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X Rebirth Review


ineseri

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Please read this before reading, posting or reporting the topic!


Before reporting this topic, please know that Iconography gave the all-clear to post this topic, instead of bumping my old X Rebirth thread. 
This is my first review ever, and as such, I will constantly add and rearrange stuff. I will keep a log at the bottom of this post to indicate what and when something was edited. If you want to add something, post below and suggest it. 

To make sure that does not come after me with a sledgehammer, make sure that you DO NOT QUOTE THE ENTIRE POST. It's quite heavy with all these pictures. 
Thanks, and enjoy. 
-ineseri


X Rebirth: First impressions
Written by: ineseri
Date: 2013 - 11 - 15
Release of the game: 2013 - 11 - 15
Total time spent playing the game: About 2.5 hours. 
Review time!
Story
You are Ren Otani, commander of the "Pride of Albion", a ship with a glorious past. When you start the game a few things are established
1. Your name is Ren Otani (duh)
2. Your ship is the ex-Pride of Albion (now renamed Albion Skunk).
3. The game is set a few years after the previous X games, which gives some interesting new technology to show off. More on this later.
 
I have not played that far into the story to understand all the conflicts and whatnot yet, but looking at it quickly they seem to have spent a lot of time on storywriting, and general information about ships, people and places. It does have it shortcomings, however.
 
70kLgR7.jpg
Pictured: Someone who needs lotion.
 
Sound
Space does not contain sound. Or does it? X Rebirth offers a spectacular Opera/Rock/Metal/Dubstep soundtrack. It plays in a different tempo depending on what you currently are doing. For example:
1. Fighting: Upbeat music
2. Cruising in space: Calmer
 
You probably get the general idea, it's built the way other games are built in that aspect. 
The soundeffects are good, I have experienced some bugs where the sound file would not load when firing the ships mining cannon, but other than that it is what you would expect it to be.
Gameplay
I’ve read on some places that the game would be designed with a XBOX360 or PS3 controller in mind, but I do not agree with this. The game can be played just as well with a controller, as keyboard and mouse. Is it easy to fly? No. But I am learning it slowly. Tip: Do not mix Full stop with Boost. It won’t end well.
 
RncmFIq.jpg
Pictured: Police + Police Transport ship. 

The police in the game does not actually seem to “do” anything. They scan ships (including the player) and respond to different calls with sirens glaring. I look forward to adding mods into the game. There’s a potential there.
LWoWhtK.jpg
Police preparing to land on a Police Transport vessel.
 
Egosoft have spent time trying to remove unnecessary menus, and instead replacing them with NPCs. It’s a nice change from the other X Games, but for those who want to go old-school there’s still the option to do “remote trading” as far as I know. They are quite successful in removing the cluttering menus of X3, and it's overall much cleaner looking than before. Thumbs up to that. Pressing 'ENTER' will bring up a nice context menu, with shortcuts to most functions in the game. Including: 

 
  • Modes – Shows Build Mode, Cargo Collect Mode, Ore Collect Mode, Law Enforcement Mode, and Long Range Scan
  • Info – This selection opens up a sub menu of your own status, property owned (ships, stations, drones), the status of the Albion Skunk, and the mission manager (active missions that are open)
  • Universe – Opens the Encyclopedia that shows all the things in the universe that you are aware of at the time. Also has Navigation to show the universe map in different modes
  • Trading – Opens trading menu
  • Crew – Stand up and walk to the back of the ship to talk to crew members

 
CZB1BVz.jpg
Talking to the the police chief in a local sector. He was surprisingly easy to get to. 

The Ship
What would this review be without mentioning the ship, The Albion Skunk? Nothing!
It is what you would expect it to be. Good at everything, master at nothing. I’m no expert on how space ships are supposed to handle, but this one handles quite well. When you first enter it (immediately after the first cutscene) it is established that the ship is quite run down, and had been abandoned for some time. Despite that, it handles remarkably well and is able to enter the highway system with ease. More on that later.
 
Visuals
It's not Crysis in space, but it does offer some spectacular, for some even breathtaking, views when soaring over a space-station, or when engaging in a dogfight with another ship. I thought the graphics would be better, but when flying close to objects the graphics quality decreases markedly. Graphics isn’t everything, but it would help in a game like this for immersion purposes.
The game also isn’t very optimized, at least not on my current rig (which is better than the one posted on my profile).
 
2Du5c40.jpg
Pictured: Spectacular view of space (BLANKSTEG is Swedish for SPACE).

The ship is not very aesthetically pleasing, but I think I can get used to it. For those who have watched Firefly or Star Wars the ship is like a crossover between Serenity and Millenium Falcon, albeit much smaller. When walking around a space station, the FPS drop in some places. Turning off shadows seems to help, but I WANT MY SHADOWS. There’s a huge difference when playing with, or without shadows.
OVTsjQJ.jpg
Cockpit of the Albion Skunk

You can walk around in the ship when docked and when In space. You can’t really do anything in free roam on the ship, other than getting into the pilot seat or leaving the ship. You can also talk to crew members. The Cockpit is not available for exploration, only the “airlock” and diner area can be explored freely.
 
88FdaIp.jpg
Exterior. Back end of the ship when docked.

