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.

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.

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

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.

TL,DR: It is a product of its time, feels clunky to play, balance of different upgrades is out of whack, no ingame map with a huge playable area, space station automation feels archaic, spacecraft design is a lot of copy/paste, extremely light story, a tacked on reputation system, some settings issues with modern systems


The power level of some utility upgrades are completely out of whack:
The Docking Computer lets you dock INSTANTLY to a station as long as you can target that station. I went in thinking it'd just let you use an automatic path to fly into a station, but it is so so much stronger.
The SETA is completely mandatory, whereas the SETA booster extension is a liability at best, with no way of even reasonably holding a course with it even with 10 rudder optimisation upgrades.
The speed upgrades feel very underwhelming after the first three or so, when you are as fast as M3 fighters. The difference to even approach the destroyers is so huge, you would probably need to spend tens of millions of credits in Engine Tuning upgrades.
The shields power difference is huge. There are only 1MW, 5MW, 25MW and 125MW shields, which would be fine if you could have more than two at a time. I went from 2MW worth of shields where I felt like my ship was made of paper mache straight to 50MW where I was able to crash into Xenon M3 ships (most of the time? sometimes I just died and other times they died and I stayed at 80% health)

The game does not feature an ingame map and I do not suggest you trying to play it without one. The games size is still respectable for its time and directions you get from NPCs for objectives are mediocre at best (telling you which portal you should take next) or they are trying to kill you (sending you through enemy territory where you will be shot on sight by capital ships). Also there are only a handful of zones where you can buy space stations from, space equipment or pirate bays.

The station automation feels incredibly archaic:
For your own station you can buy M5, M4 and M3 fighters to defend itself, except I have never once lost a single station in my 40-ish hour run with none of them bought. (that might be a super late game thing where you make your own ecosystem in the enemy sectors? I didn't bother continuing after the story)
You can only order your transporters to buy ressources for a maximum price and they will look for it themselves. You can't make them get the ressources from your other stations.
Your solar power plants in particular don't have any automation for buying ressources. You cannot buy transporters for these stations, meaning you need to handfeed them.

The combat feels clunky, with the only automatic flight maneauvers you can do is fly straight at the enemy with an autopilot and then shooting it, which can only hit if you are right behind of the enemy, right in front, or the enemy isn't moving. Otherwise you need to fly manually which is really tedious in fights with multiple enemies, since you can't hold a course without the autopilot while under fire. If you use the Plasma Thrower (HEPT) as your primary weapon like me, you won't be able to hold a course while shooting either. I did not really test the other weapons, so I can't comment on them, but the HEPTs pack a real punch, destroying M2s in a single good salvo.
Your missiles are incredibly strong, killing M3 in one shot (at least 35k damage) and dealing significant damage to capital ships. As far as I know you can however only have 10 on your ship at any time with no possibility of ever upgrading that and it'll get expensive quickly since they are consumables (which is fine).

Spacecraft designs feel like copy paste between the races, because for the most part, they are. All the races have smaller fighter spacecrafts in M5, M4 and M3 versions, with the Xenon in their own sectors having upgraded versions with more health and slightly better weaponry (M3s have 35MW for example instead of 25MW). Then each race has an M2 destroyer capital ship and an M1 carrier capital ship with smaller M5s - M3s docked on it. None of them feel any different really and fighting capital ships for the most part is just hoping they don't crash into you, because even when they have no health remaining they will still instantly kill you. Other than that every race apart from the Xenon have a single type of transporter ship and for the Xenon specifically a single M0 Mothership posing as the final boss . There are also pirate ships which fly upgraded transporters. They will as far as I can tell never shoot you on sight or fly fighter crafts, so they are immobile and use pea shooters at best.

The story in this game is extremely light in story, which can be fine but you should know that you get one minor story point every five hours or so, with only three major ones after the introduction that I can recall, being
Finding out about where the ancestors of the Argon came from
Finding the ruined portal
The big battle alongside the allies you made along the way with the enemy solar power plants
The final battle against the Xenon M0 mothership

There is also a reputation system in the game that you could farm out for some of the later story "quests". But how does one increase their reputation with a faction since there is no questing system apart from the main story? You shoot down pirates and Xenon ships in their respective zones (I have also heard you can trade but I can't be bothered verifying that). To get support from every faction on the final quest, you need to max out the reputation of the Split, which is VERY tedious, it took me about 2-3 hours of farming for them alone. The idea of the other factions helping you out is cool on paper, but not well executed.

There are also some issues with game options, namely that you should ALWAYS play the game in windowed, since it does not support 16:9 resolution. Also it doesn't remember your audio settings on startup and you need to go to the audio options every time you open the game again. Also I wish there was a distinction between board computer audio and communication audio, but I can let that one slide.

One tiny nitpick I have is with the Xenon sectors. When you enter one, there are more than likely some allied transporters flying around and very soon, they will be ripped apart. It is an oversight in my books that transporters even attempt to pass enemy territory and manage to do so most of the time, unless you are in that sector as well, in which case the Xenon go active.



I have not played the other X-Series titles since the very early 2000s, but plan on doing so despite this games' flaws. If you want to get immersed in the X-Universe, you have my blessing to skip X: Beyond the Frontier and X-Tension (that one is basically a full sandbox version of X:BTF with no story anyways).
If you want to build your own space empire, you can do so here if you are willing to put up with its many many issues. Whoever may be on the same journey as I am, see you in X2: The Threat!

X: Beyond the Frontier's main flaw is that it's really really fun, until it's suddenly just not. The game is tedious all around, but at the beginning of the game, the tedium is actually pretty engaging. But by the end of the game I found myself just wanting it to be over already. I never bothered to really finish the game, because I learned that the final mission requires waiting for a very slow ship to fly through like 8 sectors, and that was the point were I just got sick of it and quit for good.

The fun: the game is essentially about flying a spaceship, trading, and building a profitable trade empire. There was a really powerful sense of enjoyment and pride in going from repeatedly failing the tutorial because I wasn't able to fly, to being able to manually dock with one hand behind my back over the course of 50 hours or so in this game. I have a weakness for games that make you feel like an Expert like that. Even just flying back and forth to trade nostrop oil was really enjoyable. I would play through the first part of the game 1000 times. Even if its tedious, sometimes its nice to just mindlessly fly back and forth making trades, or flying back and forth to collect money from your factories, etc.

The boring: I managed to buy all the best equipment in the game from the profits of my trading empire before really bothering with any of the "plot" missions. The plot in this game is pretty sparse and doesn't really feel like the main focus, but I decided I wanted to try and finish it anyway, and without anything else to do in the game it was just... boring. The missions have you repeatedly flying back and forth across the universe, and even with a ton of engine upgrades, I found myself just looking at memes on my phone and waiting for the trip to end. All that was for very little payoff, since as mentioned above, I got so bored of it that I just quit before completing it. Everything happens sooooo slooooooooowly that I found myself wishing the game had some type of fast travel mechanic, which... really defeats the purpose of a space flight sim, I think.

All in all, the reason I recommend this game is because you can totally just ignore the main missions. There are no side missions in this game, mind, but still, I found building a trade empire and exploring new sectors pretty enjoyable. I would, and maybe will, play that part of the game a thousand times.