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Game that had potential

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: March 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'll get to the most important part of ANY game... the gameplay aspect.

Combat - Boring, one-dimensional, and forced third-person view. Using ONLY the mouse (thats right, no joystick) you must blast away enemy spacecraft while traveling from point A to point B. Fighting is not involving. Also, if you don't do what they say within a certain time period, you are automatically awarded "Mission Failed" (so you can't plot your own course to avoid enemies...) If you've fought one battle, you've fought them all. Think of a downgraded version of StarLancer.

AI - Your wingmen don't really do enough to prove their worth. They fail to effectively support you when your taking a lot of fire. You get most of the kills, making you wonder why you even have wingem to begin with. Enemy AI is weak (when you aquire a target, he doesn't seem to fight back or surprise you to the point of being satisfied from the fight.

When your not fighting - Your either docked at a base, or your planet side. Sounds cool right? Well, it would have been great, but the stupid developers decided to limit your movement and your exploration abilities. You are forced to select from 5 areas on all the planets (the bar, The docking bay, the two equipment dealers, the ship dealer). To move from place to place, all you do is click the icons on your display (thats right, not walking to and from areas).

The Story - The only good thing about the game, and even it's somewhat lacking. A good story draws you in from beginnning to end, but this game leaves you behind, and you wonder why you should even care about whats going on... after all its a "Freelance" type game, and you should be able to do what you want (create your own story, so-to-speak).

Overall, don't expect this game to be like Morrowind, or have the combat of a Wing-Commander/Starlancer/X-Wing type game.

Joysticks and Twinkies...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 10
Date: May 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

To the Freelancer development team:

My GOD - no JOYSTICK support? What on Earth were you THINKING??!!?? I just exited from playing the demo - looks great - but... no JOYSTICK support for a game with a SPACE COMBAT component!?!!? I have a Sidewinder FF 2 sitting right on my desk, and then I'm sitting here trying to use a MOUSE to fly around in 3D space (and even the darn NPC was dissing me because I can't fly!)??? Even SUNDOG on the Apple ][ (yes, I'm that old - and I've been flying in space games that long) supported a darn JOYSTICK (yes, I know I'm SHOUTING - I'm upSET!). MS Developers: NO TWINKIE FOR YOU! My GOD.... No, take those rationalizations you flummoxed the launch approval team with, and stick them back in your Scooby-Doo lunchboxes - I don't want to hear them. You're just flat _wrong_ - this game is FATALLY FLAWED without joystick support. I'm very sorry - it looked good... but it is just heartbreaking.... I can't go on. I really can't... My GOD - how can you even sleep at night?...

Cheap rip-off of a small German independent company's games

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 13
Date: February 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Cheap is the active description. Rip-off is the verdict. If you want a great game, in the tradition of Elite and Privateer, turn to EgoSoft out of Germany. X-Beyond the Frontier, X-Tension, and the newly released X2-The Threat, all blow Microsoft's lame game to shame. Freelancer should be relegated to not the bargain-bin, (as it is now), but to the trash bin. And if you did play Freelancer, and actually liked it, then you will LOVE X2! And yes, they have an English version. And they continue to come up with add-ons - not "patches", but real additions to the game ala "The Sims", for free download by registered owners. Make money trading, owning factories, blowing up Pirates or other bad guys, and capture ships. Own a fleet of transports, fighters, corvettes, destroyers, battleships and carriers! Compared to X2 by Egosoft, Freelancer is a poor Craker Jacks prize. And Egosoft has been growing this franchise for a long, long time.

Good form, bad flight

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 12
Date: March 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Overall I liked the game. It is the same great type of space flight simulator that we have come to love from this production team. However this game has some detractors that made me put it down and walk away. The primary and most serious of these problems is the flight control. The game is controlled exclusively by mouse. There is not even an option for joystick flight. I think their intenet was to make the HUD interface better. I had a horrible time with flying and shooting and the targeting system was off as well. The voice acting (at least in the demo) was pretty deadpan and uninspiring. The graphics were ok but not any better than Privateer 2. The only good aspect was that the ganme seemed more open-ended thatn P2 and the universe was larger. I recommend getting Privateer instead, at least until they (I wish) come out with another Privateer game.

Identity crisis

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Freelancer can't seem to figure out what kind of game it is.

The marketing says it is a game directed by the way you play. In practice, it has a very linear plot that you are railroaded into following.

If you want to play as a trader or miner, the marketing says it will support you. In practice, combat is thrust upon you so freqeuntly that you have little choice but to get a ship built for war.

The marketing says it has role-playing elements. In reality, it is an action game with cut-scenes showing the plot.

It is too simple to be a great space combat sim, but the combat is too hard for it to be an RPG. The choices are few and usually binary. I wanted Morrowind in space. I got frustration and disappointment.

No joystick? You must be kidding...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 24
Date: January 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game would have easily got a 5 star rating if it supported a joystick. Mouse-based flight sims are lame-o. Much disappointment... I don't recommend it.

