Freelancer has been in development for no less than six years. Its developer Digital Anvil has had a very hard time of things lately and has had to contemplate with a Microsoft buy out. Freelancer comes from the mind of Wing Commander Developers, Chris and Erwin Roberts, so it’s no surprise to see the game taking shape as a better version of Privateer. If you take all the experience from developing the Wing Commander games and added them with a bit of Privateer and the old age king of space games Elite you will be semi near where Freelance is at.

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Game Play

The story begins with a story of a war. Over 800 years ago a bitter war has divided mankind. A group of colonists on several ships set to break free of Earth in an attempt to release them of the turmoil. These ships set out to different areas of the galaxy. 800 Years on and the small colonisations have grew to forget about the past and Earth. Survival had lead to growth and profit. As you begin the game you notice each of the planets you travel to all have the same facilities and areas. These comprise of a landing pad, ship engineers to repair your ship and someone to purchase new ships and parts from.

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You play Edison Trent, a freelance pilot who escapes from a certain death from an exploding space station. The game is both totally open ended and structured at the same time. Obviously for you to progress you have to perform various jobs and missions to obtain credits for which to spend on better ships, weapons, or even goods to trade with. Jobs are usually obtained by talking to various people in the bar. You can choose to take or refuse from a variety of missions and jobs ranging from clearing a waypoint of enemy ships, capturing criminals and destroying bases. You can choose to play the game as a hero and do some trading to make your money, or fly some missions.

Although missions can be taken and refused at your will there is still a story line hiding in the background. Every so many missions the story element will come into play and you find yourself flying some more interesting missions. The added storyline and banter that comes with these structured missions is welcome and splits up the sometimes repetitive waypoint missions. With each story mission there are a variety of interesting and genuinely good to watch cutscenes.

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Which ever path you choose to play in Freelancer you will be impressed at the whole depth to the universe the developers have created. While being vast with a whole heap of planets and new systems to explore, they are linked by a series of ‘Trade Lanes’ and jump points. ‘Trade Lanes’ help you to travel medium distances in a relatively short period of time, whereas jump points are very quick routes between planetary systems. This means you can often concentrate on flying and fighting rather than waiting to get somewhere.

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One of the major differences between Freelancer and other space combat games is the control system. The developers have chosen to ditch the usual joystick affair with a clever mouse control system. While this sounds strange and does take a few moments to get used to, you will be p0leasently surprised. I expect some hardened simulator fans may find controlling everything with the mouse a turn off, persist and you will find it fits the game like a glove. The reason why it works in Freelancer is down to the lack of physics and simulated realism. The game plays and feels in battle like an old arcade classic. The mouse moves your direction and position and the mouse button fires. Although this is a very simplistic flight model and control system, there are times when you need to use the mouse to select some options on screen while flying. However once you get used to the keys required to perform the same tasks it becomes second nature.

Freelancer also decides a cockpit isn’t really necessary. By default you fly in third person. You do have the option to turn on a frame which makes it look like you are in a cockpit, but no gauges or dials are displayed. In one way it allows you to concentrate on the battle, but in other ways it takes away the feeling of flying in a spaceship. Personally I would have preferred a cockpit, but I’m not going to let that spoil what is such a fantastically enjoyable game.

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Graphics

While the graphics are good they aren’t fantastic. The wide range of space debris you encounter does add to the effect of flying through space, and adds an element of realism given that the story evolves around a number of space battles. The space ships, bases and jump points make full use of the fast graphics engine and whoosh along even at full resolution on a medium spec machine.

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The cut scenes in the game are pretty impressive in terms of graphics and animation. Each planet or system you visit looks totally different even thought the main areas are the same. The bars look as though they are fairly busy, if a little fake.

Sound

The sound is clean, clear and crisp with veteran actors bought in for the voiceovers. The script is very well written and told very well by the actors. The sound effects of the space battles can sound a bit on the puny side and can give you a headache after many space encounters.

Overall

Freelancer is without doubt one of the best surprise games of the year. Space simulation combined with arcade like dog fights, superb open ended story and immersive graphics make this game so good. Take time to get over the lack of real cockpit and forget the repetitive cutscenes and you will be impressed. Some how while playing Freelancer you end up in a time warp and don’t realise you have been playing this game all night. Sleep comes second with Freelancer!