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Freespace 2 Review
Robert Newberry
00/12/0000
Space combat fans rejoice!
Freespace 2 comes to us from developer Volition and publisher Interplay. There are so many good things I want to say, I'm going to forego the background story.
The Graphics
The graphics of Freespace are mesmerizing. The ship designs are very diverse and very cool to look at. Some remind me slightly of Sinistar. The immense capital ships are extremely detailed, down to the ability to target individual laser turrets and beam cannons. My monitor was going absolutely berserk with the sheer amount of space craft, laser fire, missile contrails, flak bursts and explosions during intense battles. Most of the battles you'll get into are pretty intense with dozens of fighters engaged in dog fights and 3 or 4 capital ships going at one another. The lighting effects are amazing, the capital ships are equipped with beam weapons, these massive laser beams punch into enemy capital ships, ripping them in half. The resulting explosions are blinding and if you're close enough, they'll white out the entire screen. Battling it out in space has never looked so good. As you fly about you are surrounded by detail, asteroids, planets, nebulae clouds, fierce ion storms, massive freighters, cruisers, destroyers and many fighter craft surround you at all times. On lower-end PC's with with older graphic accelerators you may not get the full effect. In fact, I know you won't. Playing the game on a Pentium III, even with the graphics on full tilt, there is very little slow down. Only when things get totally out of hand does it even show a hint of slow down. The graphical requirements are steep, but if you have a higher-end machine, do yourself a favor and load this onto your hard drive. I really can't say enough about the graphics they are sweet.
The Sound
OH Mama, the sound. If you have a subwoofer hooked up to your PC, crank it up! The bass pumping out of your system will blow you away. The sound is as sweet as the graphics. The intense battles aren't just a joy to look at, your ears will be in heaven. Combat has never sounded, or felt, so loud and in-your-face as it does here. Wait til your on your first strafing run on a capital ship and the flak starts booming all around you. I still shake all over when I hear the sounds of Freespace. Maybe I've been to too many rock concerts, but I love every minute of it. There are alot of great sound effects. The voice acting is also top notch. As you fly your missions you'll hear the commander barking orders and the frantic calls of your squad mates and freighter captains as they get overrun by enemy fighters. Every voice and booming explosion comes through crystal clear. You can easily tell how close attention to detail the sound team payed. The great visuals and sound are synced perfectly to create about as immersive an effect as any combat/flight sim fan could want.
The Gameplay
Flight/combat sims have been my genre of choice since the original Gunship. My favorite PC game being, the always incredible, Jane's AH64 Longbow 2. That said it should be obvious I was pumped for this one. To some, the thought of complex controls and having to think and play at the same time, is their worst nightmare. I feel right at home with these type of controls. Before I turn anyone off, let me tell you the controls are pretty basic in this one. Freespace isn't your typical flight sim, trust me shooter fans, you'll love it too. Freespace is different from your average sim as it is very linear. At first, I must say, I didn't think that'd go over very well, but Volition makes it work very nicely. If you think you'll not like the scripted missions and campaigns, get that out of your head and get it anyway. Throughout the whole game your following a pretty much predetermined path with very little variances. There are missions where you are instructed to escort a certain capital ship and it will be destroyed no matter what you do. As the game progresses, and you rise in rank, you gain more and more control over ship selection, weapons loadout and wingmen. Some people love the planning stages of sims, setting the waypoints and order of completing objectives, to others it's just tedious. Either way, it all boils down to fast, intense action, with incredibly beautiful graphics, sound and control.
Speaking of control, it's very tight and responsive. Of course, all the various ship types behave differently. If you have a force feedback controller, you're in for some nice effects there also. This may be the best example of forcefeedback I've seen, felt, yet. There are many instances of feedback such as; afterburners, missile launches, enemy fire, collisions and even when you get a little too close to a capital ships engines.
As I said before the controls are somewhat simpler than a true flight sim, but there is more to do than hold down the fire trigger. You can communicate with your wingmen and order them to do many different tasks, for instance, attack my target, defend my target, form on my wing, etc. Thanks to good AI, your wingmen are very helpful, ignore them and your toast. You may cycle through your targets or when engaging capital ships, zero in on their individual turrets. It is also possible for you to target the navigation, weapons, sensors, etc. systems on the capital ships, they're are missions where you have to hit these specific areas. Along with communicating with your wingmen you can also call in for a resupply ship. This feature is much needed in this game as you can easily blow through your entire arsenal in a few short minutes.
This game goes deeper than your average shooter, say Descent, but much less complicated than a game such as Falcon 4.0. Here, as I said before, the linearity of the game doesn't detract from the gameplay at all. In fact, since the action is so intense, it's actually nice to be able to take a breather while the next mission is being set up. This game is so nice to look at, listen to and play, that any preconceived gripes you may have are quickly forgotten. There's just really nothing much to complain about. If you really must have non-linearity, Tachyon: The Fringe will be out in a while, that still gives you plenty of time to check this one out.
Lastability
This will definitely be on your hard drive for a while. It has the requisite flight sim multiplayer modes; co-op, dogfight, team vs. team. It also has multiplayer campaigns, which play exactely like single player campaigns, including multiple missions and mission branching. There's also an additional multiplayer option, the squad war. Squad war is a perpetual squadron vs. squadron game in which players form squadrons and then challenge other squadrons for control of territory. The database keeps track of which squadron has control of which star system. How cool is that?
Then there's also FRED 2. Who's FRED? FRED 2 is the FReespace EDitor. Using FRED 2 you can create your own missions using every object , craft and effect you see in the regular game. The missions you create can stand alone, be built up into a new campaign, or be added to the already existing missions.
IN SHORT
Freespace 2 does everything very well. The graphics, sound and gameplay are excellent. Add to that the great multiplayer and mission editor and they're just icing on the cake. Take my word for it, when you stop at your local software store, don't hesitate when debating whether or not to spend your hard earned money on Freespace. It's well worth it. Then, when your ready, look for Tinner, a.k.a. The Tin Man, on-line and I'll open a can o whup ass on ya, just don't take it personally. I'll be around for awhile.
System Used
Pentium III 450
3DFX VooDoo 3 3000
Wingman Force joystick
