Freespace 2

One of the last great titles of a forgotten game genre, the space sim. Along with the Wing Commander series, Independance War, and even Starlancer. Unfortunately before a 3rd installment could be done, Interplay was sold to THQ who had no interest in continuing in the space sim genre and thus a saga ended abruptly, despite Volitions desire to continue. The simplified interface coupled with intense on the fly story telling really set this game apart. It proved that a game didn't need CG animated mission briefings to get you into the action of a game. Unlike its predecessors and successors (which became very few) Volition (taking some cues from Valve) provided the fan community with mod tools which are still largely used today. The fan mods from missions to total conversions are still being played today. The only real sad part about this game was its limited online code (being that online gameplay was in its infancy then) thus fighting battles with players across the world was never realized. The single player game is imersive and intense and worthy of the "Game of the Year" status it once earned. The price on GOG is truly a steal for this outstanding space sim. Go get it and enjoy!!

Ok so this with the free addon's (community provided) is really a current game. In the absence of Wing commander 5 or FreeSpace 3 this is it. If anyone can point me at a better looking current spacesim then please do because I don't know of any. Till EA give WingCommander a new look this is it!

Everything freespace 1 did this Freespace 2 does better. It really made you feel like you were apart of an epic space battle, especially when your a small little ship flying in between two GIGANTIC Behemoths firing off HUGE laser beams that can incinerate you if you get a little too close. Needless to say its simply exhilarating and I heavily recommend it. The only flaw I can think of is that the map/mission editor is convoluted but I was never good with those anyway.

Although you can't really compare across genres fairly, this game still resides in my top 10 of all time.

Nothing more to say