TL;DR Specs
Pros:
- Beautiful Environments
- Smooth ship control and movement
- Level-Of-Detail is done very well
- Quicker load times than the previous games
Cons:
- Completely strips all diversity and customization from the previous games
- Despite being full of traffic and prefabbed characters, the vast universe of Rebirth is lifeless
- Paltry assortment of menu commands that are neither intuitive or helpful
- Absolutely horrid English translation and voice acting
- Inclusion of absurdly bland and useless features
- Ambient characters that actually make the world feel more lonely
- Overly complicated menu system (ease of use not diversity of commands)
The X games have always been close to my heart. X3 did so many wonderful things for the genre. It improved upon the issues of the previous titles while adding what seemed to be boundless possibilities for customization and replay. X3 was the “be anyone you want” of space sims. Beyond that, the games always had a robust following of experienced and talented modders that provided even more customization and options to make the universe more alive.
It was that consistency of greatness that drew my eye to Rebirth. I was captivated by amazing visuals and the promise of an even bigger universe than the previous games. All of this came crashing down, however, on the day of release. Steam comments flooded in claiming the game was nearly unplayable, and that the new features had drastically reduced the diversity of the gameplay.
There was hope, however, as Egosoft heard the public’s plea and promised to introduce fixes in the future. Additionally, the modding community could pick up any slack the developers left behind, right?
Wrong.
It is now more than a year after release and the fundamental issues that make this game such a poor installment in this universe are still going strong. What was once a complex and diverse universe is now nothing more than a light framework for a space sim. The degree of customization and control has been stunted to an awful degree. Control of ships is absurdly confusing and requires you to continuously jaunt through infuriatingly vague menu commands that ultimately lead nowhere. You are confined (piloting-wise) to one ship, which is not as big a deal as it might seem, but the lack of control makes it too much of a hassle to play.
Even the mods for the game are surprisingly unimpressive. There is no XRM or CODEA. That’s not to say there aren’t helpful mods out there, but they just don’t add the same degree of life as the mods of the previous X games.
If you aren’t a German speaking player, you are also subject to some of the most awful (often to the point of hilarity) voice over work ever presented in a game. It shouldn’t be difficult for Egosoft to find native English, French, or Russian speakers to handle the localization and voice work for the game. The arduously broken English doesn’t just pull you out of the game, it makes you feel like there wasn’t really any effort put into it. It honestly would have been better if there weren’t any speech at all, just text.
I feel very badly for those who paid full price for this. The game seems like it was made by children. Some of the “features” seem like something your 12-year-old nephew might suggest. The rest of the game is stale, lifeless, and oversimplified.
I get that this isn’t supposed to be “X4,” but does that really justify the release of such an lack-luster product?