Imaginary games that you plan on getting (in your mind) this year

[A Black Falcon]

So F-Zero plays just like Mario Sunshine because you use a controller and buttons to move?

Oh COME ON, Freelancer controls a lot like a FPS! Well... a Decent-style FPS...

That's not how Privateer, Elite, or Freelancer work. First of all I can't believe you've never played much of a non-linear space sim (the best kind there is), but I'll get to that later. What you do in these types of games is find jobs, join guilds, etc. and take jobs to make money. You can use the money for upgrades such as weapons, shielding, thrusters, or for buying new ships. There are several different jobs you can take. You can become a smuggler and transport illegel commodities between various worlds, you can become a bounty hunter and kill or capture people for money, you can become a legit trader and buy and sell commodities for a profit, and various other jobs. The more money you make the better ships, weapons, etc. you can buy so that you can visit new worlds in new solar systems, and basically just do whatever you want to. The freedom is what makes these types of games so much fun.

The only space flight sims I own are Wing Commander (from PC Gamer's classic games collection disc...), X-Wing '95, TIE Fighter CD-Rom Collection, TIE Fighter '95 (same thing, but win95 and better graphics...), and X-Wing Alliance. Yup, that's it... (uhh... except for a ... abandonware ... copy of Freespace 2...) but I've played demos of a variety of others (Starlancer, Freelancer, Privateer 2, Tachyon (good game!), Freespace 1 and 2 (also good games...), etc...). And yes, the open-ended ones do sound like they play quite differently in many aspects, aspects which make the games more fun in non-combat ways. But I honestly don't mind the linear campaign... actually, I like the style. Sure, you can't choose what missions to do or anything, but the added story depth is nice.

Oh yeah, and its not like there isn't ANY choices. In TIE Fighter for example there're the hidden bonus objectives to do which get you stuff...

In a X-Wing, flight systems and combat is key because the fighting is the central part of the game. In Freelancer it admittedly is a bit less important because of other options... but still, its far more fun to fly a ship with a joystick than with a mouse! Far, far more fun...

And Freelancer's combat is just far too simple. Sure, it has a nice touch (how you need to pay for everything, included missiles fired) or two, but its painfully simple... the combat is just click-spin-fire. Like Wing Commander but even SIMPLER... which is bad.

But they lack longevity. With something like X-Wing you can beat it in a relatively short amount of time and there's really no reason to go back, while with games like Freelancer and the upcoming X 2 you could literally play them for years without getting board, as there's an almost endless amount of things to explore. I love these types of space sims because of the amount of freedom you get.

I've had TIE Fighter since '96 and still haven't beaten it. On Easy. X-Wing is just as long. X-Wing Alliance is close. "short"? Uhh... NO. Now, sure, I don't play TIE Fighter much and pretty much never play those others. But the fact remains... TIE Fighter has like 70 main missions. Each takes quite some time to finish. That's many, many hours of gaming... it might be a bit too long. :)

Honestly, the reason I haven't played TIE Fighter in 6 months isn't because I don't want to but because I'm so close to the end... just two or three more missions and its all over! I've been playing the thing off and on for so long... I don't want it to end...

Oh yeah, and X 2 is a hardcore space sim... you still like it? :)

Then you like them for the management during combat rather than the combat itself, which is vey simple.

X-Wing's combat is easily ten times more complex than Wing Commander, at least. No question about that... you seriously think they are close? Huh? But Wing Commander is so simple! X-Wing/TIE Fighter adds multiple layers of depth, making the sim far more interesting... and it makes the missions more varied, too.


Oh yeah, and finally, based on my experience in the genre, after TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance, the next best space sim is Freespace 2.