Freelancer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: March 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Reviewer: Vudine from Colorado
Visually, this game is extremely good. However, I kept experiencing game crashes, even after I followed Microsoft's advice about disabling all programs prior to playing the game. To avoid this, I finally ended up saving the game after visiting every station.

To say the least, I found the game to be very frustrating. Unlike Earth & Beyond, you cannot decide whether you want to be a Merchant, Looter, etc. even though the web site claims you can and the manual implys this is possible. No, you end up having to accept combat assignments if you want to advance, so don't bother buying a freighter at the beginning of the game even if you do want to be a merchant. You finally have to accept a combat mission that the main NPC claims is only "moderately" difficult. It's not moderately difficult, it's extremely difficult. In the second stage of this mission, there are only 2 "good guys", you and LT King, and there are probably 7 or 8 bad guys. It doesn't matter how many times you shoot a bad guy, they are very, very difficult to destroy. You can shoot for only about five seconds max before your ship shield level is destroyed, so you are constanly flying away from the combat in order to restore your shield level. In addition, this combat takes place in an debris field, so not only do you have to watch out for the bad guys, you need to watch out for the space junk. If you hit one, it can consume half your shield protection. After about 10 defeats in a row, I said the heck with it. In addition, the game doesn't offer optional levels of difficulty, it has just one: "Very, Very hard".

From now I'll stick to my existing sims.

Microsoft games have a big time problem with their games crashing, and this one is no exception. I am not saying this to be spiteful; go to the Microsoft Intenret site and see for yourself. Individually, I would rate this game a 4 for graphics and sound, 1 for reliability, and 1 for game play. The bottom line is that I made a mistake buying this game.

Nothing 'Free' about Freelancer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: July 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game makers declare the game to be open-ended and you are free to go and do as you choose. Nothing could be further from the truth. You MUST do EXACTLY as you are told or you are not allowed to buy better weapons or ships. ( YOU MUST BE LEVEL 16 TO PURCHASE THIS WEAPON. .. YOU MUST BE LEVEL 26 TO PURCHASE THIS SHIP.) And how do you achieve these levels? Well, in the minds of the corporate clones who designed this game, by being funneled into desperate and ridiculous scenarios with inadequate weapons, shields or resources. You are not allowed to break from the 'missions' and go make money or improve you gear as you were allowed in Privateer ( a FAR superior game) and you are FORCED to sit and watch embarrassingly lame little movies with laughable dialogue, none of which has the tiniest significance to the game, because after all, you will be TOLD what to do and when to do it, and you must repeat the sorry little chore until you are successful. It is impossible to divert for better weapons or resources, such as sheild batteries. (Absurd .. a spaceship that runs out of sheild batteries like a weak flashlight) The difficulty factors of the game are as simple minded and cliche as are the huge asteriod feilds and drifting junkyards. This is what happens when game makers should have been accountants. This game should be scrapped. It's junk.

blah

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: July 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Let's just say, stay away from this game if you have a GeforceFx video card. It's not supported and even after you add it to the database manually (as told by the Microsoft tech support), the game locks up while loading. The tech support came up with over 15 ways to solve this problem but still it wouldnt work. and no, it's not because of my PC. I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. I visited the MS forum the other day and found that several other people were having the same troubles when playing this game with a GeforceFX. So just a warning to you all, DO NOT purchase this game if you own a GeforceFX...wait 'til MS releases a patch later in the future...if ever...This is yet another 'unfinished product' from Microsoft.

Beautiful engine, fantastic combat...but where is the meat?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 16 / 22
Date: March 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I waited with sheer delight for this. The graphics are unprecedented and the developer has managed to recreate space perfectly. Ships, combat and ship handling are the best I have ever experienced in a space game like this. I'm afraid thats where it ends...

The names of places, storylines, the jobs you take on in free play and the things NPCs say to you are so unbelievably unoriginal I almost wept!

A planet called Manhattan!? And what is it with EVERYONE who seems to "not run the place but have an understanding with the people who do"?! By the 50th time someone said that to me I was in tears.

The story is quite literally totally linear. Its 2003 guys come on! The factions and the basis of the main plot are so clean like this game was made for a 4 year old (The only plot that really exists is the main plot as there are NO side quests only the dumb 'fly out and kill' jobs you pick up in the bar).

The free play jobs that you take on (most of which seem to go down in sector 2E or 4E) are all exactly the same with names and locations changed at best. This isnt free play its torture.

Its seems that so much effort was put in to creating the NPC's and interaction with them. In this day and age I was surprised at the simplicity of the characters and thier animations. There is obviously a system of building up relationships and reputations but after a while I lost interest in talking to NPCs as they seem totally underdeveloped. They all start off saying the same thing, so after talking to 30 or 40 NPCs the ears start to bleed like you've been listening to a broken record playing the same chorus over and over again. The rumor mill is sheer tedium and many tell you the same thing anyway so its a real effort to find good info. Oh and none of the rumours relate to side quests or side jobs (as far as I can tell) seeing as there are no side quests and free play jobs far too simple. They relate to the main quest only or nothing turning it into a 'point and click B movie' rather than a 'GAME'.

If you are a space game freak, buy it. Otherwise save your money, better is on the way.

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