all the risks that may bring?
Do you want to be a cop, shooting down pirates, evil robots, evil incests and whom ever else may oppose order?
This and much more is in the game.

However: if you want instant gratification, always playing at a fast pace, or everything being handed to you?
Then this game is not for you.

This game appears to be working fine since it was bugged at it's first release. Although the navigation and space stations seem a bit more awkward compared to the original and X2. But the most interesting part is more weapons, ships and hidden secrets within this game.

This game does have a huge steep learning curve, but you maybe best to try the Original X Beyond The Frontier, first.

You may get used to it over time, but you never know - as you may find this game not so boring as you got lots to explore the galaxy. And this game is open-ended and never stops, despite its linear storyline.

If you are keen to learn or find some spoilers to avoid any long-term mistakes in your space campaign, you best looking in the EgoSoft forums. Don't use any mods or any cheats that will permenently modify and corrupt your saves and stats, if you are that fussed.

X3 Reunion is a game of monstrous proportions. Everything in it is vast and massive in a way that's both exciting and daunting. It is relatively easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the game and the lack of any sort of proper guiding hand to teach you the basic will make many newcomers run for the hills. If you stick it out however you will find that underneath it all is one of the best open space games since the last game from the X series.

Reunion picks up where X2 left off and starts you as Julian Brennan once again. Your trade empire from the previous game destroyed by the Khaak you now have to resurrect it from the ashes, if that's what you want. The story missions available are in true X style utterly forgettable and easily missable. They can even be disabled entirely by picking from one of several sandbox starts this time around.

As always you start you start your adventure in the X universe in a small dingy of a space worthy craft and set about making your mark on the galaxy. How you do this is entirely up to you, you can trade, fight, explore however you like and in whichever forms you want. Some players might want to avoid the fighting aspect entirely and just set up a gigantic trading empire. Others might want to sustain themselves through pirate activity. The beauty of the X games have always been the choice they give you in going what you want to do, you are never forced to fight or forced to trade, it's all entirely up to you how you want to proceed from any given position.

Reunion is not without it's faults however and in this case, it's the bugs top the list. The game was almost completely unplayable at launch and while patches have managed to remove most if not all of the problems it is still not an issue that is so easily forgivable.

Graphically is where the game is truly impressive however, never before has space looked this beautiful and the objects that inhabit it looked this crisp. Every new sector you visit has a sense of uniqueness about it that just makes you want to keep going to see what's in the next one. The ships are beautifully detailed and the background ambient images of stars, nebulae and planets tickle the imagination. This is indeed one stunning visual experience.

The soundtrack is the standard space opera opus that we have heard so many times before, it doesn't detract anything from the experience but it doesn't add anything to it either. Luckily it is easy enough to disable the ingame music and put whatever you feel is appropriate on the stereo. The voice acting you encounter throughout the game, from the missions to your ships onboard computer voice, is downright atrocious however and take you out of the game with an annoying level of certainty.

All in all X3 Reunion is a solid continuation of the X saga, building on the foundations that has remained mostly unchanged since the very first game. Should you desire an open ended space epic then this is the game for you. If you have the stamina to get into the learn the ropes then X3 is as good as it gets, at least until the next X game is released.

X3 Reunion was introduced to me by a friend. when i first saw the game i wasn't into it. but he insisted. I loaded x3 reunion and x3 terran conflict on my system. I tried it, and never looked back. So what can we do in the universe of X.. i though i'd never ask. You can build a massive Trading Hub or be a trader - pirate - explorer - and when you get there.. a fleet commander of mind blowing hive formations and other formation lines. And when i say build a fleet, i mean buy 200 carriers 200 destroyers 200 corvettes 200 Mammoths. Fill them with missiles for other ships. Shields to repair and ammo. all kinds of stuff for the front lines. here's the fun part... build that fleet 200 times more because you can. if you can mannage them. sit back durring the war, commanding and taking pics like a tourist. at the same time your factories are making everything for your ships and other factories. your trade lines are protected by lasers and also have satelite info feeds to situational awareness. maybe for fun, a mine that i encourage everyone to fly past ;) the squash mine. i would make the info on it read - " Caution, this mine bites the hand that feeds it." when docked at a station you can read funny events, and take on personal contracts looking for ships, lost people and wares. Starting out is slow but its not like your gonna speed through space in 3 minutes and have it all - in one of the X3 series is a ship that simply can never fit through a gate and can build and store a whole fleet. i recommend this game to anyone interested in a different experience. p.s It's nothing like eve

I still love this game. For those like me, who like super deep games with tons of complexity, this game and the other X games are the best of the best imo. The controls suck, but I can forgive that to enjoy the detail and depth that this game offers.

This is not your pew pew game where you blow up entire fleets in your tin can with lasers. This game has economic, diplomatic, combat, black market, exploration, empire building, strategy, and so many more aspects its amazing. This game is like a living galaxy within your computer.

Biggest problem this game suffers imo is the learning curve. You can expect that the first few sittings with this game are going to frusterate you. If you can get past that, you'll enjoy the same complexity that frusterated you to begin with.

This is a great sandbox space game (it has been described as a one-player version of Eve Online). A good mix between exploration, trading, and combat, with a largely optional story-line. The story is a bit confusing to people who haven't played X2, but it's a minor portion of the game.

Definately one you will want to read the manual (and guide) for as it is fairly complicated. Things like sector/universe trading and complex construction are essential for mid/late game money making, but poorly explained (or not at all!) in-game.

I have been trying for hours upon hours to play this game. It is the hardest game to learn how to play ever that is still mildly enjoyable. I'm not even sure I can play it anymore because there are so many misleading and difficult features in the game.

To extend this review: you had better be willing to do some research online to know how to do almost anything. If you can get past that, then the game is enjoyable. I look forward to playing some newer versions of this title in the near future now.

This game is definetly great. It is an old game but it's very replayable, more than most of modern games. If you're new to this game it will be hard to learn as it's not casual game. Simply google for guides and tutorials, egosoft.com forums are full of it. Once you learn and read some stuff playing the game will be very satisfying for you.

Overly complicated controls and menus give this game a high learning curve, and you spend a lot of time just waiting to get from point A to point B even with the time accelerators. It is definitely more user friendly than X or X2 and if you are willing to invest a lot of time then you can do a lot in the game. The tutorial info is very limited so be prepared to learn on your own. I can't say I would recommend it, but if you enjoy the X series already then I think you would like it and it is easier to begin with X3 than X or X2 in my opinion; however, I'd suggest you to start with X3 Terran Conflict if you are going to start anywhere.

THIS GAME IS SOOOOOOOOOO COMPLICATED