"Your name is Trent. Edison Trent. And you are licensed to fly around and do missions!"

I've heard of this game from a while back, and when it finally came out I rushed out to get it. After I got the hang of the game, I knew I made the right choice.

Freelancer is a space simulation game. It has a unique mouse control flying system, unlike any other space sim to date. In Single Player, you have a pretty much linear storyline, except for the times where you just have to make some money to advance to the next level, in which you do missions or trade cargo. In Multiplayer, everything is open. The main object (apart from finishing the storyline in Single Player) both in Single Player and in Multiplayer is to upgrade your ship and weapons to the most powerful possible, which is not an easy task.

A few statistics (in this reviewers opinion, of course):

Storyline: 10/10
This will keep you glued to your seat. With many twists and mysteries, and much to do all around, this will keep you satisfied for around 20 hours overall, depending on how fast you are and if you monkey around alot. Meanwhile, when you're not flying around do missions that have to do with the storyline, you land on planets and stations and go to the local bar for your jobs, usually for the faction that owns that particular planet or station.

Sound/Music: 9/10
The music and sounds are very good, but the sounds get repetitive after a while. Plus, in the variable parts of the speech (as in the ship's code name and so on), it is recorded in worse quality then the rest of the sounds. The Voice Acting in the storyline characters is good though. And the music is excellent.

Gameplay: 10/10
-Controls
The mouse flight is a bit hard to get used to for space sim/flight sim vets that are used to their joysticks, or at least to the keyboard. But when you get the hang of it, it feels a bit easier.

-Making Money
When you go to a bar in a planet or station, you can take a look at a Job List, which shows you what missions the faction currently needs done, how much it pays, and what you need to do, from destroying a band of enemy ships to destroying a newly constructed base to tractoring in contraband.
You can also mine. In Sirius, there are many asteroid and debris fields that can be mined. You fly into a field, and shoot small moving asteroids. Sometimes, a valuable resource pops out, which you can sell at stations or planets.
Finally, there are shipwrecks. These are usually tucked deep in dangerous areas, but reap valuable rewards in the form of strong weapons and expensive cargo if found.

-Transportation
There are many ways to move around in the Sirius Sector. You can take the (usually) long way and just turn on your Cruise Engines and fly to your destination, or use a Trade Lane if one is present. A Trade Lane is a major artery between areas, and makes you move very fast. However, the Trade Lane Rings are suspectable to attacks from pirates, and when they are disrupted, you fall out and must engage the enemies.
For much longer distances (e.g between systems), you can use Jump Gates or Jump Holes, which lead from one system to the other. Jump Holes are usually hidden in asteroid fields, but usually put you in a better position in the system you're going to.

Graphics: 9/10
Everything is overall drawn very well and smooth, except for most ''big'' things up close (like planets and such) which are a little bit sketchy, but maybe that's just me on my lowly P3 550 MhZ Voodoo 5500. But don't think because it works well on my computer that it has bad graphics, because it doesn't.

Multiplayer: 9/10
This is basically like the Single Player with no story. You can go almost everywhere that you can in the Single Player if it doesn't clash with the story, and you can do whatever your little freelancing heart desires, and gaining levels just like you would in Single Player (except that it doesn't let you know when you level up, but it doesn't matter really). What brought this down is that rank 38 players (which is the highest rank you can attain) can easily fly to Manhattan (where the new players spawn) and blast them to bits with 2 barrages of shots, but only if the server allows Player vs Player.

OVERALL (Not average): 9/10
A great game which will keep you occupied (on and offline) and coming back for more.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/31/03