Losing a fight against the alien Argons

Role-playing games are popular because you start with little and through skill and judgement can gain much. It would be nice if you could do that in space too, wouldn't it?
Andy Smith

X: Beyond the Frontier? Sounds like some dodgy porn to me...
Wrong. The frontier bit might give you a clue though...

Hmmm. Frontier! The Elite sequel!
Now you're getting it. X:BTF (and let's hope that doesn't turn out to mean Bugged To Fuck, which is what Frontiers was like) is indeed an Elite-type game where you're fighting and trading in space.

Heard it all before.
True. It has all been tried before but no-one's managed to pull it off. Even Frontiers wasn't in the same league as Elite. X:BTF is the most promising clone we've seen for a long time though.

Good looking?
Sure is. The game's been developed by Germanic coders Egosoft and the engine they're using is splendid. You'll need to be 3dfx'd up to get the benefit but not only is it great-looking, it's lovely and fast too.

Trading = dull, surely?
Not at all. Trading can be good fun if it's done well and in X:BTF you not only get to buy and sell goodies at spacestations and factories, but you can build your own factories and sell their produce to other traders.

But I always liked the 'get rich quick' piracy route in Elite...
Devilish deeds are possible here too. You can rob transport ships but that doesn't win you too many favours with the alien race you're robbing from.

Aliens? Thargoids!
No. There are six different alien races, all in a dynamic relationship with each other, and your actions during the game affect the relationship between all of them. Suppose you start doing nice things to the Boron for example, the Paranids are going to get all upset and regard you as hostile.