I bought this game mostly after watching the video - it promises good only space sim action in the vein of Freelancer or Elite but in a massive universe. The reality is that it is dull and repetitive. I've sunk about 12 hrs into it now and all I've done is mine minerals and unlock an alien language WORD FOR WORD so means I don't understand what any NPC is saying. There is virtually no tutorial to speak of, the interface is far too simplistic (clearly meant for a dumb-sole game), the flight model is the equivalent of a Fisher Price kiddy car compared to the Ferrari that is any decent space sim (it doesn't let you go below a certain altitude, you immediately come to a halt if you get near any terrain). But by FAR THE WORST SIN is that there is no bloody map! In an exploration game! On a planet you wander around aimlessly using a scanner which temporarily shows items of interest in a very short range (these icons fade in seconds, forcing you to continuously ping the scanner - WHY?!) and this only works on FOOT. in your ship, it only reveals undiscovered locations (leaving out useful info like resources so you're forced to randomly land and hope to find resources you need), Once you find somewhere interesting its impossible to find your way back as there's no map, you can't set any way points, you don't even have a bloody compass. There are no local landmarks as it all looks uniformly mountainous with crazy vegetation) and with no compass you have no idea which direction you're going. Solar systems are just random groupings of planets with a space station somewhere. Again no system map to navigate (like Mass Effect), you can only see what planets are around on your tiny radar or just looking out of the cockpit. Combat is tacked on rubbish. Overall a massively overhyped game thats like a pretty gift box. Nice to look at (if you like cartoony, Spore-like graphics with a colour palette like those tests for colour blindness) but totally empty.
THE best space sim ever bar none! Better even than the quintessential classic that is TIE Fighter! The graphics, the story, the awesome beam weapons and gargantuan scale of capital ships all make FreeSpace the epic swansong of this genre. Its a real shame no one makes space sims any more, I'd love to see a FreeSpace 3.
