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Freelancer = Privateer 3?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Back in the early 1990s, Chris Roberts made a bundle off the Wing Commander franchise. Production values in these titles broke new ground for the genre, but gameplay wasn't particularly appealing to the sim crowd. Imagine scripted space dogfighting against a race of buffed cat people. Most of us preferred to get our scifi gaming from the Star Wars and Mechwarrior brands, except for one Wing Commander title -- Privateer.

Privateer was different. The game cast you as a freelance trader in the middle of a vast galaxy full of competing factions and pirates. You could skipper a freighter, become a bounty hunter, smuggle illegal goods, go off pirating ... Privateer defined the open-ended space sim. There was a main plot line, but that was incidental. Privateer was about exploring at your personal pace, setting your own goals and objectives. A sequel, Privateer 2, was released in the mid-1990s, but it abandoned much of the open-ended role play that made Privateer so endlessly addictive (personally, I lost a good part of the winter of 1993-1994 to Privateer).

Now Privateer is back, in the guise of a Microsoft game called Freelancer. Chris Roberts began work on this title back in the late 1990s, after starting his own shop, Digital Anvil. Roberts left halfway through development, but the game retains all the earmarks of a Wing Commander title. Effectively, it's Privateer 3, and that's good news for anyone who still yearns to explore the stars.

Anybody who's spent any time at all with Privateer will instantly feel at home in the Freelancer universe. It's all here, updated with modern graphics and a slick mouse-driven interface. Players travel from planet to planet within systems using trade lanes, and between systems using jump gates. You can also engage cruise engines to reach waypoints manually, but that takes awhile, given the distances involved (and they are long). Money is earned by taking on fighter missions or hauling legal or illegal goods between planets and systems (drug smuggling is still an option, but slave trading isn't). The same Privateer career paths are available, along with a large inventory of vessels, equipment and upgrades. Equipment includes energy weapons, missiles, mines, countermeasures and tractor beams. Vessels range from fighters to freighters. You can interact with NPCs at planets or space stations, having pretty much the same limited conversations you did in Privateer. Enemy AI hasn't improved much, either -- it still favors the suicidal head-on pass. There's a main plot as well, but this time it's more compelling than the pedestrian story presented in Privateer.

The cockpit HUD looks mighty familiar, albeit simplified, and with more mouse controls. The weird Wing Commander radar is gone (not that it was particularly useful to begin with), replaced with -- nothing, really. There is no radar. Instead, onscreen pointers show whether individual bogies are to the left or right, along with a list of ships displayed on an MFD. This works better than it sounds; in short order you realize how limited a 2D radar screen actually is in a space sim. The other biggie is joystick control -- again, there is none. Piloting is performed through mouse and keyboard input, sort of like an FPS. Major maneuvers -- docking, waypoint autopilot, formation flying -- are handled automatically by clicking selections from a menu with the mouse. Keyboard equivalents are also available for mouse commands, and most can be remapped.

Mouse control sounds lame, I know. But it works better than you might think. After all, in space there is no ground, and there is no gravity. Given this environment, a joystick's responsiveness isn't particularly necessary. It's analogous to the way many of us ignored our joysticks in favor of using a mouse-and-keyboard combination for Mechwarrior. As a bonus, targeting is much easier, since you simply click to acquire. The mouse-keyboard combination takes a couple of missions to get used to, but quickly feels very natural.

Don't let the simplified controls scare you away. I've put in about 16 hours with Freelancer so far (the game keeps track of seat time for you), and I'm having a right blast. A nascent Freelancer mod community looks set to extend the good times. If you miss the original Privateer, Freelancer will give you your fix, and more.

A Pleasant Surprise & the Best Sci-Fi Story Since Starcraft

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The simple idea of making a space flight sim with mercantilism has generated many famous PC titles. Games such as Privateer have always carried a silent diehard following. I know plenty of people that still rank those types of games as their favorite titles in gaming history. My gaming history is different though and I have never played any of these popular "space-trade" titles, so I started playing Freelancer without bias. Based on that, I've got to admit, I loved the game! I'm an RPG fan first and the story in Freelancer is one of the best sci-fi stories I've played through. I would compare it to Starcraft. Flying through space is a heavy part of the game but space flight is easy enough with your mouse and keyboard. If you'd rather have a game that requires you to use the latest flight stick with twenty buttons and switches, this is not the game for you. Freelancer is more about story and adventure than sophisticated space flight. My only complaint about the game is that it sometimes gets a little too repetitive and if you can't find creative ways to earn money through trading, you might become bored with the numerous private contract combat missions. The best missions are battles that are part of the game's story and some can be quite a challenge. It's a fun game and I'm surprised it hasn't received more attention or sales.

Very Entertaining Space Action Game, not a Space Sim

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Freelancer is a somewhat controversial game because it is somewhat between genres. It has elements that appear to come from a space simulation (eg, you spend most of the game flying around in your ship), but in reality the game is better described as a spaceship based RPG.

