Elite style games

[RollingSkull]

Could someone give me a quick rundown of games for the PC available in the style of Elite (Fly through space, trade stuff for profit so that you may buy stuff to blow shit up)? SR2 was such a disappointment, it only whet my appetite for the genre. My computer cannot handle Darkstar One, so I'd prefer if we went older than that.

I'd prefer if the trade routes didn't require a degree in economics, and it focused more on light fun. There used to be a great game for my Palm in the genre. Turn-based combat, but it was a blast.

I don't mind turn-based combat or flight as opposed to more flight-sim stuff.

[Roufuss]

X3: Reunion

Can find it at Big Lots for $6, since I know you have one :D

You basacially described the game. *And* there is a patch to remove the Starforce from the developers.

[RollingSkull]

Reviews for that one have not been particularly appetizing, but I'll look into it.

[crowbb]

X2 seems to be generally more liked than X3. There's also Terminus and Freelancer. I hear Freelancer was pretty good but when they announced it would be mouse control only I forever refused to buy it. I never did go back to see if there was a joystick patch and I never will heh. Spaceforce just came out and I'm not sure the specs on it but I have not been impressed with the reviews thus far. Your best bet is probably X2 or X3. Space Rogue is an all-time great, but it is from the days of the C64 so I doubt it is what you are looking for.

[Roufuss]

Reviews for that one have not been particularly appetizing, but I'll look into it.

80 from IGN, 79 from PC Gamer, IGN mentions the bugs and such but the game has seen a few patches.

PC review's are really kind of worthless since so many games get fixed post release and reviewers never go back and edit their reviews to reflect this.

Gamespot gave it a 72 but just blasted the story and the fact it was complex.

Really, you can't go wrong for $6. I'd recommend X2 as well but I know you should have access to X3 fairly easily since you always seem to be at Big Lots ;)

In all honesty, your options are fairly limited, because it's a genre that's long since been forgotten other than the rare game here and there.

[dafoomie]

Eve Online is pretty much an MMO Elite with a different (not nearly as fun) control method for your ship. I thought Freelancer was fun, Starlancer (its predecessor) was fun too. Freespace 1 and 2 are solid games but they aren't the trading type of thing you're looking for. Have you ever played Wing Commander: Privateer? Its about as old as Frontier: First Encounters (the last Elite game so far). And if you haven't played that, you really, really should.

Frontier is working on Elite 4 but its on the back burner. You can check their forums for updates.

http://www.frontier.co.uk

[RollingSkull]

80 from IGN, 79 from PC Gamer, IGN mentions the bugs and such but the game has seen a few patches.

PC review's are really kind of worthless since so many games get fixed post release and reviewers never go back and edit their reviews to reflect this.

Gamespot gave it a 72 but just blasted the story and the fact it was complex.

Really, you can't go wrong for $6. I'd recommend X2 as well but I know you should have access to X3 fairly easily since you always seem to be at Big Lots ;)

In all honesty, your options are fairly limited, because it's a genre that's long since been forgotten other than the rare game here and there.

GameSpy raped it with a 1.5. Couldn't find any other reviews because Gamerankings blows and Gamespot didn't link to any. Besides, my BL is out of it anyway.

[Roufuss]

GameSpy raped it with a 1.5. Couldn't find any other reviews because Gamerankings blows and Gamespot didn't link to any. Besides, my BL is out of it anyway.

Gamespot gave it a 7.3.

That Gamespy review is WAY off the mark... it's the lowest review out of all the major sites.

Like I mentioned earlier, reviews for PC games are pretty wack - the first paragraph alone Gamespy mentions crippling bugs, all have which been patched and fixed.

Hell, the newest patch added brand new ships, missions, sectors, new headquarters, new equipment, all sorts of awesome stuff, in addition to fixing more bugs. I really like the game, and I can tell you from experience the Gamespy review is flat out horrible. Basacially the whole first page of Gamespy's review is now negated due to the patches. The learning curve is pretty steep, though.

I just think you're really missing out if you don't even give it a shot, based on a review on an outdated, old version of the game. Hell, Gamespy even mentions the manual being a mess, but Egosoft themselves made an updated better one, so basacially the entire review is on a version of the game that no longer exists.

Either that, or check out X2 - both are amazing. Just hate to see someone miss out from a bad review.

[Photomotoz]

Freelancer. That is one of the best games I have played. The story is great and you can trade, pirate and whatever as well. The game area is huge, I have beaten it twice and I stil have not explored all of it. This is game I compare all space-sim games to. I highly recommend it.

X3 is messed up. First of all, some retail copes have problems installing due to a disc printing error. Well after you solve that you have to deal with Starforce protection. Now if you ignore that and look at just the game it is till mediocre. First of all it looks great, I really like the graphics. The biggest problem is the learning curve. There is NO tutorial. They may have added it in the later patches but there is none that I know of. You may think that you can pick it up and play it and over time figure stuff out. But no, it is beyond complicated. Even when I learned some things there were still so many things to learn that it rteally pissed me off. This game is the most frustrating game to learn I have ever played. The good part is that it is also extremely deep and although I never gpot far into it I belive that if you invest the time it will really, really pay off. But beware, still for $5 you might as well get it.

[RollingSkull]

Either that, or check out X2 - both are amazing. Just hate to see someone miss out from a bad review.

Not at my Big Lots anyway.