Freespace 2

One of the best Space Pilot Sim Games. Travel through space, meet aliens, do missions, smuggle cargo, take part in epic space battles, get lost in wormholes, become a pirate, it's up to you. Freespace 2 lives up to it's name.

Even now, some 16 years later, this is truly an astonishing piece of gaming history. Beautiful graphics, amazing gameplay and a difficulty setting that is challenging without being impossible. I remember playing the hatful of sci-fi space warring games which were common back "in the day", The X-wing series, Wing commander et al, all brilliant, but this is the true standout genius, standing at the pinnacle of joystick battering glory. Buy it, you're a fool if you don't!

This is the best space shooter that has ever been made. X-Wing Alliance is a close second, and the recent Elite: Dangerous is a distant third. I'm looking forward to Star Citizen taking the crown, but until then, this is the best place to get your space sim on! After downloading this, look up the Freespace Open project. You'll find not only awesome graphical updates, but mods that add many new missions and even a port of the original Freespace campaign! If you love space sims, GET THIS NOW!

Many people have already pointed out the great story, the smooth gameplay and the awesome battles. All this is great but for me the best part is the diversity of the ships you get to play. You got Human and Vasudan ships to choose from and comes in different types. You have Space superiority, Assault, Bomber and Interceptor, each of these are very different and each type has a variety of models to choose from. The Space Superiority types are your bread and butter fighter, their role is primarily to engage and destroy enemy fighters. They sit somewhere between Assault and Interceptor, being faster and more manouverable then the Assault types while having heavier loadout and shield/armor then the Interceptor class. Internally the variety is great, from the supernimble but fragile Ulysses to the well rounded Myrmidon. Assault class fighters sit somewhere between Bombers and Space superiority. They incorporate a much higher secondary payload and high shielding/armor. They are capable of engaging any target but shines against heavier targets such as light cruisers, turrets and enemy bombers. Some of the heaviest assault class fighters are incredibly well armed and armored, blurring the line between fighter and bomber. Assault class types ranges from the well balanced Hercules mkII to the super heavy Ares. Interceptors are the fastest of all classes, their role is surgical strikes and bomber intercept. Against enemy capital ships they can use their speed to knock out weapon emplacements and critical subsystems. Their primary role is to provide cover for capital ships against enemy bombers, using their great speed to intercept enemy bomber wings before they get in range of friendly capital ships. If they get into range the Interceptors will try and destroy incoming torpedoes before they impact. Interceptors are fast and nimble and can hold their own against most enemy fighters although prolonged engagement should be avoided. All Interceptors are fairly similar, prime examples includes the Horus and the Perseus class. Bombers are generally heavy and slow ships that rely on figher cover, enormous shielding/armor ratings and some specialized weapons to deliver their payload. Being the only ship class with the ability to equip anti-capital torpedoes they are the only small ship class with enough firepower to take down the largest capital ships. Bomber pilots will try and close the range and release their payload until the absolute last moment to make sure that the torpedoes gets through enemy flak. After releasing the payload a bomber will often hit the afterburners when they disengage to avoid the inevitable blast radius from the torpedoes. Bomber design philosophy vary greatly, from the nimble Artemis (which is more manevourable then some fighters), to the fast Zeus strike bomber to the super heavy Boanerges.

Everything is fine in the game: variability, original missions, unique spaceships ... Best.