Sound

Can Music Really Tame the Savage Beast?

X has a very mild musical score in general. Since the primary focus of the game is on exploration and combat, you are treated with slow mood music. It's not all that different in style from the tracks that Privateer, TIE Fighter or First Encounters had - at least outside of combat. However, the music will change mood rather abruptly the moment an enemy comes within scanning range. It gains tempo and beat, trying to stir up adrenaline. Now, compared to the music found for combat in space-operas like TIE Fighter, Wing Commander and FreeSpace, this is a pretty sad attempt. It still manages to add to the mood, but it's not a major contribution. The peaceful score is a lot better.

Arrow indicators show where target is

Nice

Sounds

Since it is a space trader, we were prepared to give X a little bit of a hard time in the sound and graphics categories, but none was needed. Though the game won't blow anyone away with booming explosions from capital ships or the raw sounds of high powered weapons, it holds its own. The Gamma HEPT, for example, has a loud, high pitched wham-wham, which, when combined with the cockpit shaking and throwing of the ship, really does make you believe that "it's usually found on carriers and battleships".

Cool planet

Space fuel = booze

The interface sounds, on the other hand, began to get irritating after a while. Though they are functional and informative, they are not pleasant to hear. Fortunately most of the interface is done through the ship's computer voice, a pleasant, calm female tone. Missile and target lock, low shield and low energy warnings are all pronounced by voice and this makes for a more pleasant experience, if a bit hard to recognize which warning is coming through in the middle of combat.

An Argonian space station

Up close

Ka-Boom!

The explosions from the different kinds of weapons look a great deal more impressive than they sound. A Gamma HEPT shot almost explodes like a mini-nuke on impact, with a white flash of light at the peak of the explosion, then the residue slowly dissipates. The sound is fairly tame compared to that - a small boom at best.

Other sounds, like engine sounds (both your own and other ship's) are quite well done with nothing spectacularly good or bad to say. The large ships could stand to have a bit more bass, but the fighter-class craft sound perfectly fine.