Freespace 2 was originally released in 1999 by Volition, Inc. In 2002, Volition released the source code to the public, because they are super-uber. It should also be noted that the prequel (Descent: Freespace) is a barely affiliated sequel in the legendary Descent series, which I grew up with. Look it up. Freespace, it turns out, didn’t end up incorporating the original Descent ideas, and moved in a new direction. Alas.
As a result, as you read this review, keep in mind that Freespace 2 is now completely free and available for download legally on the internet.
The .exe installer file can be found here, and the OpenAL files (which you will discover you need when you install it and it crashes) are available here.
Also keep in mind that Freespace 2 works on all the mainstream desktop OS’s: Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.
Now, the review:
Story: Freespace 2 has a pretty standard plot for a sci-fi game. Actually, the plot can be likened to Mass Effect in a lot of ways: there is a main alliance (the GTVA [Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance]) between two of the three races (the terrans and vasudans, duh), a rebellious splinter organization of all humans (the NTF [Neo-Terran Front]), and a mysterious, Reaper-esque race of aliens called the Shivans. Surprisingly, for a first person starfighter game, the plot is rather in depth, growing nicely off of the plot in Freespace one. Although the main character (you) is just a cog in the machine, your reports from superiors and a few cut-scenes provide an interesting look into the events unfolding around you. Coincidently, you just so happen to be present at all the major events. Awesome.
As you complete missions, you get awarded medals for achievements, and slowly climb the ranks. Along with rank, they give you slowly more information and responsibility, literally. They will give you more strategic data (which has no affect on what your doing, just an fyi sorta thing), put you in charge of multiple fighter/bomber wings, and give you access to better weapons and ships. Although most of this has an immediate affect on your missions, the extra strategic information just made it feel more realistic.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Freespace 2’s depth and breadth of story they managed to shove into what is (essentially) a 4-D FPS. I award FS2 a 9/10 for Story.
Visual Appeal: The internet took Freespace 2 and ran with it. As a result, the version now available has been updated in many, many ways, including graphics. Although not incredibly impressive, FS2’s graphics are competitive. Before the source-code was released to the public, the game saw many awards for the explosions the game sports. It is true, the explosions in FS2 are incredibly impressive, growing from just white smoke leaving the ship (decompression) to lighting arching across the surface (systems down!) to massive, room shaking, explosions as capital ships come apart.
Although FS2 does not actually have the best graphics available today, they are not at all bad. For this, I give them 8/10.
Interface: The in-mission interface of FS2 is perfect. It has the most important, relevant information centered in your vision, with less important information around the peripherals. During combat, finding the information you need takes no time at all. Where Freespace 2 falls short, however, is outside of the mission. The rest of the interfaces and menus are much more difficult to navigate, and are less intuitive. For example: there is a default ship for a mission, but if you choose a different ship, you have to choose your armaments. Pinpointing what, exactly, each weapon does and its recharge/energy consumption so you can pick an effective combination, is extremely confusing. The main menu falls short of adequate as well. While it is a nice picture of the inside of a capital ship, nothing is labeled, so you have to mouse over it to tell what it is (if it is anything at all). It is possible there is a menu I’m not even aware of because of that.
Freespace 2 scores a 7/10 for interface.
Gameplay: Freespace 2 was designed with a joystick in mind. As a mouse user, this made things difficult, especially for 180 degree turns. If you plan to mouse this game, leave a lot of room open for your mouse if you want nice fluid turns instead of picking up your mouse 3 times. Additionally, for those of you who don’t want inverted vertical, the trick is to go into options -> controls, then look for pitch, click it, and hit the invert button in the lower left. Other than that little flaw, the game plays amazingly. It ends up using very little computing power (impressively so), so things in the background don’t much bother it. FS2 does not like being alt-tabbed, however, which made getting screenshots difficult. It will come back up, and will tab down nicely, but it keeps trying to call attention to itself again. I digress though. The gameplay in FS2 was right on the money. The ships were amazingly balanced as well: interceptors rocked bombers, but couldn’t touch capital ships and cruisers, while bombers rocked capital ships and cruisers, but couldn’t touch fighters. While there is a ship that clearly dominates as the best bombing ship, and a ship that dominates as the best interceptor/fighter, there is no single end-all ship
The mission endings are also very interesting. For the most part, it is very hard to fail a mission completely, except later in game when your actions matter slowly more and more. If one of the cargo ships you were escorting is destroyed, you get lectured for it, but you still continue. Usually, the next mission relies on these supplies, so your a little more pressed in the next mission, but you always have the choice to redo the mission. This neat little feature does go a little too far at times, though. During an special ops. mission, for example, I accidentally committed a war crime. (I hit spacebar (torpedoes) instead of x (missile countermeasure) and destroyed a civilian ship) Despite being told I was being brought up on charges and would likely be executed, the game continued normally. Though the mission before, failure would end up with you just being executed, and that was a total failure. Apparently the trial changed everything. But I digress.
For gameplay, I’m giving Freespace 2 a 9/10.
Difficulty: Freespace 2 is not a particularly difficult game at default settings. It has a very nice tutorial missions which, while a bit buggy, do very well at familiarizing the player with the controls. From there, the learning curve is quite gradual, you barely realize you learned anything at all. There are a few missions (mostly optional special ops. missions) which are extremely difficult, ones that, on Very Easy, I would still fail over and over (keep in mind I was playing on medium, 2 levels above that). Speaking of impossible missions, Freespace 2 has a nice little feature that allows you skip a mission if you attempt it and fail it 5 times. Personally, I love this feature. 5 times is just enough to make a few good attempts at it, and just few enough before you get absolutely pissed at the game. Since each mission takes about 10 minutes beginning to end, this is only about an hours worth of trying. If only everything in life would let you skip it if you failed at it for an hour.
On the other end of the scale, however, very hard is basically impossible. In medium, your wingmates will slowly be shot down, but in very hard, your basically flying solo against an armada of Red Barons. The scale does have upwards of 8 different levels, so there is plenty of room to choose the difficulty right for you.
For difficulty, Freespace 2 scores an 8/10 for difficulty.
Replay Value: Freespace 2 is probably one of the most modded games out there. Get bored of Freespace classic? Try it in Battlestar Galactic, Star Wars, Star Trek, Bablyon 5, or even Starfox flavor! If you prefer the classic plotline, just want something new, there are 20 odd different mods for campaigns in different eras before and after the classic plotline. Coupled with an active and intense multiplayer community, Freespace 2 has plenty to do when your done with the classic campaign.
Essentially, Freespace 2 has 20 expansion packs. All of them as free as the original. For replay value I give FS2 a 7/10 because, despite this, 4D spacefighting gives me a headache.
Overall: I was incredibly impressed with Freespace 2. Incredibly impressed. I would have considered forking over $20 for this game, maybe even $30, especially considering the mods available for it. The best part, of course, is that I didn’t have to. Freespace 2 is sticking with me for awhile. Its final score is: 8/10. Highest scoring yet!
Screenshots: It should be noted that I was originally running Freespace 2 via OpenGL instead of Direct3D8, which not only runs smoother, but looks better. Vista, however, would only provide an entirely black image when I took a screenshot with OpenGL, so all the screenshots I took are with Direct3D8.
Basic HUD
The Fabled Explosion
Vasudan Cruiser
Pretty impressive, hm?
Jumble, End Post.
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