This is simply the best game I've ever played. From taking out swarms of fighters, to unloading bombs on capital ships, this game is the best of the best when it comes to space-sim games. With many weapons and missiles to choose from, you're always guaranteed your custom-made pyrotechnics display. And I just never get tired of that warm fuzzy feeling inside me when massive enemy capital ships go up in a burst of flames. The plot of the game just drags you into it. You can't possibly play this game and NOT get addicted to it.
Also, you should go to www.hard-light.net and get FreeSpace Open, which offers modern graphics, instead of the 20th century flavor. Also, I highly recommend getting the FreeSpace Port from hard-light as well, which is the original FreeSpace 1 (a.k.a.: Descent/Conflict: FreeSpace), so you can play the original game in the series with the modern day graphics. Also, browse hard-light's massive collection of fan made campaigns that are almost as good as the FreeSpace 2 campaign, such as Silent Threat: Reborn.
And, as a bonus, you can create your own missions and campaigns with the FRED mission editor. This is the mission editor that Volition used to make the main FreeSpace 2 campaign. So you can play your own missions, or even edit the missions from the FreeSpace 2 campaign however you'd like (directions to do this is on hard-light.net).
This is a must-have game! I would recommend this game to anyone who has a joystick or flight yoke! Have fun!