So my review will probably end up somewhere and no one will ever read it but here I go nevertheless.

I played this game when it came or some time after it was in a gaming magazine as an extra. It's not that easy as a kid but if you actually know what you are doing it's not that hard. The story isn't the best but it's not that bad either.

There are 6 races, with 5 of them you can trade and build space stations in their systems. The beginning can be a bit slow but as soon as you have yor own station, which you can get after about an hour if you sell the shield you get, it gets quite easy. There are some stations which are just flat out better than others but you can either figure that out yourself or just google it. If you want to explore a bit you can, just fly wherever you want, leave some money in you stations and some transporters and when you come back you will have more money then you left.

Some tips you should listen to:
get the S.E.T.A upgrade it makes the game much more enjoyable.
and get the docking computer from the paranids.

if you have questions just leave them here i'll respond to them.

X- Beyond the Frontier. I bought this game origianlly the year it was released. It required the CD-ROM to be inserted due to digital rights management. I lost the original game years and years ago during a move. Today, I found out it was on Steam. How could I resist?

I'm not a fanboi. You need to know this.

If you're looking for instant gratification and eye candy thrown at you because you rolled your face across the keyboard, this will not be the game for you. If you like to prove to the micro-universe inside your hard drive that you can conquer any hardship thrown at you, then this is certainly the game for you. It's about beating the odds. No, not quite. It's about ripping the arm off of the odds and beating it to death with its own appendage. Yeah, that is the kind of game this is.

I will not sugar coat this review. I've cussed at the screen as many times as I've cheered. This is a multi-layered game. First layer, trade your way to better stuff. Second layer, become a business owner and make NPC traders work for you. Third layer, catch pirates if you want, but you must deal with a growing xenon threat, which will target your NPC traders and blow them out of the sky from time to time. Yeah, you lose the cargo haul when that happens... which is all the motivation you need for going after the xenon to end them. Fourth layer to this game, follow a storyline that ends up with you ending the xenon threat once and for all.

So basically you start with 100 credits, a broken ship and owing the local militia forces 3500 credits. Don't leave the starter system without paying that off, or the offended race will Kill On Sight (KOS) you.

Nothing easy, but like real life, anything you work hard for and gain, you will better appreciate those gains.

In this game, you can go from that broken ship, a hundred in the pocket and a big bill to having a whole host of stations that you own, rocking shields, death weapons and a fleet of NPC fighters at your back. It's not handed to you. It's not gift wrapped or slid under the table in your direction. Something may seem completely ridiculous but later on, you nod and go, "Ah, so that's why I couldn't find any Stott Spice factories in Teladi space."

Most important aspect of this game, many people think the game is over once the main story line is defeated. It's NOT. You can still build an empire worthy of your greatness. After the main story is done, there are Nine Xenon Sectors to clear out. It won't be easy. Once they're all dead and completely gone, you now have nine sectors to build an empire beyond imagining... or can you survive it?

My original game owned more than 1000+ hours, my own empire was making tens of millions by the hour as I built factories in five of those cleared out xenon sectors, and those factories are defended by their own fleet of ships...

All from a broken slow ship and 100 creds. Dare you take that challenge? Can you survive the whacked alien mentailies from a handful of different races? I loved this game back in the day, and I'm loving it all over again.

I arrive, I suffer their madness, and I conquer them. What more could you want in a space simulation?

This game is a bit difficult to start out as the tutorial was... well useless and the manual wasn't really as helpful as it could be. Once you get into the game though it becomes more interesting as you can set up your own production plants and start getting into the finer aspects of trading. If you like trading games this is a good one to get as there is a lot of product to play around with. The combat system is a bit lacking as it's hard to destroy enemies with lasers in the beginning and the enemy AI gets really suicidal taking you with them as they crash into you. Still aside from the occasional nonsense the game itself is unique and can be very fun if your willing to learn how to play the game.

This game is exactly like the Elite game: Frontier - Elite II. But more better and simplier. The only thing is if you got games like X2 and X3 then you may not adapt to the controls and how to manage those open-ended games. Start with this game and try it! If you get stuck or think you need more cash in-game, look into the Egosoft site. And use the HEX editor tool in your x-btf saves. Read more info in Egosoft or the Cheat sites.

The only thing that this game got, compared to the newer X-Series games is the afterburner turbo boost and the SETA Boost Extension that isn't featured in the newer series. I have to warn you if you play X2 The Threat onwards you maybe lost on how to interact, trade and fight -- as it is a steep learning curve. So start with X - Beyond the Frontier and maybe have a glance on my guides and video tutorials if you are interested.

It's a great game, but it unfortunately suffers from a couple of problems, some major and some minor.

The tutorial isn't really all that helpful, it gives you an idea of what you're doing--it lets you get comfortable with the X-Shuttle itself, but what you're supposed to do is not really elaborated on.

The trading system is good, but I feel like it would be better if you were able to walk around these production centers and stuff (Although, you can do some EVA in X Tension). The music is good at setting an atmosphere, it gives you a feeling that you really are flying through space--not some high-intensity, strings-heavy Hans Zimmer ♥♥♥♥, of course, the music is well-situated when you get into a fight, but even the fighting has its own problems.

The enemy AI is awful, it's just awful. I would find more challenge if the game had them fire back or at least tail you closely, but instead they turn into giant Kamikaze-units and try to ram into you, leading to cheap deaths. You usually have to try to take them out in one pass or just make sure you're ALWAYS behind them, or approaching them in a way where they can't turn and fly into you.

