Number Three, singleplayer

FreeSpace 2

As I mentioned in my FreeSpace 2 review (or was it the demo review? Anyway, don't read them, my writing was awful back then.) Like I was saying… as I mentioned back then, I'm an unabashed Wing Commander junkie. Wing Commander was the first game I got on PC and it's still the most memorable. Yet in good conscience I could not place a Wing Commander above FreeSpace 2 on this list.

FreeSpace 2 is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the space sim world. Oh sure, you can make good arguments for TIE Fighter, X-Wing, various Wing Commanders and even the original Descent: FreeSpace: The Great War. But none of these are as polished, technically advanced or mature as FreeSpace 2.

FreeSpace 2 had you fighting as part of a flight that's part of a squadron that's part of a fleet, against an enemy fleet. Enemy starships 3 miles long? Yeah… just sit back and don't bother attacking. Leave it to your cruisers and bombers, while you make sure enemy bombers don't take runs at your ships. How about running escort for corvettes of yours in a nebula, full of firestorms and lightning, with constant magnetic interference that scrambles your sensors as you seek out enemy carriers and cruisers.

How about very difficult, optional missions for special squadrons? Flying stealth fighters to scout out behemoth enemy ships? Or flying deep - way deep - into unknown enemy territory, scanning and destroying objects that you can't even identify. Your scans will be sent into an intelligence agency but you, the lowly pilot, will never, ever know what you attacked, if it was important, and what difference it made.

You are anonymous. You never have a name, only medals, a rank and a squadron. You do your missions and you do them well, an ace many times over, but never given a headlining story. The story starts with a tragic war against fellow brothers and men, and ends up in a desperate fight against an unstoppable enemy alien force.

Unlike so many other games, FreeSpace 2 never falls back on cliches. It never over-exposes the plot, you never end up being disappointed that an enemy hyped as being invicinble is just a push-over. It's impossible to give FreeSpace 2 all the credit it deserves without spoiling the plot. Like its predecessor, it's one of the so very, very few games with the maturity and strength to deny the player, to make him wonder, to leave questions behind. In fact, after FS2, there are more questions than ever about the Shivans, your ultimate enemy.

FreeSpace 2 clinches its award as Number Three on FiringSquad's Best Singleplayer Games of All Time for simply being the best space combat sim, and the most mature game ever. Like Baldur's Gate, Fallout and Descent, it is unfortunate to see this franchise locked down by a publisher that can't afford to develop the games, but we hope that Interplay can rebound from its current troubles.