Freelancer

"So long, and thanks for all the ships..."

I don't remember when I first heard about Freelancer... It was quite some time ago, probably around the same time Starlancer was released. I do remember hearing about it though, and being quite excited. I used to love Escape Velocity for the Macintosh, and I've been looking for a similar game on the PC for years. But, like so many games these days, Freelancer suffered a number of delays. It was delayed long enough that I eventually entirely forgot about the game... Until I got the beta. Working at Electronics Boutique has its perks, and free games is definitely one of them. We received a promotional beta for Freelancer about a week before the game itself was released, and I was instantly hooked.

Story 7/10
Freelancer is set approximately 800 years after the events that transpired in Starlancer. The war is being lost, and sleeper ships are sent out to the Sirius system to start anew. These ships survive, arrive in Sirius, and set up shop. We begin the game in a thriving new community ruled by four major governments - Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, and Rhineland.

The opening cinematics of the game show the destruction of a space station by some unknown enemy, and your subsequent arrival as a refugee. Left with only 500 credits to your name, you must start your life anew. Of course, it isn't going to be quite that easy... While your plans for the future might include some easy cargo runs and an early retirement, the universe has other things in mind for you....

Graphics 9/10
The majority of gameplay takes place in space. Sure, there are planets and bases to land on, and the occasional cutscene, but most of the game has you flying around in space. Space is a difficult thing to really do well in a game... Space is supposed to be pretty much empty, but that's just dull. But if you clutter it up too much you lose the vast sense of distance. Freelancer manages to fill the void with interesting things to look at...without losing the fact that it is, indeed, a void. Planets, stars, nebulas, and an assortment of other stellar bodies are visible across incredible distances. From afar they simply look like part of the background, but you can actually travel to them. An interesting spot on the horizon eventually turns out to be a gas giant with beautiful rings.

Each region of space has a distinct ''feel'' to it... Be it a bustling trade lane between two inhabited worlds, or a dark and mysterious nebula on the edge of civilization. You can get a sense for the area, and the people who live in it, just by the stellar landscape.

Equally impressive is the attention paid to the terrestrial graphics. Unlike many space sims I've played in the past, Freelancer actually still looks decent when you get out of the ship. All the character models are well done, and very well animated - all the way down to facial expressions. The planets and bases are also very well modeled and animated. Each region or government has a distinct look to it...familiar, and yet original at the same time. Liberty has a decidedly patriotic cast to it, but it's a frighteningly efficient patriotism. Kusari is a stunning blend of high-tech and ancient traditions. Truly beautiful.

More amazing still, is the fact that it runs very well on a simple 1 GHz processor with a GeForce 3. No bleeding edge system here, but it still runs great.

Sound & Music 7/10
Frankly, I don't really pay a whole lot of attention to a game's sound or music. Generally speaking, I just don't notice it. Sure, it's there, but I just don't usually find it important enough to comment on. Freelancer, for the most part, is the same.

The game does have background music, but it isn't really noticeable. It's there, and it works, but isn't something you'll be humming after the game is shut down. It certainly works... The music matches the mood of the region you are in, and whether or not you are in combat. But, still, the music just doesn't stand out.

The sound effects are all very appropriate. Your assorted weapons make a decent amount of noise, and sound unique enough that you can usually identify what kind of weapon it is.

The voice acting is actually quite good...though a little awkward at times. It is obvious that conversations are strung together from bits and pieces, and you can here pauses where the pieces are being strung together. The voices themselves, however, are very good. A nice touch is the fact that you can hear a nearly constant radio chatter from the other pilots around you. You can listen in and hear where they are headed, or who they are attacking. It adds a nice sense of realism to the game.

Interface & Controls 7/10
Perhaps the most important aspect of a game, besides the gameplay itself, is how you communicate with the game. How do you control it? How does it respond? It is also one of the most hotly debated aspects of Freelancer.

Despite the fact that this is, technically, a space flight sim...you do not get to use a flight stick. In fact, the game doesn't support a flight stick at all! You use your mouse instead, for virtually everything. You navigate all your menus and dialogs with the mouse, you fly with the mouse, you talk to people with the mouse... You get the idea. Now, this mouseflight thing actually works quite well. I've been playing space sims for quite some time and I have never encountered a mouseflight system that actually works - until now. The controls are very intuitive, and very effective.

But, some people simply must have a flight stick for a flight sim, and Freelancer just does not support this. Maybe we'll see a patch for it in the near future... Maybe not.

Gameplay 8/10
As I've already indicated, most of the game takes place in space. Very soon after the game starts you'll be given a new ship, and your first mission. You fly around in your ship to earn money, which you use to upgrade your ship, which you use to make more money. It sounds simple, but in reality there is quite a bit of variety to the gameplay...

Earning money can be accomplished in many ways. You can fly fighter missions of various types - eliminating some local pirates, for example. Or you can haul cargo from one planet to the next, and earn your living as a trader. You could go out and mine the asteroids for precious metals, or become a pirate. Of course, you aren't stuck with any of these choices. If you get tired of fighting you can always head off to the asteroid fields to take a break, or vice-versa.

There is also a storyline to keep you on your toes. The universe is in danger and it is up to you, of course, to save everyone. You will periodically be contacted to run special missions that slowly advance the storyline. These missions can, for the most part, be ignored if you chose to...but that does limit your options. You will find yourself unable to progress beyond a certain point unless you accomplish the next storyline mission.

The storyline itself spans 13 missions, some of which are quite long and involved. Finishing the storyline took me approximately 19 hours, but there is still quite a bit of gameplay left. I completed the storyline and was awarded level 19...but there are plenty of ships, weapons, and star systems that aren't available until you are at least level 20. You are allowed to continue playing for as long as you would like...building up your ship, and your reputation, until you are sick of it.

Replayability 9/10
Replay in Freelancer is nearly unlimited. Sure, the storyline is very linear and will eventually end, but there is still plenty to see and do in the Sirius system. There are dozens and dozens of star systems that you won't explore during the course of the storyline. There are tons of ships that aren't even available to you until you've gained several levels beyond what the storyline offers. There are hidden bases, and derelict spacecraft just waiting to be discovered. Sure, eventually it will get dull... But I suspect you'll tire of the gameplay long before you actually exhaust all the possibilities.

Multiplayer 8/10
Freelancer features multiplayer allowing a theoretical maximum of 64 players to share the same universe. Hardly ''massively multiplayer'', but fun none the less. Players can group up to work cooperatively on large missions, or work against each other instead. Just as in the normal gameplay you can be good, or evil, as the mood suits you. Multiplayer plays identical to the single player mode except that you have no storyline at all.

Conclusion 8/10
Freelancer is a truly great game. Sure, the concept is simple, but the execution is nearly flawless. True, there are things I'd like to see that aren't in this game... For example, it would be awfully nice to be able to fly something larger than a fighter - maybe a cruiser, or a corvette. It would be nice if the job boards would offer things other than fighter missions as well. It would be nice of the trade/commerce model was better developed. There are plenty of things that could be done differently, or better. But that's not the point.

What is present in this game works incredibly well. The storyline is gripping, the game itself plays great, and there's always something new to find. The combination of these makes Freelancer one truly addictive game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/03, Updated 03/10/03