7th March 2003, 1:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 7th March 2003, 2:00 PM by A Black Falcon.)
I played it now... the control scheme seems like a cross between Descent and Homeworld... two good games, but not space shooters. It doesn't play like a space shooter... and combat is much simpler to do than in standard space shooters. Just point the mouse button at the ship and hold fire down... you'll kill them eventually (it takes a while... those guys have lots of health...). Ooh, deep.
Any space shooter with that control scheme is made easier... its a fact. Mouse aiming like that is clearly easier to do than joystick. Easier and simpler... but not more fun. Maybe it is for you, since you seem to not like standard joystick-based combat in spacesims, but for me, who loves that? No way.
Was the game fun, for the short time the demo lasts? Yeah... it felt a LOT like Wing Commander and Starlancer with a weird control scheme... which is expected given that its from the same developers. Those games have very simple combat, and that 'speed boost' thing to go between waypoints where you kill stuff. I always vastly preferred the more challenging and detailed combat system in the X-Wing / TIE Fighter series to Wing Commander's simple one... and Freelancer? It takes a very simple combat system (Wing Commander series) and makes it simpler with the mouse. Fun? Yeah... but it results in a game that plays more like Descent than Freespace... and that isn't exactly a good thing considering the genre its supposedly in.
Oh, and the behind the ship viewpoint is needed for the game to be fun... another huge departure from previous games. That is another hugely unrealistic thing... and not exactly welcome. It works in Rogue Squadron, but shouldn't be in hardcore flight games... but given that Freespace's combat is a lot more like Rogue Squadron than a mid/hardcore space sim, its not THAT bad.
As for the lack of a map, well, that isn't a huge problem because of how they have all those big arrows on the HUD pointing to other ships... it'd still be nice (I love the Star Wars sims' dual-circle radar system...), its not strictly necessary when combined with the behind the ship viewpoint and those big arrows.
As for power management... I really noticed its removal. Its probably the single biggest simplification in the game... I've never played a spacesim before where there are no consequences whatsoever for firing your main guns and with as few options you can mess with regarding ship systems. Great for newbies! But awful for someone who loves the depth power-management systems bring...
So, what we have is a game with extremely simple, originally Wing Commander-ish combat that has been given a big dose of Descent and resulted in a simple combat and control system that dumbs down that part of the game considerably.
However, it also has a very deep nonlinear aspect... with many paths to choose, lots of optional missions, etc. So that part of the game is interesting... but its still annoying that they changed the main gameplay so much. Its unique... and fun... but gets old. Too simple? Maybe... but that combined with the fact I never liked Wing Commander's style of gameplay (go to waypoint in hyperjets. Kill enemies. Go to next waypoint. Zzzz...) sure doesn't help... but still its a good game because of how it went back to the style of Elite or Privateer -- openended gameplay where you can do all kinds of stuff... which is cool. And helps a lot... if it was just action like Starlancer it'd be a dissapointing game like that one was because of all the issues with the game I've mentioned... but that mostly saves it.
Though I have absolutely no problem with linear games at all, its nice to play both kinds of games... and not many games are openended so when they are it makes them stand out more. Freelancer has gone back to that old style... which is cool.
Mind you -- its not the only openended space game... the Battlecruiser series is completely openended, but unlike this style (Privateer) it isn't a trading game... its actually on the other end of the scale -- the gameplay in that one is super hardcore. And I haven't played X or X2 but I heard those were also super-hardcore spacesims that might haveopenendedness too...
Any space shooter with that control scheme is made easier... its a fact. Mouse aiming like that is clearly easier to do than joystick. Easier and simpler... but not more fun. Maybe it is for you, since you seem to not like standard joystick-based combat in spacesims, but for me, who loves that? No way.
Was the game fun, for the short time the demo lasts? Yeah... it felt a LOT like Wing Commander and Starlancer with a weird control scheme... which is expected given that its from the same developers. Those games have very simple combat, and that 'speed boost' thing to go between waypoints where you kill stuff. I always vastly preferred the more challenging and detailed combat system in the X-Wing / TIE Fighter series to Wing Commander's simple one... and Freelancer? It takes a very simple combat system (Wing Commander series) and makes it simpler with the mouse. Fun? Yeah... but it results in a game that plays more like Descent than Freespace... and that isn't exactly a good thing considering the genre its supposedly in.
Oh, and the behind the ship viewpoint is needed for the game to be fun... another huge departure from previous games. That is another hugely unrealistic thing... and not exactly welcome. It works in Rogue Squadron, but shouldn't be in hardcore flight games... but given that Freespace's combat is a lot more like Rogue Squadron than a mid/hardcore space sim, its not THAT bad.
As for the lack of a map, well, that isn't a huge problem because of how they have all those big arrows on the HUD pointing to other ships... it'd still be nice (I love the Star Wars sims' dual-circle radar system...), its not strictly necessary when combined with the behind the ship viewpoint and those big arrows.
As for power management... I really noticed its removal. Its probably the single biggest simplification in the game... I've never played a spacesim before where there are no consequences whatsoever for firing your main guns and with as few options you can mess with regarding ship systems. Great for newbies! But awful for someone who loves the depth power-management systems bring...
So, what we have is a game with extremely simple, originally Wing Commander-ish combat that has been given a big dose of Descent and resulted in a simple combat and control system that dumbs down that part of the game considerably.
However, it also has a very deep nonlinear aspect... with many paths to choose, lots of optional missions, etc. So that part of the game is interesting... but its still annoying that they changed the main gameplay so much. Its unique... and fun... but gets old. Too simple? Maybe... but that combined with the fact I never liked Wing Commander's style of gameplay (go to waypoint in hyperjets. Kill enemies. Go to next waypoint. Zzzz...) sure doesn't help... but still its a good game because of how it went back to the style of Elite or Privateer -- openended gameplay where you can do all kinds of stuff... which is cool. And helps a lot... if it was just action like Starlancer it'd be a dissapointing game like that one was because of all the issues with the game I've mentioned... but that mostly saves it.
Though I have absolutely no problem with linear games at all, its nice to play both kinds of games... and not many games are openended so when they are it makes them stand out more. Freelancer has gone back to that old style... which is cool.
Mind you -- its not the only openended space game... the Battlecruiser series is completely openended, but unlike this style (Privateer) it isn't a trading game... its actually on the other end of the scale -- the gameplay in that one is super hardcore. And I haven't played X or X2 but I heard those were also super-hardcore spacesims that might haveopenendedness too...