Freelancer

Rating:
Summary: Identity crisis
Review: Freelancer can't seem to figure out what kind of game it is.

The marketing says it is a game directed by the way you play. In practice, it has a very linear plot that you are railroaded into following.

If you want to play as a trader or miner, the marketing says it will support you. In practice, combat is thrust upon you so freqeuntly that you have little choice but to get a ship built for war.

The marketing says it has role-playing elements. In reality, it is an action game with cut-scenes showing the plot.

It is too simple to be a great space combat sim, but the combat is too hard for it to be an RPG. The choices are few and usually binary. I wanted Morrowind in space. I got frustration and disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: FREELANCER
Review: i dont think i have ever played such a game in my life! the only real thing i hate is no joystick compatibility (come on get with the 21st century) that and after a while the game starts to be seemingly IMPOSSIBLE i have had it for a long time and i still havn't beaten it but hey it's a good game you can trade commodities weaponry and occasionally ships. the graphics are pretty nice as well, all in all a great game.

WARNING: not for the IMPATIENT

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Game Play
Review: Freelancer is as good as Privateer, with excellent game play and a strong story line. Although not without its short comings Freelancer is a very fun game at the current price. I agree with the comments regarding repetitive dialogue, and stale readings. At first I was not excited about using a mouse to control flight, yet I now find it enjoyable and the controls are great. Having played the multi-player I give it very high marks and enthusiastically recommend it. Going from 19 to 20 level has a bug that should be addressed, at least in my game. Of course the "bug" could be built in on the idea that there would be an expansion, which would be nice. In the end I still love this game and feel that its short coming are the result of losing key personnel during development. It just seems that the project reached a point where the publishers said "Good enough" and shipped it out.

Rating:
Summary: e-dog
Review: This is a great game and the play was good, but the story line was too quick and the relayability of it is minimal, unless you want to go around randomly shooting things

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise & the Best Sci-Fi Story Since Starcraft
Review: The simple idea of making a space flight sim with mercantilism has generated many famous PC titles. Games such as Privateer have always carried a silent diehard following. I know plenty of people that still rank those types of games as their favorite titles in gaming history. My gaming history is different though and I have never played any of these popular "space-trade" titles, so I started playing Freelancer without bias. Based on that, I've got to admit, I loved the game! I'm an RPG fan first and the story in Freelancer is one of the best sci-fi stories I've played through. I would compare it to Starcraft. Flying through space is a heavy part of the game but space flight is easy enough with your mouse and keyboard. If you'd rather have a game that requires you to use the latest flight stick with twenty buttons and switches, this is not the game for you. Freelancer is more about story and adventure than sophisticated space flight. My only complaint about the game is that it sometimes gets a little too repetitive and if you can't find creative ways to earn money through trading, you might become bored with the numerous private contract combat missions. The best missions are battles that are part of the game's story and some can be quite a challenge. It's a fun game and I'm surprised it hasn't received more attention or sales.

Rating:
Summary: Best space sim ever
Review: This game combines the best of a spacesimwith the best of a RPG. The controls are really easy andthe diffent missions provide diffent levels of difficulty. You can customize your ship and your friends with your actions. You earn money by doing jobs of shootingthings and salvaging them. the only bad part is that the AIs are somewhat stupid.

Rating:
Summary: We Don't Run This Place, But We Have An Understanding
Review: -Refers to Demo and Reviews by Players of Full Version-

I played the original Wing Commander and got my fix of "real" space-combat sims, so the lack of joystick play was not my issue. I rather liked that you could be competent enough at combat to stay alive at first and get into the RPG. I had just assumed that I would run into increasingly clever pilots and have to brush up as the game progressed. I hear that isn't true.

I tried to play the demo over as if I was going to be a pirate. No dice. I had to start the game by blowing up the base of my intended associates. I skimmed some walk-throughs of future story-line missions. There weren't multiple versions based on what you had done before. You have to fly to good guy-controlled stations (and presumably get blown to pieces) if you ever manage to advance. Stilted, monotonous dialogue (close your eyes while a buddy talks to someone in the bar and see if you can tell an industry rep from a bartender from a cop from a bounty hunter) and simple, repetitive assignments do not make for the rich environment advertised. 150 planets of conversations like an imbecile talking to a voice-mail system? You can do whatever you want - but you'll get jerked back into line by the story? And the enemy pilots never change tactics or even strategy? If you're looking for what the game advertises, type "open-ended RPG" into a search engine.

Good old Microsoft. Creative people tried to accomplish something awesome, and got bought out by someone who rushed the product to market as soon as they had something that ran (mostly). There's a reason the fan sites aren't getting updated.

Rating:
Summary: awesome game
Review: After playing the demo, I was hooked, and I bought Freelancer along with the strategy giude.

I have to say, the single player game was absolutely incredible. It took me about 13 hours to complete, so there is definitely a long value to this game. The equipment upgrade, trading, dogfights and rich story line was excellent, although upon completing the single player missions, I was left with nothing to do... :(

In many games, multiplayer is the best part, but I found that there was a very small community of online players, and very limited possibilites.

This game was excellently created, but has little replay value after 15+ hours of play. Although maybe too short, I loved every minute of what there was.

