OK, sport's fans, it is time to break out those reading glasses. If you are not familiar with the flight controls for
X3 Reunion: Version 2.0, then you are going to find yourself inside the manual. I think that this is one of the coolest things about playing sim games. I like pick up and go games as well, but every now and then, I like to feel that I have earned the right to pilot a huge spacecraft by learning its controls. 4 pages of the almost 100 page manual are dedicated to just the key commands on the keyboard.
So now you find yourself in a strange galaxy at the helm of a fighter in the middle of a war you know nothing about. Back to the manual with you. There is a lot of history to take in. You can also find summaries of the previous games at the main website or MANY other fan sites on the web. I suggest picking up X2 to play through the story anyway. You will not regret it.
Now, the universe lays before you. In the very first menu, you have the opportunity to follow along the main mission on Normal (average), Quick Start (easy), and X-treme (you guessed it, HARD!). You can also take out as one of three free roaming spirits as Aspiring Explorer, Humble Merchant, or Bankrupt Assassin. But it doesn't stop here. You can create your own custom game and your own galaxy with the Galaxy Editor. With each of the three other scenarios, you search the galaxy, start up your own diverse financial business or scour the universe picking off scum for the highest bidder. All three rock.
So for those of you who are wanting to step back into the game and check out the Bala Gi research missions, you are in store for some cool new toys. New spacecraft, weapons, constructs and new missions. The easiest way to explain it is to take an already good game, fix some issues and sprinkle on more of everything good, and then spend weeks digesting the goodness as you explore a new way to play the game.
Folks, by now if I haven't told you enough to get back into this game, or to go ahead and pick it up at its current low price, then let me sum it up as, this game is huge with not just hours of replay, but hundreds and hundreds of hours of replay. This game is one of the deepest games I can recall to date. You have read many reviews from me here where games have a lot to them. Usually that is surface depth and the mysticism is lost quickly once you get to playing. Not here.
