Have you ever wanted to be a bounty hunter? Have you ever watched the likes of Boba Fett, Han Solo, or Spike Siegel comb the universe in the manner of the true mercenary, searching for whatever job the fates hand them, as long as it's of the dangerous variety with good pay? Have you been longing for a game that truly simulates what it means to be a space cowboy, going from station to station, planet to planet, and post to post at your leisure; in search of work, riches, and – just maybe - some answers as to what happened on the day your life changed forever?
Well! Do the fine people at Microsoft Game Studios and Digital Anvil ever have a game for you, my friend!
If Deus Ex, Colony Wars, Grand Theft Auto, Syberia, Star Wars and Morrowind were all put into a blender by the man behind Cowboy Bebop, Freelancer would be the end result, milky smooth and pureed for your consumption. You play Edison Trent, a man who has some very bad luck, it would seem. Shortly after signing a deal with a major corporation for a cool million bucks, the starport that Trent's valuable cargo is on is blown to bits in a terrorist attack. Trent escapes with his life, but the only link to his deal is severely injured, and in the hospital. And since a guy's got to eat, Trent searches out numerous "jobs" all over the galaxy in the meantime, all the while trying to figure out what happened to the port, and what it has to do with him.
Freelancer is not so much a Space RPG as it is a shooter with RPG elements. If you wanted to be the nitpicky one, you could break Freelancer down as such - fly to planet/base/outpost, get mission, complete mission, get paid, repeat. But to do so would not be giving the game its due. Before you take off, you may want to pick up some commodity at a low price on the planet you're currently stationed upon, because en route to your destination, there's a base that is known to buy said commodity at a higher price. Maybe you could choose to run a risk and smuggle some contraband past one of the numerous police scanner checkpoints. Perhaps you just want to focus on getting enough money to trade that small fighter in for a heavy battleship before getting on with the story.
It's all up to you, and that's what makes Freelancer so great - the freedom afforded to you.
The actual control mechanics can accurately be compared to Diablo - if you wanted to, you could control the game with nothing more than the mouse. The actual combat is intuitive - so much so that some would call it overly simplistic - and the interface is not in the least bit intimidating, ala the Star Trek simulations. Not once did I fail because of my inability to control my ship or the handle the interface, and that's the way it should be. On land-based locations, you navigate with an interface modeled after adventure games – click on the "bar" icon to go to the bar and dig for info; click on the "ship dealer" icon to buy a new vessel, etc. In space, the mouse wheel/ws keys control your speed, the left button sets your course, and the ship moves where the cursor is pointing. Right fires your weapon system. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, Freelancer makes it easy to get hooked within minutes. Expect a lot of copycats.
Outerspace should be awe-inspiring and have a mystical quality about it, and Freelancer doesn't disappoint in the least. When you use jumpgates, space around you blurs and slows down. You often get caught in ion and meteor storms, where brilliant thunderclaps and distant nebulas are your only guidance for navigating your way out. Freelancer sounds good as well - with a great script for the main storyline, it rivals the best the genre has to offer.
As good as it looks, sounds, and plays, Freelancer has a few minor flaws, as well as a major one. Though the voice acting is good most of the time, Trent's responses when talking to many NPCs brings back memories of Ryo Hazuki in Shenmue - the man will respond, more often than not, with a mellow "OK" or "Alright" to anything a bar patron can throw at him. In addition, the character models and scenery on the ground don't come close to matching the beauty of the portions of the game taking place in a ship.
The glaring flaw in Freelancer's presentation, however, is one that only applies to those who own Radeon series cards - if you do not turn down your hardware acceleration by one notch, you will experience SEVERE chopping and slowdown when large amounts of text is displayed or updated. Considering that this happens 80% of the time in Freelancer, this "workaround" solution implemented by Microsoft is less than satisfactory.
Aside from the technical issues, Freelancer is the space combat game by which all future contenders will be measured. The genre has a new champion, and his name is Edison Trent. See you, Space Cowboy.
-George
Company Line
It is the dawn of the Thirtieth Century. The First Solar War has ended, and the Four Houses of Humanity rule known space. Earth and the inhabitable worlds of its solar system are distant memories, mute reminders of humanity's appetite for self-destruction. Now, with the coming of the Age of Conquest, humanity has begun to focus its efforts towards expansion into the frontier worlds.
Wild and unexplored, the frontier worlds ring the boundaries of civilized space. Much as Earth's great nations divided the spoils of the New World amongst themselves in the distant past, the Four Houses vie for territory and control among these virgin worlds. At stake for each House is the ultimate prize: survival. And once again, as in Earth's past, the intelligent life forms native to these new worlds are conquered, one by one. Conquered each in its turn, and finally assimilated into the "civilized" culture of Humanity... or utterly destroyed.
Adventure, intrigue, and opportunity in an insanely epic and fascinating science-fiction universe-Freelancer combines a fully-immersive 3D space-flight system with real-time 3D character interaction to give the player complete control over buying and selling commodities, accepting missions for hire, and customizing his spacecraft.
Dynamic Reputation
Your reputation will continually change and evolve throughout the game. You can take a bounty-hunting mission targeting a guild member, but if you're successful they'll be looking for you! Also, as you become more and more successful, competitors will take notice. Inevitably there will be a price on your head.
Interstellar Marketplace
Commodity trading turns the gears of the Freelancer universe. Mining planets churn out valuable minerals, Agriculture planets cultivate grain, and Industrial planets pump out the consumer goods. All are traded for different values around the sector. You can make a killing in the market... or lose big-time. What makes these markets unique is the fact that they are always changing depending on events in the surrounding universe, shifts in the prevailing political winds, and good old-fashioned supply and demand. You can actually affect the value of commodities in different markets based on what missions you fly, what cargo ships you plunder, or how many pirates you scuttle.
Mission Generation
Missions change based on your ship, reputation, and local marketplace. If pirates just raided the grain supply for the planet Ganymede, then different relevant missions will be offered. Take out the pirates orbiting Ganymede if you're a mercenary, or deliver urgently needed grain consignments if you're a merchant.
Personalized Ship
Buy the ship that serves your desired profession best, be it bounty hunting, trading, piracy or exploration , and upgrade her throughout the game according to personal taste, wealth, and need. Then take your ship on-line to battle other players' pride-and-joys.
Simple, Dynamic Interface
With the simple and intuitive mouse driven interface, you won't have to plow through countless pages of a manual to learn to fly-just point and click when planet side, and aim and fire in the cockpit. You won't face any more complexity than necessary, until your ready to buy advanced hardware for your ship.
Where Do You Want to Fly?
A pool of over 300 missions (courier runs, convoy escorts, deep-space reconnaissance, 'insider trading', bounty hunts, and more) delivers a unique experience for every player, every time.
Stunning 3D Space-Flight Engine
State-of-the-art lighting effects-lens flares, glass, spotlight glares, running lights, light sourced explosions, kinematics, advanced particle system, 32-bit color graphics, volumetric nebulas, asteroid fields, planetary rings and black holes, individual ship components that can targeted and destroyed, affecting the ship's performance, 3D virtual cockpit, side panels that fly off when shot, and much more.
Never-Ending Game
Non-stop action as you fly an unlimited number of randomly generated missions, even after you've finished the storyline.
Fictionally Rich Universe
Ruthless mercenaries, fanatical missionaries, and greedy racketeers all battle for political power and influence. The commodities markets may turn the gears of the universe, but politics determine which gears do the turning, and how fast. The universe fiction isn't merely a "back story" -- it takes an active role in defining the game experience.
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