Conclusion
Multiplayer
There isn’t much to write home about with the multiplayer option. The graphics are a little jumpy (to be expected online), enemy ships are very jerky in their movements that make them very difficult to target, however I don’t think that is intentional, it’s more likely due to bandwidth lag. And as for other players well, it’s such a big universe you’d be lucky to come face to face with another human being. I played for about an hour and it just felt like normal game-play (minus the story line). If you run into another human I’m sure it’d be a lot of fun – taking on an enemy fleet together, or defending an outpost as a team, but due to the fact that servers usually limit you to below 20 human players at a time, it’s rare to meet up with other people.
In hind-sight perhaps during multiplayer the programmers should have limited the playing field to just one or two star systems? That way there would be a lot more interaction with other humans (basically that’s the whole point of online gaming – the interaction). Thereby forcing people to take sides and start wars (not that wars are good of course……oh who am I kidding DEATH TO THE ENEMY!!!).
Conclusion
Good
- Graphics are incredible
- A massive universe to explore
- Perfect combination of a classic game and advanced graphics and game-play
- Enemy AI, pretty good in combat, learns and adapts to you
- Mouse flight works extremely well, and comes naturally even to beginners
- If you loved Elite, this is right up your alley.
Bad
-There are too many in-flight controls
- If you are used to using your joystick in flight sims, your going to run into real trouble programming all the in-flight keys into your stick
- Long flights between star systems
- Multiplayer mode seems a little tame and feels too much like the normal game
Summing up
If you’re not into space flight/combat games then you probably won’t like this game, but everyone else will probably love it, as the story line keeps you constantly occupied with new developments and new battles. As stated earlier getting used to the switching between the flight modes is perhaps a little tricky, and having to memorise the keys is also a little daunting, but the actual ship control itself just comes naturally. You simply move your mouse in the direction you want to turn and away you go, it really doesn’t come simpler than that.
I’ve talked at length about the ship controls and space action/battles because this is the solely most important part of the game. Freelancer without the battles would be as interesting as watching the proverbial paint dry. The action makes this game what it is. And the action just keeps coming-fight after fight after fight, and just when you think your ship can’t take another hit-another battalion of enemy ships uncloaks. The game will keep you busy for hours (OCP cannot be held responsible for any marital problems caused through game addiction).
Rating – Excellent
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