1st impressions:
Its beautiful... stunning, fantastic and awesome. But where the hell is the cockpit! A big point of contension over at Egosoft, the lack of cockpit overlay. Essentially X2 only had around 10 cockpits, shared between all craft - and many did not fit "perfectly".
In X3 they have literally redone every single bleeding ship in the game (I actually liked some of the old designs) and naturally, they all look gorgeous. The same for every station as well - new models, new textures etc. It all looks phwoarsome (also planets, as you can see!), and nothing graphical has been left out (lasers/weapons are much better). The new graphics engine has obviously had a massive impact on the game.
However, all this work has ensured that within their publisher deadline, they could never make 100+ cockpits (more like 200+ apparently), so they removed it (instead of leaving in old crap ones). This has caused massive upset, with many cancelling their orders/pre-orders too.
So what else is new? The interface, which is taking some getting used to. Luckily, whilst its 100% navigable with the mouse (point n click), it still retains the old keyboard shortcuts - which I find far easier to use than the point and click. Everything does look more modern though, more contemporary in the design than the old fashioned interface (which looked like it was from the 90's).
Interface screenshot 1
Interface screenshot 2
Interface screenshot 3
There are mutterings that the interface was one reason that cockpits weren't made, and it may indeed be true as so far Egosoft have not expressed any intention to make cockpits for the ships.
The lack of cockpits does mean that upon loading the game, it really doesn't feel as
involving as X2 was. After just 3 hours of playing, I am getting used to it - indeed, I can see that there maybe more than 1 reason alone why they were left out. The new interface means ships/stations have little blue object squares on your, erm, screen - encircling the objects (clickable). A reduced view cockpit could look awfully cluttered with 5 ships in view, whereas the main screen without cockpits needs about 16 to look really cluttered.
The flight physics have changed, the ships have "mass" etc, which makes the handling alot more realistic and enjoyable too. It's also more challenging. The AI is noticably tougher to fight against as well, offering up some stiff competition once you actually get into the game (missions are a tad easy at start... either that or I am far to l33t). The variety of weapons is greater (nothing to get that excited about though, you won't find 200 guns at all... just a couple more than they originally had) - but I haven't had a chance to really search for other new items yet. The graphics for the weapons are vastly improved though, making combat (along with the better AI) an actual challenge/pleasure.
There are other features, the opportunity to "barter" at some stations (not tried it really yet, to busy trying to kill things), and so far the storyline missions are more interesting/varied. Some of the cutscenes are pre-rendered - and have that "soft core porn" look about them (camera focus etc), but I remain hopeful that the storyline will be alot more engaging and interesting to participate in.
The ultimate question to answer though: Yes, you will need a decent graphics card. I started off without too much trouble - the odd "stutter" here and there, but everything going smoothly. Until I hit Argon Prime, where I froze for a few seconds every now and then.
Worse still, I did a Xenon mission in there, and by blimey - it was a slideshow, not a fight. I am now turning down the settings before my lil Radeon 9800 gets fried!
So follow the recommendations - get at least a 256Mb card so that you don't freeze halfway through a sector whilst a texture loads up, and get the best you possibly can to really make the most of the new graphics engine.
The big bone of contention - the first patch has already been released... and it weighs in at a whopping 80mb. It addresses some huge issues that the game was released with - such as crashes going through some jumpgates, and lack of proper joystick support. They have already provisionally stated that the next version (1.3) will be available mid November. The 1.2 patch was released today to patch everyones game up before playing, unfortunately people got copies early yesterday, and it caused a huge flurry of angry postings.
I'll take more time to describe things later, but this was a real quick description and posting.
My verdict is a game that is definately worth getting, but if you haven't played any X games before - I'd wait until the store bought copies will be version 1.2 instead of 1.0!
p.s - no, I'll never be a game reviewer... I just don't have the patience to wait whilst working out what I will say
Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:39 am 
(although the 5900 ultra 128mb is alot better some lower quality 256's)
Now I just have to upgrade the abacus.
