This is a FreeSpace Demo Review

But first, why I mentioned all that

You see, when the original FreeSpace came out (then called Descent : FreeSpace, The Great War, even though it had nothing to do with Descent), I scoffed. I looked at it and said "ooh. shiny." Anything space and not Wing Commander was always an inferior effort. TIE Fighter was the lone blip on the screen that could be considered competition, while its older sibling's (X-Wing) appeal stemmed only from the universe it was spawned from, and their successor, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, just plain sucked.

Shivan Cruiser Losing It

She's ready to Blow

So I was going through the aisles of my local computer store when I saw FreeSpace, its ridiculous claims of huge capital ships and superior graphics, and I snickered just before dropping the box on the ground. Then I got a call from a few friends who played it, saying that in some ways, it was superior to Prophecy. I almost took their word for it, before remembering that these people still liked X-Wing.

Take my word for it, if I ever have any bias when reviewing games, it is/was Wing Commander (depending on whether or not the next game can recapture my attention.)

FreeSpace 2

Oii… did I ever miss out, it seems. Because I was playing shooter after shooter, and strat after strat, I slowly started missing the good old days with furious space combat. I've played Prophecy way too much, and the only thing out there was this FreeSpace 2 demo. I was always tempted to download it, but just kept thinking "Nah… this'll just waste bandwidth and hard drive space…" Finally, though, my need for a great war in space finally forced me to download the demo.

Oh boy. Is this ever hard to say.

Looks Like A Black Widow blech

Strafe run her belly

It rocks. It is superior in almost every conceivable way than anything else in its genre that I have encountered. First, you have absolutely amazing graphics and sound. Next, you have the fast and furious gameplay, coupled with slightly slower movement than in Wing Commander, so that when you get out of position from something you're supposed to protect, you will pay for it dearly. This definitely makes you stick to your objectives and think more than you would in Wing Commander. But that's not all. The game isn't pure action… it's simulation. There are so many commands, weapon choices, and options that it will take a few days of heavy play to remember them.