"Space... The Final Frontier"

I remember the day I got this game, walking around the video game store, looking at the countless new titles. All of sudden one game appealed to me, for some unknown reason, maybe it was fate, who knows. The game was Elite II :Frontier. The sequel to the huge Elite. I immediately purchased this game, went home, made myself a cup of tea, turned on the computer, put in the disk, and then....

As the game was loading a got the chance to look at the massive amount of other stuff that came with the game, instruction manual, star maps. Then as I was greeted with the title screen I got comfortable in my chair and was ready to begin.

The game start menu gives you five options, 3 start points (the galaxy where you start your game, representing the three difficulty modes), a option to load your last saved game and finally the option to load a saved game off the disk. I chose the 1st start position (which is recommended on the menu) to start what was starting to look as a promising career.

You start off positioned at a space port called the ''Sirocco Station'' and from the start all options are available to you. You can check the bulletin board for advertisements and job to do, trade on the stock market if you fancy being a bit of a trader. Do jobs for the military and move up the ranks.

At every dock there is also a shipyard which allows you to purchase parts, upgrades and weapons for your ship as well as buy completely new ships. This level of customization almost knocked me out of my chair. For a game that came on just two disks their was a phenomenal amount of choice and options.

However two things made this game really good.

The first was the little things, the ability to customize your ship, the ability to hire a bigger crew, the fact that you had to ask for clearance to land or take off (failing to ask for clearance would result in a nasty confrontation with the police) and the fact that discharging a weapon within the vicinity of ports and cities would result in more trouble from the police.

The second was the complete open ended experience of the game. You could choose to be either a law abider or a law breaker. You could earn money by becoming a wealthy trader or a ruthless pirate. There was even two military factions that you could work for. Missions or jobs from the bulletin board ranged from courier missions to assassinations. This came contained an enormous amount of choice and fun, and is still unrivaled today, even with the release of next generation consoles.

If all this was possible on just two floppy disks, then it begs the question, what would be possible on two DVD's..

Final Rating 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/03, Updated 02/07/03