X3: Terran War Pack

Truly the X series is great in and of itself, X3 and X3 Albion prelude are exceptional. the gameplay is rich and inviting, full of exciting opportunities to grasp and one huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge universe to explore and mess around it. Pros: -has huge amounts of ships and ship classes ranging from an M5 scout ship to a might M1 carrier -the scale of combat is amazing, captivating that feeling of vastness -it's a real 4x game, you can expand an empire by building stations and creating your own economy or influence the economy of an in-game race, you can build a fleet and dominate a faction -the graphics (considering the age of the games) are beautiful and breathtaking -the lore and theme of the game, races and their backgrounds, galactic history and even little details about the occasional planets you may find yourself around are rich and full ensuring you feel like a real part of a real galaxy. Cons: -the game can take some time to learn especially if you aim to build and manage a set of stations or set up automatic trading etc. (their are a lot of mods in this game too so you can make all this easier) -the game might seem overwhelming with the freedom of choice but the internet is your friend, so don't worry about this. verdict: buy this game if you love space games, this is one!

If you're playing X for it's story, I would highly recommend the original trilogy (X Gold, X2: The Threat and X3: Reunion). If you're here for the core experience, Terran War Pack (X3: Terran Conflict / X3: Albion Prelude). If you're wondering why I left out Rebirth, it's probably because it has failed to surpass the success of Terran War even with a tonne of patching. X3 Terran War is arguably the pinnacle of the franchise and can easily be referrenced when describing what X is. X is a space trading simulation game that leans heavily on the business management side of things as opposed to the cinematic story-driven experiences of Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer. X3 put you into a cockpit that looked more like Wall Street banker's computer screen than it did an actual cockpit - this UI is one of the things that managed to overwhelm newcomers. On top of that you had a somewhat complex control scheme, thankfully a fully customisable one. Once you got a feel for the ins and outs and worked out a setup that fits, mastering the rest is less of a chore. The general pacing of the game is slow enough to players with short attention spans right off as you start from rock bottom to eventually build your own space fearing empire. For players with patience and vision along with the necessary reflexes and quick whits, the X franchise can easily become one of the most rewarding space trader experiences on the market.

X is very much a space sandbox. You can become a military pilot, civilian trader, a pirate, or any combination you want. The graphics are fantastic and run smooth, even on older systems. You can play with a joystick, or using the mouse and keyboard like Freelancer. For those unfamiliar with the M&K controls, you can lock the mouse to navigate the UI, or unlock to control the ship. More space sims should include these M&K controls. It's actually one of the few I can play on my laptop thanks to these controls, and I actually prefer them. The sound is as high quality as the graphics and the whole game just creates an incredible sense of immersion. The gameplay itself can be intimidating at first since there are so many different aspects to learn. You can obtain an entire fleet of ships, capital ships down to single-pilot fighters, and send them on various missions through commands. You can even obtain a space station and take over a sector. The universe is massive, it really would take hours to fly through every system. While It's mostly intended to be a sandbox, there are a few story modes. In these modes, you are playing a specific role and follow missions as part of the storyline. While you follow the missions for the storyline, you still can do whatever you want in between. The story mode is very similar to Freelancer, where you follow the story, but have freedom in between to choose what you want to do. What probably makes this game one of my favorite space sims is the mods. There is a mod for any sci fi theme you can think of and they're expertly done. If you're thinking about it, just search the forums for the couple of posts about the various mods. This is the link to the mod thread I created: https://www.gog.com/forum/x_series/x3_mods If you are a flight or space fan, I can't recommend this game highly enough!

This is an amazing game. Don't buy X: Rebirth, buy X3, it's a way better game in most aspects. Doesn't matter if you want to trade, explore, mine, or fight you'll get a lot of fun out of this game. Want to be a bounty hunter who spends all his profits on pimping his ride? You can do it. Want to build an gigantic megacorp with stations dotted around the entire galaxy? You can do it. Want to be a pirate and capture trading vessels floating through lawless space? You can do it. Want to build a giant war fleet and wage war on a race you don't like, destroying them and taking their sectors for yourself? You can do it. Want to be a policeman and scan ships for contraband, getting paid for any smugglers you find, then seize their goods so you can sell them yourself to make even more profit? You can do it. Want to be a defender of civilisation and kick invading xenon butt? You can do it. Want to just kill an hour shooting asteroids to collect ore that you can sell? You can do it. This game is whatever you make it. If you like complex sandbox space games this will drain hundreds of hours from your life.

If you played Elite on ZX spectrum or commodore this is essentially the same but a lot bigger and more beautiful. Fairly large universe full of life. This is one of the games that you can actually make an impact on economics or political balance of power. Loads of ships to fly, be an honourable fighter for any "civilised" faction or join the pirates. Fight your way through the ranks, hire wingman or two or more until you build a massive fighter flotila. Or trade your way, hire traders to work for you, build space factories, establish sales and supply lines to shape the economy the way you want... Hundreds of hours of entertainment that does not have to end if you don't want to. I just like many others have it on steam. But having a DRM-free copy is truly owning it. So now I own it.