The game is not completely open-ended, you need to play the missions in order to advance in levels, which opens up new systems, equipment and ships. The open-ended part really comes in being able to choose what to do to make money between missions.

The game is not a space simulation, really, because the flying and fighting aspects of the game are simplified as compared with most space sims in order to make the game more accessible. Having said that, Freelancer remains a very well done, very entertaining game if you accept it on its own terms.

Players looking for a space sim game would probably enjoy X2 more than Freelancer.

So much potential...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game had so much potential, but only lives up to a fraction of it. I was really impressed by the graphics...although I haven't played many games of this type recently. I also greatly enjoyed the storyline, despite its linearearity. It is possible to go off the story line at most points, although there are exceptions. Contrary to what some have said, the galaxy is really a very big place and exploring can be fun.

Outside the story line, there are a number of ways to make money. Unfortunately, several of them are almost pointless -- mining is slow to the point of tedium and you're better off killing pirates for their weapons to sell than pirating tradeships for their cargo (due to the unlimited ability to carry extra weapons but the rather limited ability for a fighter to carry cargo).

That leaves basically trading and finding missions. Trading can be the fastest way to make money and figuring out the best trade routes can involve diplomacy with factions along the way and exploring to find short cuts. Once things are in place though, it can get boring. Missions are fun at first, but quickly get repetitive.

On the downside, the artificial level limitations some have mentioned can be annoying. My biggest complaints though are with the performance characteristics of ships and the non-storyline missions. Although a light fighter handles much better than a freighter, all light fighters handle the same and all ships are the same speeds. Further, although the storyline involves attacks on bases and battles with gunboats and battleships, the regular scenarios never involve anything besides freighters and fighters.

We Don't Run This Place, But We Have An Understanding

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

-Refers to Demo and Reviews by Players of Full Version-

I played the original Wing Commander and got my fix of "real" space-combat sims, so the lack of joystick play was not my issue. I rather liked that you could be competent enough at combat to stay alive at first and get into the RPG. I had just assumed that I would run into increasingly clever pilots and have to brush up as the game progressed. I hear that isn't true.

I tried to play the demo over as if I was going to be a pirate. No dice. I had to start the game by blowing up the base of my intended associates. I skimmed some walk-throughs of future story-line missions. There weren't multiple versions based on what you had done before. You have to fly to good guy-controlled stations (and presumably get blown to pieces) if you ever manage to advance. Stilted, monotonous dialogue (close your eyes while a buddy talks to someone in the bar and see if you can tell an industry rep from a bartender from a cop from a bounty hunter) and simple, repetitive assignments do not make for the rich environment advertised. 150 planets of conversations like an imbecile talking to a voice-mail system? You can do whatever you want - but you'll get jerked back into line by the story? And the enemy pilots never change tactics or even strategy? If you're looking for what the game advertises, type "open-ended RPG" into a search engine.

Good old Microsoft. Creative people tried to accomplish something awesome, and got bought out by someone who rushed the product to market as soon as they had something that ran (mostly). There's a reason the fan sites aren't getting updated.

Not what it could have been nor should have been

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: March 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game on the strength of the professional reviews it garnered which were uniformly positive. I have been waiting for some time for a worthy successor to Frontier:Elite and from the reviews that I read, I thought, "Ah-ha, at last!"

Well, I was wrong. Fortunately, I downloaded the demo and played that before I impatiently ripped open the box.

A lot of the people here have already commented on the fact that you must stick to the storey line if you want to advance. But worse that that, even the jobs you pick up from the message board on your own are scripted. You have very little choice about when, or where or how you engage the people you have been sent after. You can't draw off superior forces into areas of your own chosing, you can't skulk about and reconoiter to get the measure of your opponents or any of the other things you could do with a truly open-ended game like Frontier: Elite; you just have to barge in stupidly as the script demands and try to deal with whatever shows up.

Is there really only a single base on each planet? And why can't we make our own way into planetary atmospheres, find the bases and land using our own piloting skills? Why can our character interact with the game only at the ground bases?

There is no sense of being on a true frontier with thinly stretched forces of law and order, vast distances and lots of opportunity to try alomost anything simply because you can. If pirates exist in these crowded, technologically controlled systems its only because they were stuck in as an improbable game device to get some "shoot'in and blow'in up stuff" going on.

Far from being "open-ended" the whole game feels cramped, restricted and static, from its thoroughly unrealistic space-flight dynamics to the silly and repetitive NPC's that stand around the mostly deserted bar, shuffling occasionaly to look at something (gum?) on the bottom of their foot.

I played Frontier:Elite, I loved Frontier:Elite and I can tell you: this is no Frontier:Elite. The unopened box will remain that way and go back to the store on Monday.

