The X series of games are some of the most amazing, expansive and enjoyable space games of recent years. Yes, Elite is still the classic space trading game, but where others have tried and failed to emulate Elite on a modern machine, the X games have managed to capture the same feeling whilst being more than just a clone.

X3 adds a stronger story to the X universe - it is set a generation after the original X: Beyond the Frontier, but tips its hat to the previous games.

The story is dynamic, and will alter slightly depending on how you play the game. There isn’t complete freedom, but it comes very close. The economy model has been updated, and should behave in a more realistic way to the previous games. To top that off, the universe is huge, and it isn’t all just empty space or pretty graphics either. Almost every object in space is there for a purpose. Your behaviour can influence not just the economy, but the environment too.

The controls have been tweaked slightly - the familiar physics model is still there with its psuedo-realistic innertia, but it has been simplified for newer players. Flying with a joystic is still a slow and careful affair - these things are huge space-ships and weren’t designed to turn on a dime or stop quickly. Flying with a mouse is supposed to be easier now, but I would be inclined to disagree. If you want to play this seriously, you still need a joystick. The controls for things like docking and trading have been streamlined - this took some getting used to as selling stuff used to require drilling through several menu options. Not having to mash the same button several times to offload my cargo felt rather counter-intuitive, but is a good thing when you get used to it!

The combat remains similar to the previous X games, and is more about wits and good manouvers than twitchy reflexes. Arcade fans may be disappointed with that, but fans of the previous X games, and simulation fans, should relish it.

Graphically, we had a slight problem. On two test machines, both running nVidia cards, we experienced poor framerates and very choppy graphics. This limited our testing of the game, because, to be frank, our eyes couldn’t cope with looking at it. Thankfully we managed to persuade a friend with an ATI card to give us a few minutes on his machine, and it ran a lot better there. It could be a simple driver issue, or it could be the preview code we were testing - rest assured that when we get our hands on a full retail version we will do some more testing and update this review.

On the ATI, which was a lesser machine in terms of overall specs, the game was very very good looking - the space views are awe-inspiring, the ships sleek yet imposing, the nebula effects some of the smoothest and nicest to grace a PC yet. I can only dream of what it will look like on our test machines, which should easily support all the graphics options.

The sound is good, especially the voice acting and the cutscenes.

This is a game that requires a decent time investment to play - it is very in-depth and requires long term thinking, so it is sure to keep you busy for a long time to come.

This is a game that every self respecting space fan should play. Great graphics, great story, great sound, great game-play - the only fault seems to be the poor performance on two of the test machines. Once we get our mits on a retail copy we will update this to say if it got on any better with our machines.

Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Longevity: 9/10

Overall: 8/10