Wrap-Up

So, what've we got here?

Six-degrees-of-freedom gameplay, an intriguing plot, eye-pleasing graphics . . . this looks like a good package so far. What else do you have to look forward to? How about the nebula? What's that, you say? It's that big pink thing. What big pink thing, you say? The one on your screen. Just piss off and tell me what it is, you say? The nebula (or, hopefully nebulae) is a large cloud of Nasty Space Stuff that plays hell with your ship's systems, making it hard to track other ships inside, or even see them. This can be a huge tactical advantage if you're playing as one of the stealth ships, already designed for low electromagnetic emissions. It can also really suck if you're just cruising through the goo and a giant war vessel (and the large ships in this game are LARGE; the game's designers did a good job with a sense of scale) appears out of nowhere.

More dogfighting

Look like manta rays

Another item that promises coolness is FRED 2. Not some Mr. Rogers clone, but a FReespace EDitor. Using FRED, aspiring young star pilots can create their own missions. While we don't know the full extent of FRED's capabilities yet, we've compiled a list of features we'd like to see:

Fire plasma cannons!

Lots of ships go boom

• Ability to create own multi-player scenarios, e.g. "Last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer"
• Design your own ships, so you can look like Spaceman Spiff
• Editor tutorial involves making "Kill Jar-Jar" mission
• Ability to record cockpit chatter for missions ("Private Pyle!")
• Natalie Portman

He's on fire

Super mega death ray

The final word (for now)

It looks like we've got a game to keep our collective eyes peeled for, while simultaneously referring to ourselves in the third person. Freespace 2 is due out this December. Word.