Freespace 2

Ah, Freespace 2. I can talk hours about this series. First of all, I'd highly recommend Freespace 1. The gameplay is pretty much the same except Freespace 2 does everything better and more. But the story will make much more sense if you start from Freespace 1 and believe me, this is not just a simulation. This game has a lot of character to it and caring about the story will make it much better. You will feel proud of your achievements as you move up the ranks in the Terran fleet, flying in various squadrons. One part of the game you'll fly a bomber, carrying heavy armaments that can take down capital ships, defending itself with heavy armor and auto turrets. Other times you'll be an interceptor, incredibly fast attacker that targets the bombs themselves, almost in a suicidal dive. There will also be occasions where you'll be included in projects with Vasudan, the alien species, but I'd like to avoid spoilers. You will care about the stations and main ships. You will gather badges. Your success on missions will unlock weapons faster and sometimes, exclusively. And at least at some point, if you are me, you will shed tears. Freespace series. More than a simulator.

I don't know how I missed this game, but I'm glad I found it now. If you loved Elite, the original, Colony Wars and X-wing vs Tie Fighter then you will love this game. Even though it was written in 1999 it has aged remarkably well, but if you want to have the ultimate FS2 experience you have to checkout Freespace Open. The 2014 mod makes this game like watching a TV show. Epic space battles that make you feel like you're in an episode of Babylon 5. Be warned though, while you can play with a mouse, I highly recommend you get a flight stick, it adds an even deeper level of immersion to an already incredibly atmospheric game.

Review is based on playing using SCP, get it here: https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Source_Code_Project_index Also, read up on FS2_Open. In this game, you pilot various spacecraft and accomplish various objectives. The story is a continued war between the Galactic Terran Alliance and the Vasudans. The Shivans are back, and it's up to you and your wingmen to stop them. Pretty much everything in this game is awesome. Using the aforementioned mods/conversions, visuals are stunning, audio is awesome. The base game is great. There are detailed briefings for each mission, sometimes you fail objectives as part of the plot... it's a reminder that things don't always go your way. The difficulty level is adjustable, and is useful, because some of the missions suffer from poor design. There are capital ships of various classes that have various subsystems that can be disabled or destroyed. This can hamper a ship's speed, reduce the effectiveness of its weapons or knock out its sensors. Brilliant design. The campaign left me longing for more, at which point in time I played various mods. I can't recommend the Blue Planet mod enough: https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Blue_Planet It will blow your mind. Note that beam weaponry and EW is much more important in this game than in the previous one.

Here is a game that, after all these years since it came out, still makes me play it! It's awesome, the voices, the graphics, the gameplay. Enemies shooting you left and right. Your squadron buddies asking for your help, the heat of the battle! The incredible momentum of a true dog fight in space. Sometimes you can almost feel it's real (your heart races so much you almost end up with a heart attack)! One of the best games (in it's category) ever made for sure. Of course the ships aren't detailed like the ones we see today in more modern games. But that's part of it's charm. I think. This game had a lot of known voices of Hollywood: Robert Loggia (Independence Day), Ronny Cox (Total Recall), Kurtwood Smith (Robocop), Stephen Baldwin (Backdaft, The hunt for the red october)... Just to mention a few... About making a movie out of Freespace, well, why not, even if it's only to see how this story ends... At the very least, a Freespace3 Game. I'd Buy it even for as much as €50!

Probably the most perfect space combat game ever made. The coolest looking ships, the most impressive looking battles, one of the best soundtracks, and probably the most interesting, gripping, well-paced and well-told stories of any game ever. It's such a shame that we will likely never see a sequel, but at the same time, the story kind of feels complete even without one. I strongly recommend playing this with the freespace 2 open mod pack.