X: Beyond the Frontier PC
  • Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Jan 26, 2000
X: Beyond the Frontier Image
Metascore
67 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Take a trip to the farthest reaches of space in this real-time simulation. You're the pilot of an experimental aircraft that falls into an unknown sector of the universe. Your objective is to get home alive, but that won't be any small task as tons of enemies and obstacles will try to slow your progress throughout the adventure. The game boasts more than 150 fully operational aircraft, six interactive civilizations, in excess of 10,000 objects to use, and thousands of hours of gameplay. Fighting, trading, and solving puzzles are all part of the territory in this massive gaming experience.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
  1. ActionTrip
    81
    Play it patiently, explore, fight and enjoy... It just might do the trick before the heavy hitters like Starlancer and Freelancer arrive.
  2. TotalGames.net
    74
    Time consuming and considering the lack of alternatives, quite good at what it does. But it fails to seamlessly merge the combat and trading that Elite did so well and is, to put it bluntly, a bit on the dull side.
  3. FiringSquad
    71
    There is nothing flat out wrong with X, it's just that after you finish the game (either story or achieve your long-term goals), there's nothing left to do. This is where the genre is supposed to be strongest - the freedom to do whatever - yet X somehow misses the mark.
  4. All Game Guide
    40
    With over 10,000 objects in the game's universe, there is quite a bit to see and no one's going to tell you how or when to see it in this open-ended space adventure.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. Zephyn
    9
    After playing around a bit with X3, I decided to give the original game in the series a try. As a gamer who really misses Wing Commander: Privateer and the original Mechwarrior game for the PC, I've been very pleased with X-BTF. It seems to have the same balance of combat tactics and resource strategy that keep the game interesting over the long term: You can switch from Businessman to Demolition Man and vice-versa as the mood takes you.

    As with most sandbox games, you don't start with much in the way of resources... but there's no point to playing an empire building game if the empire's already half-built by the time you start. For newcomers who find the complexity of the more recent games of the X series a bit overwhelming. I'd recommend X-BTF as good way to get a feel for the combat/trading systems and the plot/setting without getting hit by option overload.    … Expand
  2. OdraSPUF
    7
    A frustrating start turns away most casual gamers, but once you get used to the controls and manage to upgrade your ship for faster travel this game begins to shine.

    Robust economics, a faction-based political system and a vast universe to explore has made this game a welcome addition to my collection.

    Players that don't suffer from short-attention spans that enjoy simulations and economic driven games (ie. Simcity) with combat thrown into the mix may find this to be an entertaining title.

    Some points before purchasing:
    * The graphics feel dated (1999), but it handles itself well with no problems so far.
    * Slow "grinding" period when first starting the game.
    * No configurable controls. (save for about 5 keys)

    Find a downloadable Demo at Egosoft's website.    … Expand
  3. Ears14U
    0
    This game, no....this entire series is a complete pile of badly programmed rubbish. I have had more trouble with what's been deemed a audio/video "codec" issue. Seriously? With all four of the titles I've installed? You would think that Egosoft (wow, not a humble bone is this crowd huh?) would have released a "patch" like every other reputable game manufacturer would have done to fix this issue. However this task of spending more time trying to fix a "scratchy-assed" noise through your speakers, then actually playing the game is left up to us consumers. I'll just chalk this X-turd-box series up to a loss. I personally couldn't "rate" this crap any lower than I did, so I would highly advise steering clear of this, and any other EGOSOFT software in the future.… Expand

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