Posted September 08, 2008
Ah, the space simulator. Unfortunately, it's an almost forgotten genre in our time, hardly being held alive by the occasional game being released every few years, e.g. Freelancer, X3 or Darkstar One. Still, it's one of my favourite genres, and the Freespace games are probably the best representatives to ever exist - at least if you can live without trading and flying around in an open universe.
Freespace 2, like its predecessor, takes the more linear and action oriented approach to space simulators, which is exactly what makes it great. Sacrificing the freedom to drift aimlessly through an oversized universe makes room for something that more recent space sims often fail at: telling an interesting and exciting story during and between the missions. Speaking of missions: they are fun, they are diverse and, maybe most important of all: they make sense. Unlike some other games, it's not like "there are bad guys at point A, go shoot them". You'll find yourself patrolling sections of space, checking out unknown structures, escorting transport ships which carry prototype technology that you might be able to use at a later point in the game, defend important ships, attack strategic positions or vessels of the enemy and so on. This may not sound revolutionary, but Freespace manages to make you feel that your mission is important and to make you understand why they are.
Another important thing is the preparation phase of the missions: You not only get your briefing, but you are allowed to chose what kind of ship and weaponry you want to take - restricted to things that are available at this point in the story, of course. But unlike many other games, most of the time you can't just chose THE best ship or THE best weapon. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages: You get primary weapons which damage the hull or the shield of the enemy, for example. Or missiles that destroy only the selected sub-system (e.g. engine, weapons, communication systems) of the enemy, which is especially important in missions where you have to disable large battleships without destroying them, or where you just have to prevent them from fleeing.
The same thing is true for ships: there are fast and agile interceptors, which in turn have weaker shield or hull or don't have as many slots for weapons as the average attack fighter. Taking on a big one? Take the slow bomber with heavy shield and extra missiles. Also, you can make the same choices for the other fighters in your squad.
The list goes on, both in weaponry and ships, those are only examples. The point is, there's a certain tactical depth added to the game by this, offering different strategies for achieving your objectives.
Combine all that with perfect controls and you have what, in my opinion, makes this game (or better: this series) stand out and so fun to play. On top of that, it's one of the games that has aged rather well, visually, so you won't have to put your nostalgic glasses on to protect your eyes when you play it today. Considering that it's only $5.99, it should be illegal not to buy this game - unless you own it already.
Freespace 2, like its predecessor, takes the more linear and action oriented approach to space simulators, which is exactly what makes it great. Sacrificing the freedom to drift aimlessly through an oversized universe makes room for something that more recent space sims often fail at: telling an interesting and exciting story during and between the missions. Speaking of missions: they are fun, they are diverse and, maybe most important of all: they make sense. Unlike some other games, it's not like "there are bad guys at point A, go shoot them". You'll find yourself patrolling sections of space, checking out unknown structures, escorting transport ships which carry prototype technology that you might be able to use at a later point in the game, defend important ships, attack strategic positions or vessels of the enemy and so on. This may not sound revolutionary, but Freespace manages to make you feel that your mission is important and to make you understand why they are.
Another important thing is the preparation phase of the missions: You not only get your briefing, but you are allowed to chose what kind of ship and weaponry you want to take - restricted to things that are available at this point in the story, of course. But unlike many other games, most of the time you can't just chose THE best ship or THE best weapon. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages: You get primary weapons which damage the hull or the shield of the enemy, for example. Or missiles that destroy only the selected sub-system (e.g. engine, weapons, communication systems) of the enemy, which is especially important in missions where you have to disable large battleships without destroying them, or where you just have to prevent them from fleeing.
The same thing is true for ships: there are fast and agile interceptors, which in turn have weaker shield or hull or don't have as many slots for weapons as the average attack fighter. Taking on a big one? Take the slow bomber with heavy shield and extra missiles. Also, you can make the same choices for the other fighters in your squad.
The list goes on, both in weaponry and ships, those are only examples. The point is, there's a certain tactical depth added to the game by this, offering different strategies for achieving your objectives.
Combine all that with perfect controls and you have what, in my opinion, makes this game (or better: this series) stand out and so fun to play. On top of that, it's one of the games that has aged rather well, visually, so you won't have to put your nostalgic glasses on to protect your eyes when you play it today. Considering that it's only $5.99, it should be illegal not to buy this game - unless you own it already.
