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Where do you want to go today?

But while Freelancer clearly has roots in Roberts' story-driven space adventuring, its basis is an Elite style of freedom. You are essentially set loose to trade wherever you want and fight whomever you want, working within a system of factions to determine who will attack you on sight and who will sell you new guns and ships. As a single player game, Freelancer shunts you through a series of missions to tell a story before turning you lose in this galaxy. As a multiplayer game -- which, it should be noted, can be played single player -- Freelancer just turns you lose from the get-go.

Setting out into space

Inside view

Nice sunset

The galaxy is constructed from a web of space stations and planets, all connected by "tradelanes" that speed up travel by propelling ships through a series of rings. This web is buzzing with more traffic than the airspace over Chicago O'Hare: fighter patrols and convoys go about their business, chatting freely about what they're doing, where they're going, and even what they're carrying. It's a talkative interstellar traffic jam, all dynamically generated and plugged into the faction system to determine who fights whom, regardless of how they feel about you. It breathes life into the traditional vacuum we've been given in other space sims.

In another move that distinguishes it from other space sims, Freelancer instills this bustling vacuum with a sense of place. Different areas are characterized by distinct "terrain", as it were. Using colored light, varied planets, stars, moored capital ships, space stations, clever ship designs, and even hackneyed phenomena like nebulae and asteroid fields, the game manages to give different places their own sense of location. There are distinct regions, distinguished by culture and geography. The distinctions aren't always merely cosmetic: a dogfight in an asteroid field feels exhilaratingly different from one in a nebula. There are landmarks clearly visible from across the system or even across the galaxy. Freelancer is perhaps the first space sim to support what’s known in flight sims as VFR: visual flight rules. Navigate the stars using the trusty Mark I Eyeball.

Hope you brought a winter coat

Don't speed in front of the cops

Head on pass

It's not in the least bit realistic, but it is something better: memorable. From the dingy tones of Bretonia to the bright colors of the Kusari Empire to the spooky space storms of the Badlands, Freelancer makes outer space vivid, varied, and distinct. The evocative music also deserves a special mention. Instead of being a typically bland action soundtrack, it varies nicely with a number of different themes for different locations. It's a classic example of music complementing the artwork rather than just accompanying it.