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51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Privateer Revisited...Great play, needs better economy, April 15, 2003
A strong story line made this a good game...having things to do other than play the story makes this a great game. The universe is large enough that you don't feel like you are wearing a straight jacket while it is just small enough that most locations feel unique. The mouse flight seemed a bit odd at first but I quickly adapted to it. The guns on the ships have a limited amount of pivot built in, the mouse seems to work better with this than a joystick would have. From an interface standpoint, more of the options need shortcuts. The manual also failed to fully detail the interface, leaving out a CRITICAL piece of information...what the changes to your cross hairs mean. It also fails to give enough information on the basics of weapon systems, so you are left on your own to experiment with when missiles are locked and how to use mines and turrets. This is clearly a remake of the Wing Commander Privateer game (which is unplayable on machines over 200 mhz because its too fast). Unfortunately, two things are missing... Wingmen (a nice to have, but acceptably missing given the story line) and an economy that MAKES SENSE! It is difficult to be a merchant when the planet/station that produces an item charges the most for it in most cases. For instance, I traveled to a station that was advertised as producing "basic alloy" figuring I could take the basic alloy to a planet that focused on manufacturing and sell it there for a markup. The reality was that basic alloy cost far more on the planet described as "producing" basic alloy than almost anywhere else by a very large amount.(like $80 per unit vs $20 a unit). I've had to learn that "produces" USUALLY means "buys for the highest price". It would be nice to see a realistic system (which has been done time and time again in games before), and even a dynamic system that if you tried to flood one system with a product, the price would go down somewhat. Another issue I had with the manual was its description of asteroid mining. It led me to beleive that I should go blow up large asteroids in an effort to find minerals to sell. The reality is you can blast big rocks all day and not get anything, they are just eyecandy. What you have to do is look for the little ones that zip by (and cause your cross hairs to spin when you put them on it) and blow those up. If you are lucky, you may be rewarded with some bit of mineral, water, metal, etc. Another problem with the merchant/mining road is too many of the "advanced" systems (the ones you don't get to until you've been playing for a while) seem to have "mined out" asteroid and ice fields. This greatly limits your ability to move your home base to outside of the starting area if you are trying to be more of a merchant. This game has a good degree of replayability. I've finished the story line and still am having fun flying around exploring and blowing stuff up. The story takes you on a wide circuit of the available star systems, but there is plenty of stuff hiding in asteroid fields and what not. This game is a great flight sim, a nice change from what dominates the action market these days (first person shooters). I'd give it 5 stars if only the economic model made a little more sense.
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87 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and incredibly annoying at the same time, March 7, 2004
This game is beautiful to look at and really makes a strong effort at being an open-ended space combat/exploration game. A literal universe of planets, space stations, debris fields, wormholes, ships, and other encounters wait to be explored. Docking areas are all fairly interchangeable, typically comprising a bar, store, supply depot, and ship dealer. You can talk to people for gossip or side-missions, load cargo for trade, upgrade weapons and equipment, and buy new ships.Now, I say 'effort' because hidden beneath all the trappings of a free-range space game is a very restrictive main mission. Following the main mission of the game is fun and its elements are interesting, but in order to shoehorn you into it, Freelancer made the extremely poor choice of tying it to your pilot's progression. In other words, if you ignore the main quest and light out on your own, you won't ever get any better. Sure, you may win a thousand dogfights or earn a million credits from trade, but you won't advance. For example, my current character is a mere 5th level pilot. In order to progress to 6th level, he has to complete a certain mission tied to the main quest. This character, however, has already completed over 50 side quests, blown up over 250 enemy warships, and earned about $300,000 in trade and resold looted equipment. None of that affects his level. Now without going up another level, he cannot buy a better ship, nor can he buy better weapons. Ship equipment, like the ships themselves, is tied to one's level..hence he is unable to buy anything that requires level 6 or higher. So he, despite being wealthy and highly experienced, can not get the many advanced ships and weapons he's already encountered in his explorings. This scheme makes absolutely no sense. It generates innumerable Catch-22s where one must complete a mission in order to fly back to the base you *just came from* in order to get a better ship, yet completing the mission is nearly impossible with the crappy ship you're currently stuck with. It also makes side-missions nearly pointless unless you've already gone up a level and just need some money to outfit your new ship, or perhaps want to alter your standing with a particular faction. I could, using any number of clever tricks, take my weak ship and explore hidden planets, gaze in awe on their awesome vessels and equipment which I can already afford, yet unless I cleave to the main plot I will never be able to get one. Thus while the game theoretically lets you explore however you want, that exploration is almost meaningless if you're stuck up against one of the level-requirement missions that happen pretty much in succession for the entire game. Even the fight-induced nausea of 10 swirling enemy fighters attacking you (they always all attack you, ignoring even anyone else you may be traveling with) pales in comparison with the knowledge that you'll be back to fight that particular group over and over and over again if you ever want to go up a single level, without the ability to upgrade your ship or equipment until you do. In short while this game can be a lot of fun, don't be fooled into thinking it's even half the open-ended 'freelancer' game it makes out to be.
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent... but understand where it's coming from, March 7, 2003
By A Customer
Picked up this gem on release day. Have only played for a total of 4 hours, so I'll give my initial impressions here. (The other reviews sum up the feature set nicely.)Understand that FREELANCER IS NOT A SPACE COMBAT SIMULATOR (as I believe the Amazon reviewer pointed out). It really is more of an action RPG set in space. There's little micromanagement here, which, in this setting, is a blessing. There's enough going on without having to account for shield facings, energy management, and Newtonian mechanics. It's no Independence War. (But I am annoyed that YOU CAN'T ROLL YOUR SHIP. At least I couldn't find a way to do it. Stinks not being able to do a break maneuver. I do like the "strafe" feature... adds a fun element to combat.) Combat is fast and furious and fun. So far, it seems almost too easy. Perhaps that's because ship guns aren't fixed forward, allowing you to train firepower on targets even if they're not dead center in your HUD. .... My hope for the game was not its simulation aspects but its dynamic universe. The key to making this work is adequate feedback to the player, and Freelancer does this superbly with news items (available at bases/planets), radio chatter, conversations with NPCs, and "reputation meters" with various factions. This was a major failing in the BattleCruiser titles (well, those currently available anyway), where it was much harder to get a sense of who's zooming who. Derek Smart take note (that is, when you can take a break from puffing yourself up). Oh, and for those wondering if it will run on their system, here's my subjective benchmarking: I have a 1.4GHz Athlon and a GeForce3 card. Looks absolutely beautiful in 1024x768 with superb frame rate. Sounds great, too. The music and SFX add much to the experience. (The occasional appearance of non-professional voiceovers detracts, but I've encountered them only in bars--where you pick up jobs, hear rumors, etc.) Hardcore simmers will probably avoid this title, but they'll be missing one hell of a ride.
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