A long time ago, on a computer far, far away, there was a game called ELITE……………. Fast forward several decades, and various sequels and copies that have done about as well as the current Star Wars sequels, and still the gaming industry has failed to improve on the original game, despite its buzzy sound and basic black and white vector graphics. Until now, that is. For X2: The Threat is, for my money anyway, a long awaited and worthy heir to the throne. IF you can live with its quirks and faults. Let's get started then…

   

Like Elite, X2 is basically a space trading and combat game. Where it expands on the Elite concept, is the ability to not only build your own empire, with space factories and fleets of ships ready to do your bidding, but also the ability to significantly effect the economies and fortunes of your rivals to your advantage. On one level, you can dive in as a sole trader with a small ship, shuttling backwards and forwards between solar power plants and mines, trading energy cells for raw materials, and thus slowly building up your finances to buy a bigger ship with a bigger cargo hold and meatier weapon systems to protect your assets. Or you can have a go at a spot of piracy, hanging around the space lanes and picking off lightly armed and poorly defended cargo vessels for their bounty. Incidentally, your rivals do get wise to this, and if you hang around in one spot too long, the next cargo ship will arrive with heavier defensive weaponry, or perhaps with an armed escort or two! You can even try your hand at a bit of smuggling for quick profits, although such behaviour will soon attract the attention of the authorities, who will do their best to hunt you down, or hire bounty hunters to do so. Finally, there is a more complex, but in the long term more lucrative path, which is to start your own trading empire with factories, mines and other space structures, and a fleet of cargo ships to trade with other empires around you. Of course you will need to look very closely at the economies around you, to make sure your assets are positioned for the maximum profits…and so on, and so on.

Essentially, the designers of X2 have created an entire galaxy, with a working economy and way of life, which really does change and evolve as a result of your actions within the game. In fact, if you sit back and do nothing, life will go on around you over time, with ships and empires going about their business.

   

So how does it all hang together then? Well in the main pretty well actually. After starting with the usual options to tweak the graphics, sound and control options, you are offered the choice to start a game, continue a previously saved game, or go through the tutorials, which cover basic ship control, combat and trading. I found it quite useful to go through these, as the game interface is quite complicated and takes a fair bit of getting used to. It is not what you would call intuitive, relying on a number of keyboard shortcuts, or a mass of pop-up menus to control the various functions within the game. Unfortunately, the control interface only allows you to allocate limited commands to your joystick/controller. This is a real shame and definitely makes the game more difficult to master. Anyway, once the tutorials are done, you can start a game, or career I suppose. The new game starts with a story overview, which you may be tempted to skip as it consists of a series of jerkily animated cut scenes, with excruciatingly bad acting, and 'Spaghetti Western' style lip-syncing. However, it does set the scene and gives you a starting place in the X2 universe, with a minor career and goals to achieve. As the game is essentially freeform, you can follow this path for a while, or ignore it completely and go do your own thing, with no adverse consequences. If you choose to follow the storyline, it unfolds and develops throughout the game, ending I believe in some kind of alien invasion, hence the sub-title 'The Threat'. Can't tell you for sure, as I haven't got that far yet.

The graphics within the game are superb. It seems to me the designers have drawn some inspiration from Babylon 5 in the designs of the ships and the general look of space, with multi coloured nebulas and planet systems. The designs of the various space stations, asteroid mines, factories and power stations are weird and wonderful too. Docking is great fun and requires some skilful pilotage as, though you can dock automatically, once you are inside the space structure you frequently have to fly around the thing, looking for a parking space! Some of these buildings are colossal. Once inside them you can trade, talk to the locals, upgrade your ship, buy a new ship, read the local news, take on a job or mission, or pick up a passenger or two. The world is your oyster.

   

The cockpit of your chosen ship looks suitably alien and other worldly from the inside, with a heads up display and mini screens giving you most of the immediate information you need as you fly around. It is a nice touch to see that the radar is an almost exact copy of the one from Elite, showing you a 360-degree representation of the position of other objects in the space around you. Your ship is quite manoeuvrable, having the ability to pitch, bank and roll, which comes in handy when trying to match the rotation of a docking space station. Oddly, although your ship obviously flies at a fair lick, there is little or no sensation of speed, until you get close to an object, when the lack of speed awareness almost causes you to crash into it. I suppose that's how it is in real space, but it's a bit uninvolving. Also your ship's engines are absolutely silent, which adds to the slightly sterile feel of things. I personally vote for a bit of engine noise and some debris flying past your windows to add a bit of 'frisson' here. It may not be realistic but, hey, it's just a game after all.

Combat is generally to be avoided until you've gained experience and better weaponry, as you are liable to get a damn good thrashing. I guess if you are the hothead, 'shoot-em-up and ask questions afterwards' type, then this game isn't for you. Better to get a fast ship with good shields, so you can run away rapidly from any trouble. Don't worry, bide your time, you'll get the b*****s later.

Other ships within the game come in many different guises, from small lightly armed scout ships, to enormous cargo vessels. Many of these ship types you can own, and/or, fly. You can interact with all of these other vessels, either by shooting at them (!), or opening up a dialogue with the pilot. This happens more and more as the game goes on and the X2 universe opens itself up to you.

   

Essentially, I feel that the main problem with X2 is its inaccessibility. The game interface is clunky and unfriendly and nothing much happens within the game until you have played it for several hours, when its hidden depths begin to reveal themselves. You really do need a lot of patience to get any rewards, but if you have those qualities the game delivers in spades. It is clear from the amount of fan sites springing up on the web offering mods, tips and strategies that this game is going to become something of a cult. I personally love its freeform nature and 'sandbox' style, giving me the freedom to do what I want and go where I want, within the broad boundaries of the game engine, but others will hate its lack of definition and absence of clear goals, together with its slightly cold and clinical approach.

This game will be a hit for those of you who enjoy strategy gaming with a bit of sci-fi escapism and role-playing thrown in. However, if your preference is for quick-fix spacey shoot-em-ups, stay well clear.

I guess if this game were a film, it would be more' 2001: a Space Odyssey', rather than 'Star Wars'. A bit lengthy, a bit quirky in places, but in the end quite a satisfying experience if you have the patience. Just thank God it's not 'Attack of the Clones'!