Freelancer Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A strong story line made this a good game...having things to do other than play the story makes this a great game. The universe is large enough that you don't feel like you are wearing a straight jacket while it is just small enough that most locations feel unique. The mouse flight seemed a bit odd at first but I quickly adapted to it. The guns on the ships have a limited amount of pivot built in, the mouse seems to work better with this than a joystick would have.
From an interface standpoint, more of the options need shortcuts. The manual also failed to fully detail the interface, leaving out a CRITICAL piece of information...what the changes to your cross hairs mean. It also fails to give enough information on the basics of weapon systems, so you are left on your own to experiment with when missiles are locked and how to use mines and turrets.
This is clearly a remake of the Wing Commander Privateer game (which is unplayable on machines over 200 mhz because its too fast). Unfortunately, two things are missing... Wingmen (a nice to have, but acceptably missing given the story line) and an economy that MAKES SENSE! It is difficult to be a merchant when the planet/station that produces an item charges the most for it in most cases. For instance, I traveled to a station that was advertised as producing "basic alloy" figuring I could take the basic alloy to a planet that focused on manufacturing and sell it there for a markup. The reality was that basic alloy cost far more on the planet described as "producing" basic alloy than almost anywhere else by a very large amount.(like $80 per unit vs $20 a unit). I've had to learn that "produces" USUALLY means "buys for the highest price". It would be nice to see a realistic system (which has been done time and time again in games before), and even a dynamic system that if you tried to flood one system with a product, the price would go down somewhat.
Another issue I had with the manual was its description of asteroid mining. It led me to beleive that I should go blow up large asteroids in an effort to find minerals to sell. The reality is you can blast big rocks all day and not get anything, they are just eyecandy. What you have to do is look for the little ones that zip by (and cause your cross hairs to spin when you put them on it) and blow those up. If you are lucky, you may be rewarded with some bit of mineral, water, metal, etc.
Another problem with the merchant/mining road is too many of the "advanced" systems (the ones you don't get to until you've been playing for a while) seem to have "mined out" asteroid and ice fields. This greatly limits your ability to move your home base to outside of the starting area if you are trying to be more of a merchant.
This game has a good degree of replayability. I've finished the story line and still am having fun flying around exploring and blowing stuff up. The story takes you on a wide circuit of the available star systems, but there is plenty of stuff hiding in asteroid fields and what not.
This game is a great flight sim, a nice change from what dominates the action market these days (first person shooters). I'd give it 5 stars if only the economic model made a little more sense.

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Product Description:
In Freelancer, you'll have to make way in the universe, through the aftermath of interplanetary war & colonization!Explore dozens of different star systems and uncover a hidden threat to the human race Exciting LAN play for up to 16 players

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