It is a cozy little ship though, and I'm sure it will grow on you. Oh, and by the way, it has a coffee machine. Unusable though. Modifications can probably fix that though.
 
Weapons
The ship comes with three types of weapons.
1. “Gun” (fast-firing weapon).
2. Missiles
3. Mining tools.
 
KNqTFbr.jpg
Firing the mining laser

It takes a while to get adjusted to how the weapons work, but after you’ve given it a couple of test runs; it’s a breeze. Note: I have just played the first missions, and as such, the missions weren’t that difficult. You can aim the weapons while in "Steer"-mode, or outside of steer mode. The weapons are not enterily dependent of the position of the ship. You can freely aim them without moving the ship all over the place, which is nice.
 
Technology
One word: Highways. Without them, transportation in X Rebirth would take quite a long time. Highways are recognized by their Green or Blue color. Green is a local highway, while Blue is a major highway leading out of the system.
 
8Lgv1vY.jpg
Traffic Jam in space. Figures.

You can change between the 9 different lanes in the Green highway and even slipstream behind faster vehicles to gain speed. Don’t ask me how that works. It’s probably just plain science magic. If you are on a mission, the game tells when to exit the highway and how far you have to travel. You can exit the highway at any time, simply by strafing at the either far side of the route. Exploration!
hHWyQYf.jpg
There’s even a handy mini-map!
The mini-map will take some getting used to, as it's not really a minimap in that strict sense. You have to press a button before it will appear to the right of you, on a folding screen. This will not pause the game, but it will bring the ship to a complete halt.
You can plot courses via the minimap or when double-clicking a NPC or building. Quite handy.
Verdict and Score:
I would wait to buy this game. There’s bound to be patches and stability fixes, and maybe even some graphic mods to improve the visual appeal. It’s not a bad game, it is just poorly optimized as of yet.
I’m not going to post a score yet, simply because I feel that the score would not be a correct representation of the game. I will wait for fixes and patches before adding a score.
 
PS: My first review... ever. Go easy fellas :smile:
Are you missing something in this review? Post some suggestions and I'll add it ASAP.

EDIT LOG:


1. Added edit log. Time: On post.

2. Fixed spelling mistakes

3. Fixed formatting. 

4. Fixed fact mistakes. 

Edited by ineseri

Invenio, Investigatio, Imperium

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  • Management Team

You can change between the 9 different lanes in the Green highway and even slipstream behind faster vehicles to gain speed. Don’t ask me how that works. 

 

Makes sense. Even though there's no air in space to make aerodynamics matter. But makes sense.

 

I just saw this game for the first time today when I opened Steam. It looks pretty interesting, I might get it when it goes on sale (since everything goes on sale on Steam at one time or another).

"Work and ideas get stolen, then you keep moving on doing your thing."

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Great review ineseri! I love the screenshots and you describe the game excellently! It's also cool to read a game review where you explicitly point out and describe the police in the game. That's something I'll usually look for in a game, but most reviews never bring it up or only give it a passing mention.

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I wonder where you got this idea from... lol

Good job. I'd recommend playing through the whole game before reviewing it however, or at least play through a large portion of it.

Edited by unr3al

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Thanks for the kind words everyone!
 

I wonder where you got this idea from... lol

Good job. I'd recommend playing through the whole game before reviewing it however, or at least play through a large portion of it.


I have no idea what you are talking about... :whistling:Thank you for the inspiration!

 

I'll keep that in mind, and it would have been more in-depth if I did. I wrote it this way because I know this game has been hyped up, but there aren't that many reviews. Just didn't want anyone to make a purchase that they would regret later. 

 

@willpv23 I asked my brother about this, and he is 2 years younger than me- He agrees with you lol. 

@empire3010 Need to find a bunch of interesting games to play then haha. 

@br100x I figured that I would mention police, because of the forum. Maybe a First Response mod in X Rebirth? It's moddable... 

 

 

Again, thanks everyone. 

Edited by ineseri

Invenio, Investigatio, Imperium

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Interesting non-spoiler (not that you could, yet, but just saying anyway) review.

 

Got the game myself a day ago. I agree: The game will get better (well, most do after release stability and content wise if they're sandbox-like) over time, but since I'm some sort of X-Fan I guess I won't be disappointed with this one. The only real thing I somewhat dislike is the "1-ship" thing I hear about. As in, you're mostly bound to that certain ship.

 

Sure, it's special / unique and whatnot, but I think some would prefer to roam the X-universe in various other spacecraft.

 

Or, to get the LCPDFR.com thing established: GUYS! WE MUST PLAY XPDFR IN SPACE! GIVE US THOSE POLICE SHIPS NOW!

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I tried to keep the spoilers down, but as you said, it's not easy. 

 

The Albion Skunk is currently the only ship available to the player, but Egosoft have stated that it's not impossible that multiple ships will be added in the future. 

 

I know right, we need a mod like that. Pronto. :D

Invenio, Investigatio, Imperium

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Well you can buy Law Enforcement licenses (who needs the Academy?) so maybe once that's done you'll have all the basic policing tools.

Ineseri you need to get on that and report back. :)

Already mentioned on steam but I'll mention it again, good job.

de816a4fa5.png

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