Microsoft Freelancer v.1.0

Experience a vast, open ended universe filled with infinite adventures. You are FreeLancer Edison Trent, an intergalactic jack of all trades. Your Mission: whatever you want. Become a smuggler or a ruthless space thug, a naval hero or a trader. Dodge through asteroids fields while plloting ellte fighters. The action is endless as you travel through 48 known star systems. Greed, morality, compassion, anger...whatever motivates you, the dynamic universe responds. Take the first step. The universe is waiting.

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• Reviewed by: poetrymaster4000

  08-12-06

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: very well thought out game, amazing graphics detail in all universes

  Weaknesses:game will sometimes shut down while in two of the debris fields. has a problem with recognizing graphics cards

  Overall Evaluation: Freelancer is a very awesome Space simulation game, the universes are great in detail. Have used it before before my computer went bust now back into the game I find myself spending at least 4 hours playing the game. Can't stop myself, interaction is great as well. I would reccommend this game to anyone who likes interactive and simulation games. The ships are awesome and the weapons can get very intense not at the start of the game but as you progress through each level. Is good for hand/eye co-ordination weather playing with mouse or keyboard strokes. Game is well worth the time spent on it, if you have the time. Good game for all just watch your time :)

• Reviewed by: ohyan2912

  09-03-05

  Duration of ownership: 30 Days

  Strengths: Ease of play, quick start, strong programming no crashes yet.

  Weaknesses:A little slow to load.

  Overall Evaluation: I like it. I play few games but I do play this one. I'ts not exactly what I thought it would be but for the over fifty set, and remembering such classics as the text based greats like Space Bucks and the original Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I like it. I especially like the flying parts. You don't need to be a wiz on a keyboard or have an advanced degree on astro navigation. If you're not a modern day game geek and can still remember pong then you may want to give it a go. Legal copies are cheap enough in the paper sleeve only versions. Also mine came with out instruction and I'm playing without reading anything but the keyboard shortcuts guide.Have fun

• Reviewed by: marstinson

  05-29-04

  Duration of ownership: 60 Days

  Strengths: Good story line, decent graphics, low learning curve (yes, even I can do spaceship combat); face it, it's a fun game.

  Weaknesses:NPCs and dialog are so cookie-cutter as to border on pathetic. Economics and some aspects of combat stretch willing suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. The navigation system is lacking.

  Overall Evaluation: I'm not quite sure whether to rate this as a space-based trade game, a space-based combat game or as a space-based mystery. It has very strong elements of all three. As a hybrid, it is a pretty good game, but no more than that. As a single genre, though, it falls short.As a trade game, the economic system is very unrealistic. The implementation of "buy low, sell high" is way too simplistic. Market prices do not change. You will get a higher price at bases that are farther from the source of supply, but the trade aspect seems to be designed only as a means of allowing you to upgrade your ship and weapons.As a mystery, you are led by the nose and aren't given a chance to figure out anything for yourself. All story-line information is presented through cut-scenes and ship-to-ship dialog. The cut-scenes are generally well done with exceptionally good voice talent (John Rhys-Davies and George Takei, among others), but the overall effect is "here's what we found out for you, now go shoot some ships." All of the exploration that you do is related to trade and does not serve to advance the story.As a combat game, Freelancer works only moderately well. The interface and controls are simple enough for anyone to master quickly, but reading the manual is required as there is almost no in-game help available. Fortunately, the manual is small. Enemy combatants become progressively more challenging, fueling the need to upgrade your ship and weapons whenever possible. The overall effect is of an arms race rather than skill development, though.Single missions are handled through NPCs and always happen in a bar. NPC dialog is repetitive to the point of being boring and your character's attempt at sounding street-wise is almost laughable. The fact that the voice talent could pull it off with a straight face is proof of their abilities.In some things, logic is completely lacking. For example, the sector is plagued by pirates and such that will pounce on you in spite of the fact that they are out-gunned and out-matched. Where they come up with the hordes of replacement ships needed to fight you, the military and the police is beyond me. As I said earlier, the economic system is unrealistic.The waypoint navigation system makes getting around simple enough. But in its overwhelming desire to be helpful, it does get in the way at times. Rather than just remind you that you have a story-line mission pending, it automatically sets up your waypoints to the story-related point, forcing you to manually override them when you want to do something else.Also, there are a few points when you are forced to start a story-line mission, whether you want to or not. For example, if you need to meet your story-line contact in a bar on the other side of the sector, but would rather be shooting raiders in your current system, the game will not let you accept the non-story-line mission.As a single-genre game, Freelancer is lacking. As a hybrid, it works, but not well. But if you are just interested in spending a few hours making piles of insterstellar scrap, it's decent.

• Reviewed by: Kosh

  08-04-03

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: The graphics and storyline are excellent. Controls are very good - no joy stick required. Combat simulations are excellent.

  Weaknesses:Starting ship and credits could have been a little higher, but this could be eliminated with a few missions.

  Overall Evaluation: This is a great game, and one of the best offerings from the MS gaming group thus far. I had a problem with the license key verification program as you were dropped from the server on the multiplay mode during the verification process, but this is fixable. The graphics were nothing less than spectacular with a 9700 pro, and the flexibility of doing mission, or hauling freight to earn credits was a great feature in this program. I enjoyed storyline it kept your interest, and seem to end too quickly for me. Great game Kosh

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