View All (10)

If you are looking for a cross between a 3D spreadsheet and Battlestar Galactica, with a side of patience and a twist of plot, then X2 lands right in your space station.

X2: The Threat is the product of merging four main concepts into one drawn out strategy game: Trading, Building, Fighting, and Thinking. Trading involves buying and selling commodities in a supply & demand environment. Building involves expanding your fleet, which is capable of remote control, and starting new factories and shops.

Fighting is all about kicking the collective tail of the baddies hell-bent on sending you into the void of space. The thinking part involves planning your strategic moves, or wondering if you left the gas on in the kitchen.

Some of you old timers will remember an old BBS door game called TradeWars 2002, (TW2002) a text-based game in which you navigated a huge universe in search of products to sell, capture, trade, or steal. You could also create a home base, chart the stars, attack other ships, perform script combinations and populate your home planets.

Fast-forward about a decade and you've arrived in today's 3rd dimension of gaming. Out is the text-based, in is the graphical user interface (GUI). X2 is a high resolution game with superb cinematic intermissions and breathtaking bumpmap textures.

In fact, X2 has some very convincing cut-scenes in which the camera is in steady cam mode following the protagonist around a base or talking to someone. It's almost like a watered down version of the CGI movies being produced in the theaters, without the $150 million price tag.

The storyline is a continuation of the first X universe game, and picks up after the first X game ends. The manual is helpful, but not entirely descriptive of a story and remains vague and tight-lipped about what exactly you 'need to do' throughout the game. This, my friends, is part of the hook that X2 uses to lure you into playing more. You learn as you go. Each time you turn around, you learn of a new tidbit or answer to a question you have in the back of your head; "Who am I, and what am I doing here."

The culmination of good graphics and sound brings X2 to the forefront of gaming technology today. Bearing the nVidia "The way it's meant to be played" tag, you can rest assured that X2 brings it all. The highlight of the game's graphics lies in the subtle shadows and textures so carefully crafted to make you feel right at home in space.

The storyline is one of intrigue, twists, and shrouded in mystery. There are a plethora of characters you will meet along the way, and luckily, they are easy to remember. For instance, Ban Danna is a main character in your plot, and he doesn't resemble the cloth square you are thinking of.

Races are easy to remember, as they are named after gaseous elements in the periodic table, like Argon, Boron, Xenon, etc. This makes it easy to remember who is who, at the cost of a realistic sci-fi believability factor. Sorry, the Neon Knights are not in X2 :-).

The music score is well written, but lackluster. The ambient music ebbs and flows with the game, as you patrol sectors, swap commodities, and engage enemies. The score, however, does change to fit the mood depending on your action at the time. The voice acting is great, and aside from some grammatical errors, pretty flawless.

The protagonist never 'speaks,' so while dialogue has 'choose-as-you-want' choices at crossroads in the interaction between you and characters, your selection is seen and not heard. This is very much like Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, Deus Ex, and other RPGs; someone asks a question, you pick from a few answers, and the story unfolds from there.

Supposedly there are different effects you can make on the outcome of the plot with your choices, but eventually it boils down to the same critical chokepoint of a response, provoking the script to take a pre-destined path. Some more variety would have been nice.

The controls are a tad difficult to get used to; however, once you master them, the game is yours. Since a joystick is required to play (some of the time) the mouse really isn't used after the launch window. It's mostly keyboard, and a few choice events of joystick interaction.

Don't get me wrong, you can dogfight all you want, and take on the world yourself, but since it's easier to run scripts and keyboard shortcuts without having to manually fly the craft you are in, the keyboard shortcuts are a definite time saver.

X2 has a very intricate supply and demand economy. That means, while you go about peddling your wares about the universe, a port that is in need of energy will pay premium for it if it's out. Likewise, if you try to sell that same quantity of energy to a port in abundance, then you will most likely lose money as they don't need it.

Now, to twist this, not all supplies are easily found, and there are NPC characters trying to buy and sell faster than you to scoop up the valuable deals. As you navigate around the virtual universe, you will find key ports of interest, like shipyards, dry docks, and equipment supply ports. All these are vital for expanding your remote control armada as you careen around the void of space.

The learning curve for X2 requires some strict patience. Luckily, egosoft.com offers a forum for X2 and its subsidiaries, incase you have questions about the plot, what to do, items, and locations. The community is very friendly and reaches out to help newcomers and vets alike. Expect the first few days in the X2 realm to be that of complete chaos and confusion. Eventually, once you ‘get it’ you ‘get it.’

There is no multiplayer option for X2 yet, however, the modding community tied into X2 vows to bring some sort of gratification here. The only trouble is, everything takes so long to fly to, that without the added feature (available for a price, however) of a SETA time accelerator, you are in for hours of space trucking instead of in-your-face fraging action. Don’t look into X2 for a jump-in-and-get-dirty good time right out of the box.

On a quick side note, Microsoft released a game many years back called “Allegiance,” a FPS space shooter with the option to protect sectors and build bases, buy ships, mine, trade, and command a large battle against a common enemy. The game never caught on, and was probably one of the most revolutionary games of its time, and most likely ahead of itself, hence the failure.

Although the game was pay-to-play, many people followed it until Microsoft eventually pulled the project. The warpgates found in X2, the asteroids you mine, the ports you dock at, the ships you buy, and the currency you rake in are all strangely reminiscent of this overlooked foundation of Allegiance.


Review by Jeff “raZe” Maginniss.