|
X2: The Threat is a space-simulation that mixes fairly typical story driven missions with an extremely detailed and complex economic system, achieving a sort of pseudo-RPG effect.
|
|
Home >
Reviews >
Games >
Egosoft X2: The Threat |
|
|
System Requirements and Performance
The game was patched to version 1.1
while I was in the process of reviewing it, and the patch fixed one major hole
in the dynamic trading system. In the earlier version it was practically
pointless to trade any commodity other than energy cells (a resource needed by
almost all factories) in the early part of the game, leading to a rather dry
trading experience. While energy cells remain important post-patch, there is a
wider variety of options now for the low-end trader.
To sum up the low points
then: - Poor 'feel' to the controls
- Often frustrating combat
- Mediocre sound
- Mining isn't worth the
effort
- Poor cut-scenes
- Busy interface
System
Requirements and Performance:
The minimum system requirements for X2 are a not-too-ambitious Pentium
III 800 with 128MB memory and a 32MB 3D card. Of course, as with all minimum
required specs, this is a bit of a joke, unless you plan to
play the game purely from the menus as a strategic trading sim (which
is actually almost feasible). As we mentioned above, X2 has some pretty
graphics; the game's graphics have a cost, however.
On an AMD XP 3000+ system with
an Nvidia FX5600 card and 512MB DDR, the game was unacceptably slow
in crowded sectors using the default 1024x768 resolution with all the bells and whistles
enabled.
Turning off the
real-time shadows (which actually increases the image quality in my opinion) and
disabling anti-aliasing made it playable, but I missed the AA as it is very well
implemented within this game and greatly increases the eye candy factor. It's
worth noting that frame rates within the game vary wildly depending on how
populous your current sector of space is. Dropping to 800x600 allowed tolerable
play in all conditions except major space battles with the bump mapping and AA
enabled.
The real-time shadows have the most
effect on frame rate, and this is a good thing, because while they may
occasionally add a nice atmosphere, they just as often ruin one with poor
shading effects. Turning off this graphic option is a painless performance
boost.
To get the most out of X2 at
a decent resolution, I'd recommend around a 2GHz Intel or AMD processor and an ATI or
Nvidia DirectX 9 capable video card to enjoy the eye-candy. It really depends on
what you want out of the game though.
If you are not likely to place much
emphasis on combat, you can easily get away with a lesser system, and the
eye-candy is not crucial to the game experience.
|