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A long long troubled development ago…

After a long and troubled development, Freelancer is finally here. Born from the departure of Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts from Origin, Freelancer was supposed to be the debut title for Roberts' new company, Digital Anvil. But now, seven years later, it's more of a survivor than a debut, emerging from a series of cutbacks, cancellations, departures, and corporate acquisitions. That it actually made it to the shelves is enough of a surprise. But the real surprise is that it turned out to be pretty darn good.

Hamburgers, anyone?

The death of Fulke Young

Flying double

Once upon a time

In terms of the way this space combat sim/action game plays out, Freelancer owes more to David Braben's Elite than Chris Robert's Wing Commander. Elite, which predated Wing Commander by three years, was set in a free-form universe. You got to fly around, doing whatever you wanted, earning money for better ships and bigger guns, building up your reputation and generally playing tourist in a galaxy that had been laid open before you. The only real story was the one you created. “So I flew here and did this and then I flew there and did that," the story went.

Rain in an English city? No!

Come here often?

Star war

But the Wing Commander series, which has served as the paradigm for a decade of space sims, was built from canned missions. “So you will fly here and do this and then you will fly there and do that,” said Wing Commander. Each mission was really just a sequence of waypoints, each with a pre-set battle with a pre-determined number of enemies and a mandate that it you didn't succeed, you'd have to reload and play it again. When you were done flying the sequence, the mission was over. In between missions, you got a cutscene to advance the plot and segue you into the next mission. It afforded a rigid structure geared towards telling a story rather than creating one; the action served as interactive interludes. It traded Elite's freedom for Roberts' narrative.