Graphics

And you thought Quake3 looked good!

Please. Don't let anybody in the world tell you that the most intensive games are first person shooters. If anything is going to take that brand new Athlon and TNT2 Ultra clocked at 175/200, eat it down and cry "MORE!", then it will be a space combat sim. You've got to display massive backgrounds, tonnes of highly detailed ships and fighters (all with hundreds of polygons and unique textures), give them good, individual AI, have that AI follow the mission directives, and give the best special effects ever (once you play in FreeSpace 2's nebulas, your regular pink overlay will become extinct.) You might need the 90fps in Quake 3, but it's a lot easier to get 90fps there than in a space sim.

Multiple missile impacts

Beam just rips right through her

Weapons, explosions, backgrounds, ships… everything is just amazing. Just look at the screenshots and drool, my friend. Capital ships fire huge beams that cut fighters down left and right. There's also flak cannons that explode beside you, shaking you around and giving you a good idea of what is must have been like for B-17 crews over Berlin in World War II.

Space and nebulas are extremely impressive… I'm just at a loss for words how to describe them. Take a look at the screenshots.

The Ships

Are huge. I mean the average capital ship is the size of the Midway in Wing Commander: Prophecy. Not only are they big, but they are detailed and interesting looking, especially Shivan ships, with their evil, jagged edges and … just look at the pics, ok? Another cool thing is when a ship dies, it will have all sorts of little explosions before the big one, and then it will float dead in space, just a big hunk of debris.

And there she goes

You know he's had it

The big ships aren't just eye candy as in other games. They are lethal. I mean, let's face it. Even in X-Wing: Alliance, when you setup a fight against the Super Star Destroyer Executor, you could have beaten it without dying, given time - even if it was on Super Ace difficulty. Alright, alright, so the missiles would've gotten you. But essentially, it was just a big old target with lots of hitpoints.

In FS2, if you see a big ship, leave it to the other big ships. You'll be worm bait if you piss a big Shivan cruiser off and it starts firing those kickass beams at you.