Good, but one feature is missing.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing this game for about 4 hours, and so far I like it. But one thing is glaringly evident. It needs joystick support. It wouldn't have been that hard to offer a joystick option. If players wanted to play with a mouse and the keyboard, that is fine. But for experienced space combat sim pilots, who are used to a joystick, there just is something missing. That thing is control. We have spent money for a joystick, and are used to using it in other space combat games, and it should be supported in this one. Especially considering that Microsoft is a joystick manufacturer. I would have expected support for the sidewinder precision 2, the Force feedback sticks, and other joysticks.

Without them, this just becomes a twitch game, a first person shooter in space. The joystick adds elements of feel and control that the mouse can't match.

Plus the buttons on a programmable joystick frees things up, and makes them easy to find, right at hand.

I like the game so far, despite some of the conversations with characters being repetitive, and the lack of in game music on some of the screens, but I would give might left thumb for joystick support.

Microsoft, if you read these reviews, please, please, add joystick support when you patch this game. Or please allow some developer to add it.

Space combat sims have been few and far between lately. This could be a good one, but only if joystick support is added.

Why not add it. It will not take away from the game, and it will add attraction for many users.

Had some potential... but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing space combat/trade games back when people were logging onto local BBS's to play Trade Wars. The last one I played was X-Beyond the Frontier. It brought me back to the days of Tradewars again, but needed a bit more. I was playing Freespace1/2 at the time too, so I knew there could be more depth to the controls over the ships. I figured Freelancer would continue the tradition and have a sprinkle of Freespace and X-bTF mixed in together.

Well, it wasn't. So I'll just start off with the bad then get to the good. If it this game was trying to be more of a space sim, they could have tweaked the way the shields and hull repairs are used. They feel much like Diablo's potions : "Gulp! All my hull is repaired!" and "Gulp! My Shields are back at full!" - Which just the shields would be a bit believable for a space sim. Would have been nice to take energy from your weapons and put them into shields so they would remain strong for when you're being overwhelmed. Not to mention having to adjust the side at which you'd want the most power of the shields goto when you're running away from the fight a little.

Now there's the gameplay. It feels too much like an arcade/console game. You just have to put the mouse cursor when you're flying over the crosshairs and you'll hit their ship everytime if you have some quick reflexes. But that's if you can see the crosshairs with all the text being overlaid and the space backgrounds as you're flying. It also looks as if the game could be quickly ported to the X-box or any other console that has analog sticks on their controller.

Then there's the prices of the items you could trade. I have yet to see the prices change at all while I'm trading. I traded enough Engine parts and Diamonds back and forth to NEVER see the price change. Which for a static economy is fine, but the economy should never be static.

Ok. Onto the good. The graphics, even if the game's 5 years in the making, looks just as good as if it had came out 2 years, Which was the original release year. The point to point waypoint mapping from system to system is very intuitive and a breeze to use. Makes those long 30 waypoint trades alot easier to have a target path.

I would have to say, if you're new to the world of space combat/trading, then I would suggest you pick up Freelancer. But I would tell anyone to wait for the next games coming out that will make the genre even more rich. Like Eve-Online (MMORPG/FPS) and X2-The Threat (X-BTF 2).

Good...but

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game that could have been much better. The story line is tedious and I wished that they would just leave me alone! I was having fun, trading and exploring and whenever that started to get good here comes Junko! If you are looking for an updated Elite this is not it. It may look like it and contains all of the pieces but the game is not well put together. The multiplayer is weak and crashes often. You have no way to escape the first person story line. The list goes on...Vintage MicroSoft. Wait until it hits the bargain rack!

So much potential ... alas

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a game I looked forward to playing, even though I was never a big fan of Wing Commander nor Privateer. The pre-release buzz seemed to indicate this was a space combat sim with a strong RPG element. I was hoping for a Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights in space, with a strong main plot and lots of fun mini-adventures. This is sorely lacking.

The game is merely space combat upon space combat. When not flying around and fighting in the main campaign, you can take on contracts which require you, to, well, fly around and fight. The contracts never have a back story; you are always told to take on X pirate group or y pirate group. It is shocking there is any trade or organized government with the 1,000's of pirates around. No missions to recover medicines for an endangered world nor rescues nor missions that require diplomacy, just flying and fighting. The storyline is very linear so that you are forced to do all these missions to get experience before you can proceed.

The voice acting by the computer run characters is awful. Apparently gajillion-aire Microsoft's voice acting budget was blown getting John Rhys Davies and George Takei, for the same man does all the male voices and same woman does the female voices. With repitious dialogue, the same thin, annoying voices gets to you.

I had hoped for something much better. For anyone with imagination, they will end up feeling disappointed. I am not saying the game is not fun nor the storyline somewhat interesting, just that if you don't like games where it is non-tactical, non-RPG combat, you will not be happy.

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