Freespace 2

I used to play this when i was a kid after i found it hidden amongst some of my dads other games back around 2002-3 before i lost all of my discs (it came with like 2-3 discs at the time). Ever since then i had always wanted to hop back onto Freespace 2 and fast forward to 2019 and it still lives up to how much i enjoyed it back then. Out of all of the space sims i have played - Elite dangerous, star citizen and even the recent infinity: battlescape; none of those compare to the immersion that freespace 2 give me for space simulation combat, but maybe i'm biased. The graphics though dated still hold up well and the atmospehere and voice acting really sets the scene for the relatively interesting storyline. I tried playing originally with just a keyboard as i was keep to play but that was pretty grim, i used to play with an old microsoft joystick so i ordered a new one, if you're interested in this game (which i would highly recommend) a joystick is a must, it's makes it a lot more fun!

This is the height of the 90s space sim, and unfortunately also one of the genres last gasps. I say this having not played the Wing Commander series aside from Privateer, so take it with that in mind. But in terms of story, gameplay, voice acting and graphics this was the game that blew me out of the water. Tie Fighter, X-Wing, love them- but the problem with Star Wars is that all of the weapons are pretty much the same. Few torpedoes/missiles, and turbolasers of one form or another. Freespace 2 capital ships have huge beams weapons, both anti-fighter and anti-ship, there are bombers with torpedoes, single missiles, swarm missiles, huge variety of fighter projectile weapons. Enemy variety is great too, every faction has their own flavour- and the big bad are truly epic. Atmosphere is great too. If you play just one space sim game, this has to be it. If you play two, pick up Tie Fighter after this. Can't recommend it enough.

Few games could hold up to this one when it came out, and even today this game provides me more entertainment than many 2013 games. Through the power of open source projects I'm playing this game at 2560x1600 res with beautiful graphics and 3d sound...I'm playing the freespace 1 campaign on freespace 2! For Free! I'm so glad this genre is being revived in 2014...but until that happens, you gotta play this game!

I first played this game when I was 13... That was 17 years ago now, and I swear, I've played the vanilla campaign through at least once every year since, if not more. The story is intriguing, in-depth and incredibly engaging! Add to that the fact that this game's community is STILL incredibly active (http://hard-light.net/) and even used the released source code to revamp the graphics to modern-day standards? You've got an ever evolving classic. The community has released hundreds of extra campaigns, total conversions, and updates that you wouldn't believe. This is a must-have game for anyone and everyone. Buy it, you'll never, ever regret it!

Freespace 2 has to be the high point of a genre that seems to be largely dead these days. I remember buying it as a budget title many years ago and being blown away by it. Even when it was a bargain bin game the graphics utterly impressed and drew you in. The story goes from strength to strength as the game progresses with solid voice acting from gruff admirals to young paniced fighter pilots. The rest of the audio does a fine job too, with lasers fizzing, missiles whooshing, explosions eh, exploding with nice clarity and wait until you here the signature sound of a beam cannon larger then your fighter charging up. The music is, in my opinion probably the weakest aspect though and never really stands out. If you get this I would highly recommend get the freespace open mod which can be found in the games forums. This will let you set higher resolutions, anti aliasing, antistropic filtering and so on. On top of that it will also allow you to play the large number of custom campaigns and mods that have been made since the game engine was made open source including one that updates textures and graphical effects (like explosions, lasers etc) which makes the game pleasing to the eye even by todays standards. When I orginally played this game it was with a joystick and I would safely say that it is still the best way to play it, I'd also say that for $6.99 it's a must buy if you own one. Since I repurchased on GoG (Having lost the CD sometime ago) I've been playing with the mouse and keyboard. It's not quite the same experience but still very playable. Don't be intimidated by all the bindings available, most of them you probably won't use. A little trial and error in the training missions until you are comfortable with your control setup and you should be fine. Really I'd recommend to anyone with a love of Sci-fi or anyone who misses the genre to purchase this gem, and I hope beyond hope that eventually GoG will get Starlancer eventually too!