Every so often, I will get a game that other reviewers have dogged. I'll look at what they have to say about the game and then see if I reach the same conclusions. More often than not, I end up coming up with the same gripes that the other reviewers do. But occasionally, I will disagree with those guys and actually like the game. Such is the case in one of the latest European imports called X: Beyond The Frontier. It was a big hit in Germany and THQ bought the U.S. rights to it and had Southpeak Interactive distribute it for them. Once the game was released over here, some reviewers chewed it up and spit it back out. I found that it ended up being one of the very few games that I enjoyed playing lately.

The premise behind the game is pure sci-fi. We humans on Earth have developed some real cool artificial intelligence star ships, called Terraformers that cruise the galaxies. Unfortunately, these ships developed a collective conscience and set out to destroy every thing that Earth stand for, beginning with obliterating the colonies we had on Mars. A group of gutsy human pilots trick the Terraformers through a time portal the game calls a jump gate. After the bad guys stream into the other dimension, the Earth pilots destroy the jump gate. This eliminates the problem but also stops the fast track space travel that Earth was dependant on.

Fast-forward five hundred years. Now Earth has developed star ships that don't require the usage of a jump gate to get into deep space. We are now ready to forage ahead into the uncharted heavens and make our mark. The only problem is that there are alien forces out there that are bigger and badder than us. We have to either find a way to get them to like us or blast them to oblivion.

You, the player, are the pilot of the X-perimental star ship. This is the prototype for the new ship that will carry us to infinity and whatever. You will fly and fight until the aliens either become our buddies or get wiped out. That is if you can get the job done.

One of the things that got a dig from a couple of reviewers is some of the names that the developers gave the aliens. These potential new friends have names like Xenons. Argons, Borons and Goners. Okay, so the names aren't too original. Do you know how many Bruce's there are in the world today, some even more famous than even I am? (Just kidding, guys!). Anyway, the names thing got a black mark from some reviewers but not from me. I thought that the names were pretty cool.

The game play is divided into sectors for you to explore and fight in. There are new aliens and inviting situations in each sector. You can either try to get along with the aliens in a section and get a trading situation going or fight and try to beat them into liking us. Each alien race is different, so you will have to learn how they are. A sure bet for trading may end up being a deadly enemy. As you travel there will be times that your ship will have to dock at an alien space station. Some of these are better than others. Don't be fooled by the name of the race; some of the nastiest sounding aliens are actually the most helpful.

Later on in the game, if you survive, there will be opportunities to build star bases in alien territories. This will be a major boost to all earthlings and help you complete the game. The major thing to consider is whether or not the alien races will remain friendly and let you keep hanging around or if they will want to fight.

Some things that other reviewers have ragged on the game about are the graphics and documentation. The graphics are fairly primitive compared to some of the other games out there. But I don't think that this game was ever meant to give the big boys a run for their money. This is just a nice, simple space exploration and shoot-em up game. I do agree that the documentation could have been a little better. But the manual has some useful information and comes in a full color slick page style.

The system requirements aren't too steep. You'll need a Pentium 166 with 32 MB of RAM and Windows 95 or 98. A 3D graphics card will be necessary and a 2x CD-ROM drive as well. A 16-bit sound card is also a must.

X: Beyond The Frontier is a good space exploration and fighting game. As some other folks say, it doesn't have great graphics and the names are kind of silly. The storyline is fairly simple and the documentation could have been better. But overall, X: Beyond The Frontier was fun to play and didn't have the excessive violence and gore that most of the games have these days.

For additional information about this game or other titles from Southpeak Interactive, visit their web site. It can be found at www.southpeak.com.

Copyright © 2000 Bruce E. Von Stiers