There’s a lot to be said for a game that’s wide-open; a game that lets you do what you want, when you want it, and doesn’t force you to follow any set path through. However, there’s also a lot to be said for games that are intuitive, easy to pick up, and simple to enjoy. X3: Reunion scores major points for succeeding on the first account, but loses quite a few for failing on the second.

Irrelevant Storyline

X3 has a storyline that picks up more or less where X2 left off. Here, you take the role of Julian Brennan, the son of the protagonist of the first X game. In X2, a mysterious alien race called the Kha’ak started attacking the galaxy, and in X3 they continue to be a threat. However, in the grand scheme of things, they’re not much of a concern to you.

While you’re welcome to follow the missions handed to you by the storyline, going here and there running chores to save this or that against the alien invaders, the essence of the game really can’t be experienced until you start to ignore all that and plot your own course through the massive living universe open to you here.

You’ll start out with a small fighter ship at your disposal along with a reasonable amount of credits. It’s not much, but it’s more than enough to make your way down a variety of paths. The most lucrative option open to you is to become a trader, starting by purchasing goods at one space station, flying to a different sector, and then selling those goods for a profit. Once you’ve earned enough you can purchase cargo ships and lay out automated instructions for them to buy and sell, then build your own factories to produce goods for others to purchase, and so forth.

Where there’s inter-stellar trade there are inter-stellar pirates, and cargo ships are especially choice targets. Your ships as well as those of other factions will be constantly attacked by these rogues, meaning you can set yourself up as a sort of anti-pirate brigade, defending your own and your allies’ shipments from attack, earning the favor (and the funds) of those allies, enabling you to buy newer and better technologies from them. And then, of course, you can choose to play pirate yourself. If, for example, someone starts selling goods for cheaper than you, you’ll find destroying a few of their cargo ships will change that situation very quickly.

Not So Fast

As brilliant and free-form as that all sounds, it call can be ridiculously complex for the uninitiated. Playing the game requires wading through a dizzying array of commands, all buried in a set of confusing menus that nest one within another like egg-cartons full of Russian dolls. You may remember that that somewhere you saw an option to tell your ship’s rear turret to shoot down incoming missiles, but good luck finding that option again in the heat of combat.

The game doesn’t really have a tutorial, choosing instead to throw you into a simple mission with guidance in the form of mildly instructive text-boxes that pop up from time to time. It’s up to you to figure out how to pilot your ship, which weapons do what, how effective various types of missiles are, etc. etc. etc.

Just following the action on-screen can be daunting prospect. Each notable object in space is highlighted on screen, so as you pitch and roll your ship to look around you’ll see a dizzying array of very similar looking icons swirling around you. You can bring up a map to identify them, but this takes over your entire screen, and there’s no way to pause the game while looking at the map, so if you’re in a hurry you’d better hope you know where you’re going.

Stellar Vistas

One thing that’s hard to find fault with is the game’s amazing visuals, which present gorgeous views of mysterious planets and other extra-orbital objects like asteroids, nebulae, and of course hundreds of different ships, space stations, factories, and other man- or alien-made locations.

Planets look amazingly good, with atmospheres blending gradually into the blackness of space as well as weather systems that rotate independently of the details of the planets itself. Explosions and lighting effects look brilliant, and the ships, with their reflective and bump-mapped surfaces, are immaculately detailed. Flying next to and through massive factories and space stations is always an impressive experience.

The audio is a simple but appropriate sampling of what was “new age” back in the early 90’s; selections of cooing synthesizers and the like that help to encourage the mysterious vastness of space and of the game’s menu system. Voice acting is tolerable, but the snooty and irritating main character will try your patience.

Not for the Fickle

X3: Reunion is a game that gamers will absolutely lose themselves in for months and even years without running out of things to do. X3: Reunion is also a game that will make many gamers feel completely and frustratingly lost. However, its obnoxious and unnecessary complexity is about its only serious flaw, and so gamers who don’t mind figuring things out on their own will have a great time conquering this living, breathing galaxy.