Rating:
Summary: Getting paid on commision for every mission!
Review: Freelancer starts you off on a planet far from your home of freeport 7. Your space station has come under attack. You, and the rest of the survivors on board are shipped off to Manhatten where you will stay untill further notice. Upon your arrival you are quickly offered a freelance job for the Liberty Space Navy, and your off. From here on out, the game gets almost painfully reppetitive. The voice acting for the most part is horrific, partially beccause throughout the course of the whole game, there are only 3-7 voice actors working on the project at all. Also, the charactor models leave much to be desired, there are only three or four faces, so there is either alot of incest in space, or the game developers got lazy with this aspect. But the saving grace of this game is the amount of ships, and the massive array of parts you can purchase for said ships. The combat, while not fantastic, is alot of fun. And the storyline isnt half bad either. The missions are horrid because they are all the same, and the scenarious normally just kind of randomlly repeat at different times. For instance, most missions are either, escort a ship to safety (every time you play missions like this, a warp gate is disturbed, and you find yourself battling space pirates, EVERY TIME) or assasinate someone. (In these, the person is always not where the expected them to be, and you have to fight his body gaurds untill he arrives. To wrap
it up though, freelancer is actually a pretty decent game despite all the minor irritations. The gameplay is pretty darn fun, and its not all that hard on the eyes either. But in the end, I gave it only three stars because its just not a very good attempt from a company with so much bloody money!

PROS:
Fun combat
Cool ships
decent gaphics

CONS:
Sucky voice acting
Reppetitive missions
Annoying charactor models

Rating:
Summary: Morrowind in Space
Review: First things first: this is not a sim, and those who play Freelancer expecting it to be like X-Wing are going to have their expectations adjusted. That said, this adjustment needn't be for the worse, and despite the lack of a steep learning curve or some of the more 'realistic' space combat elements, the game delivers a whole galaxy of fun.

Freelancer is more an RPG than either an action game or sim, which is why I don't hesitate to liken it to The Elder Scrolls III. It is open-ended, with few obligations on the part of the player unless you so desire them. Focus is largely placed on exploring new areas, encountering exciting new people, and of course killing them. There are a host of factions you can interact with, each with alliances, unique weapons, distinctive ships, and bases.

As the name of the game suggests, you are your own boss and can go anywhere and do pretty much anything. If it suits your fancy, you can smuggle drugs and prey on hapless merchants; or you can choose to protect those same merchants and declare yourself the local sheriff. You gain levels as you advance your worth, and this allows you to purchase better weapons and ships. There are a whole ton of each to check out, all with strengths and weaknesses.

Freelancer's single play campaign is simply fantastic. It's not particularly hard, but neither is it dull or monotonous. There are non-linear elements that facilitate replay, and the game doesn't end when you finish the main story. Throughout the missions you explore only a fraction of the total worlds out there, which definitely gives you an idea of how big the game universe is. Be advised that wandering around could get you into very big trouble, which is quite realistic in my opinion but might disturb some gamers.

The game's controls and mechanics are extremely simplified, also more fitting to a shooter or RPG than a sim. You have energy, shields, and armor. Energy is for firing your guns, afterburning, and recharging shields. The other two can be instantly recharged by batteries or nanobots so long as you have them. Additionally, individual weapons and pieces of your ship can be damaged and even destroyed if you take too much punishment (the latter happens quite rarely and you'll often be dead by that time anyway) and are repairable only in dock. You use the mouse to both aim and guide your ship, and can fire one of four weapons- guns, missiles, torpedoes, and mines. Additionally, you can launch decoys to fool incoming warheads if you're too lazy to pull an S-turn. Enemy craft are listed in your HUD just like in most other space sims, but there is no radar- you just get an arrow pointing to the target you selected. You can see straight ahead in 1st or 3rd person, or straight back in 3rd person, but nowhere else. To reduce the tedium of flying through nothingness, you can activate cruise engines that increase your speed by about 3x but deactivate weapons. This might sound like a good way to escape from a fight, but it takes a while to charge the cruise and there are weapons that can disable it.

Graphics are quite impressive, especially for the system requirements on the box. Some of the effects get a bit repetitive, but the combat is well done and the locations all have unique looks. All of the ships also have their own look, and the explosions are nicely done. Capital ships will break into blasted chunks when they die, and fighters will fly to pieces and burn up. If you manage to do enough structural damage to a target, it will show it. Missiles leave incandescent trails and shields flash when struck.

The sound is at times both good and bad. The music is well done, with unique tracks for most of the worlds you can land on. Voice acting on the part of the major character cast is also well done, with such notables as Jennifer Hale, George Takei, and John Rhys-Davies taking part. The comm chatter, however, is a bit of a disappointment. Most of the speakers sound like my next door neighbor, and I could swear they were all the same two people (one male, one female) despite the many different nationalities they're supposed to represent. This is somewhat mediated by the dynamic nature of the dialogue, which is quite interesting to listen to sometimes. If you can't get enough of it, you can hail random ships as you go by, and they'll be glad to give you a full ID.

All in all, the best thing about Freelancer is that you can do almost anything you want. If you have the firepower to pull it off, you can try to conquer the whole galaxy on your own. It's not a sim, as demonstrated by the fact that freighters seem to perform just as well as light fighters, but it's not supposed to be a sim. This is one heck of a space RPG, and anyone who can appreciate that should check it out.