The graphics are really a mixed bag. The use of low lighting and lens flare make it feel like a science-fiction title, with stars' blaring light casting through your ship. Planets are also well-drawn. But the ships and centers look very...well...I would say "1990's" if this game wasn't developed in 1999. The graphics are bland, a lot of grays, greens and reds when more life could be put in.

Ship control is great! The ship handles pretty well. There isn't too much to be said since it flies wrather swell.

As an overall verdict, the game is...decent. The ship control is good, and background graphics are good, I love the trading system and it's fun to become anything from a supply merchant, to a drug supplier, to a bounty hunter and, when you amass enough credits, entrepeneur. The game is hampered by poor enemy AI and bland graphics with ships and stations in space. But, overall, I'd recommend it.

Yes, there is a learning curve to go over.

There is none of that "5 minutes into the game and I roll in the cash or know the controls inside out"

Once you tune in, it becomes a second nature.

If you don't tune in - you complain about an old game with "inferior" graphics, controls, gameplay.

You buy yes?

X Beyond The Frontier is the first of the X series and it's funny how little has changed since this incarnation and all the way to Albion Prelude. Some things are sorely missing, such as the ability to change ships but the core of the game back then was much the same.

While the technology has gone leaps and bounds since this game was released, the quality of the graphics has exploded and features that were unthinkable back in those days have been added the core of the game, the essence of what an X game is, remains much the same to this day.

You are a pilot on a experimental spaceship in a universe, as the game starts events unfold that leave you stranded in alien space with no way home. And that's about all the direction you will get from this game. There is a plot hiding somewhere and occasionally you will come across bits and pieces of it but following it is entirely optional and most players will probably choose to ignore it for the majority of the game.

The core of the game is, quite simply, trading, fighting and exploring. You travel around the universe finding new systems, new enemies and new trade hubs. As you increase in notoriety and your financial means increase you gain access to new weapons and equipment for your ship and new avenues open up for you.

The learning curve is steep enough to make even the most doped up Tour de France rider think twice before attempting the climb. The game explains only the very basics to you, everything else you have to figure out for yourself. This is something that makes Beyond The Frontier, and in fact all X games, something of a challenge to get into. The game is extremely unforgiving to newcomers and unless you have the patience to restart a few times this probably isn't the game for you.

Despite it's age Beyond The Frontier is still a good game with some good solid core gameplay. It is also a game with it's share of faults the most prominent being the lack alternate starting points and the inability to change ships in game something which makes starting a new game rather cumbersome, even for an experienced player. The similarities between this and later incarnations is of course also a detriment to buying it nowadays because you will get much the same game if your purchase the latest installment in the series, only it will be an improved game.

I probably spent two years playing this game over and over. Its a game that literally changed my life and i will always love it despite its many strange eccentricities.If you dont mind old games and lots of learning how to do stuff this game is one that everyone should play just once.I remember the last campaign mission was so impossible i had to try it 60 times before i completed the game thats the only serious flaw.Oh and the ending made me cry.

IMPORTANT: If you end up buying the game, read the manual - as you always should with any game released before 2004. There's two guides at the game's main folder: EN_Manual and EN_Walkthrough. The first is the original manual released in 1999, while the second is a .txt guide released in 2000.

X: Beyond the Frontier (X:BtF) is a game released in 1999, and as such it's definitely dated, both in graphics and in it's UX/UI. From a gameplay perspective, although X:BtF was very innovative for it's time, it falls short compared to modern titles. It's gameplay is actually very similar to Euro/American Truck Simulator in parts (excluding the pve).

You start of with a small hybrid vessel and have to earn money. You can earn money by either moving trade between factories, destroying ships, or by building factories yourself to automate your trading. When you get enough money, you buy stuff to make more money. That gameplay loop can be fun, as we can see that even modern games still uses this - clicker games especially are built entirely on this concept. Even though getting cash is the core loop of this game, there's also an exploration side to it, which is the thing that makes the game relatively dated.

Exploration in this game is a drag. It's fun to manage your factories and solve the "puzzle" of where's the place to make the most profit out of them, but traveling to one place to another is VERY boring. You're traveling through space just doing nothing (even with S.E.T.A - an equipment you can buy to speed up time - it's still a drag; you can't even move while in S.E.T.A). Games like Euro/American Truck Simulator at least make you worry about traffic, staying on the road and - probably the most important - gives you different scenery to look at while traveling. Exploring in this game is just looking into nothing most of the time.

If you want to buy this to see how the games of the X's series evolved over time or if you just want to explore historic games by their intrinsic cultural value (or you're a game design student), then you could certainly try this game out, but even still I would recommend going directly to X-Tension, which is basically a DLC for X:BtF, adding a massive amount of content and also has an UNBELIEVABLY better UI/UX. The only thing X:BtF has that X-Tension doesn't is it's story, but the story is pretty rubbish, so I'd recommend just skipping it anyways. If you really want to know the lore to play other Xs's, you're be better off just watching a video on youtube about it (there's actually a very good one out there).

You can check out my review of the standlone DLC X-Tension clicking here

X: Beyond the Frontier: 3/10 - MEDIOCRE

This is a slow game. 2 hours in you're still in the tutorial. The space physics feel like driving a submarine. It from from 1999 and looks like it and many corners feel like it.

But there is so much character, style and love put into this, and so much of the design was made specifically because it would make a better game.

If you're a patient person who can enjoy the little things, this game is for you.