The X series has never seen wide spread love from gamers, itβs not an AAA title like you see spread over multiple platforms but it the series was a great example on how to do space exploration games right. The massive world that had been created along with the freedom to do what the player wanted attracted many different players of course, some who remembered Elite from the ZX Spectrum, others who just wanted to be pirates, merchants or even miners. Now the last of X came out quite a while ago, most thought the series was over and wouldnβt see a new iteration of the series again, so the release of a new game was a great surprise to many. This is a game that will have to compete with the likes of star citizen to show that it is still able to make competent gameplay and get players involved, for fans of the series, but more importantly to bring new players too.
If you havenβt guessed, the X series is a space simulator that basically allows you to be what you want, be it Merc or trader, there are factions you can join and wage war on others with, those who have played mount and blade, think that but in space, sort of. There is a free mode available which puts you into a basic ship, and thatβs it, you fly along doing your missions as you please, you set your own goals and your own missions really. You can choose to be in any faction, or a pirate, you can spend a lot of time in this mode, because of the sheer diversity of it, itβs also hard, which isnβt something you get so much of now in games.Β There is also a campaign that puts you in the role of a wreck collector that happens to find the Albion Pride, a prototype ship, youβre quickly introduced to a female engineer who fixes up what you couldnβt and asks you to take her back to her boss.
The campaign serves its purpose, which is mostly to get new players into the controls and how the X world works, itβs a very loose story line, you can venture off when you want and do your own thing for a while. Β Iβve always liked this approach to storytelling in games, Fallout, dragons dogma and others have used this and allowing the player to go off and do their own thing for a while outside of the main quest is always welcome, but the depth what you can do is unrivalled in X.
Other areas of the game are more hit and miss, the core gameplay that most players have enjoyed in the X series is still here, if you liked any of the previous ones, chances are you will still enjoy X rebirth. Though it is nice to see a massive update to the graphics, ships and new areas look fantastic and really make it feel like youβre exploring in space as you go along, the insides of your space ship also look great as well. Though the new graphics do not extend all the way to the characterβs,Β they all look a little off, and I couldnβt put my finger on It, faces are not what you would expect and are fairly poor, but as a whole you can put up with them, I just canβt put a finger on what bothers me. Thankfully outside of the campaign you mostly only have to deal with character models appearing on the screen in your ship when you contact other ships, or accidentally fire on them, multiple time, so itβs a small problem that doesnβt affect the game as a whole much.
Gameplay is pretty much the same as the previous versions, you are now equipped with a mining laser from the get go, allowing for a few hours of mining right from the get go in the campaign, its good for farming some money to upgrade your ship early on.Β One change I dislike, moving from sector to sector was done via big gates in-between, now you have the interspace highway, which cuts through the whole of each sector, this isβ¦different. For one it cuts the whole sector into two, and also gives a large space where you canβt fly near due to maybe accidentally entering into it and going off to the next area. When you are into the highway you get a, interesting minigame, with ships flying in 3×3 and up too 6×6, you can communicate between the ships whilst you are doing this, though the only real goal is to wait until a ship has passed you and take its advantage of its slipstream. I donβt really feel like these add much and seem like a bad distraction from anything else, just extending the gameplay artificially, I much preferred the gates between each sector that was in the previous games.
If you go on any of the many forums dedicated to this game, you will notice that there are a hell of a lot of different bugs being reported for this game, from not being able to dock at stations to ships not working. Β Some of the problems that have been reported have been fixed, since released there have been many different updates released for X rebirth and slowly becoming a more complete game, one which you donβt have to worry about something breaking your save.
X Rebirth is a strange game, for those who are big fans of the series, I have no doubt you already have your eyes on it, for those who want to go into the space genre, there are some choices for you to make. X Rebirth isnβt polished right now but it is a great game, one that has a fantastic community and plenty of mods if your into that kind of thing, so right now it just depends on how you want to play the game, for me itβs currently a 3/5, but with patching I hope it to get much better.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artistβs personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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