Freelancer

Estimated release: Fall 2002

It’s been a long time

Freelancer is a game that’s been in development for so long, it’s fallen off of many people’s radar screens. People don’t even make vaporware jokes about it anymore. Well, we’re happy to report that the game does indeed exist, and appears to be nearing completion. Freelancer features a gorgeous 3D engine that can support dozens of ships on screen at once, with tiny fighters looking like gnats in proper scale next to larger battlecruisers and space stations. Get up close to any ship and you’ll see exquisitely detailed models and textures.

Badlands space station

Cutscene - station bridge?

Purty

The “space RPG”

So the game is pretty – what sets Freelancer apart from any other space combat game? First and foremost, it’s not all about combat. Freelancer fills an existing void in the “space RPG” genre. Games like Wing Commander Privateer allowed you to fly around huge universes, landing on random starbases or planets to pick up specific jobs for money. Exterminate a band of pirates to help the local militia. Deliver a cargo of ore from one starbase to another. Escort a merchant fleet from one planet to another. With the money you earn you can repair your ship, buy a new one (fighter or freighter?), outfit your ship with better weapons, purchase cargo, etc. Your choices are totally open ended, but will affect your ability to do certain tasks. If you choose a fighter as your primary ship, you can take on combat missions, but will obviously have a hard time doing the lucrative transport tasks. If you pick a big freighter type ship, you can move a lot of cargo, but fewer weapons, and lack of maneuverability will hinder your ability to defend yourself.

Looks like a steel refinery

Another cutscene

Dense minefield

Freelancer is the same type of game as Privateer, taken to a larger scale. There are over 170 different planets and bases throughout the game that you can land on and explore. On each planet, you’ll visit bars, and weapons/ship outfitters. Interacting with the native populations, you’ll be able to pick up jobs to keep you busy. The actions you take will affect the world around you, and the way people interact with you. For example, if you take the role of a pirate, by attacking freighters and stealing cargo, law-abiding folks will be less apt to talk to you or offer you jobs. The results of your latest missions may appear in the news, and the jobs available to you in the classifieds will change as well. Your reputation does indeed, precede you.

There is a primary storyline to follow in Freelancer, but with so many fun side tasks, most people who play this type of “space RPG” end up dilly-dallying around to improve their ship and gain wealth before advancing the plot.

Docking a big ship

Environments are variable

Looks like earth

Ease of control

The primary thing that sets Freelancer apart from previous space RPGs is its control scheme. In games like Privateer, you generally had to control your ship with a joystick, using the keyboard or a throttle to adjust your speed, select weapons and fire weapons. In general it’s not nearly as difficult as a flight sim, but there’s still a learning curve involved with most space combat games. So how’s Freelancer different? Brace yourself, Wing Commander fans: Freelancer’s controls are entirely mouse driven. You point and click with the mouse to fire your guns, and you don’t even need to drive the ship yourself if you don’t want to. Click on an enemy and the computer will pursue it for you, leaving you as the gunner of your own ship.

A dreary planet

You can still control the ship yourself in combat (using the mouse) by holding down the CTRL key as you move the mouse around. But no joystick support is provided. The reasoning given for this is because joystick penetration in the market is around 20% or less. One of the goals of Freelancer was to make this type of game more accessible to more people, sort of “Diablo-fying” the genre. As an old school Privateer player, I was initially disappointed, but there seems to be enough depth in the game to make me overlook the watered down control scheme for now.