Okay, here we go! Yay!
FreeLancer
(Microsoft, Digital Anvil)
Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Sound: 5/10
Replay Value: Indefinite playability
Story: 6/10
Theme: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10.
I'll start on my list and work my way down instead of writing a fancypants review.
Graphics are absolutely fantastic, though maybe not at first. Sure, there aren't quadrillions of polygons in each nostril, but what makes graphics good? To me, good graphics are crisp, clean, beautiful, and smooth-running. I found the graphics in FreeLancer to be perfect for its age. The player models are amazing - even if they do have funny necks sometimes. The greatest part about the graphics, to me, are the lighting and space effects. The Trade Lanes, the weapon effects, the stars. It's really awesome to be heading back home after a long mission and see a spaceport in silhuette against a nearby star.
Gameplay is just unbelievable. The mouse-driven piloting was only awkward for perhaps the first two minutes, but it very quickly shows itself as perhaps the greatest way to pilot in space, ever. Joysticks were always too slow and generally unresponsive for space combat. In real world aircraft settings, it's fine because you need that real feeling - but space is Sci-Fi, and also I have a feeling it'd be easier to pilot a ship with sharp turns and such without being afraid of stalling or anything. Anyway. I ranted there.
There is one fault in "Gameplay" that I did not feel would really subtract from the score. The reason is that it is an abscence, not a fluke. What exists in the game is perfected and wonderful, but a lot that could have been isn't there. The missions are generally the same. Launch from point B, fly to point A, eliminate targets, press B to bring in whatever it was you may've been after, and kick on cruise engine back to point A.
I love doing that. However, now and again it would be great to maybe have to go to point B, see why Good Guy X isn't back yet, maybe he's been damaged, so you have to help him fix his ship or something.
There's so much more you could do with a massive universe like that in FreeLancer.
So I guess that's a flaw.
Sound in this game..I absolutely love the sounds. Everything is there. Crank up surround sound and hear every painful shot slam into your raw hull when your shields are down and you're out of batteries.
The radio chatter is just fantastic. Sure, most of times it's the same thing, but when you enter a personel-heavy area and hear all of the commerce and business and patrols going on, it really makes you feel like you're a part of something.
The music is equally beautiful, and though it's not a fore-ground feature of the game, it really adds to the atmosphere. I always find myself tapping my foot when I go into a bar.
"So, Steve, why'd you give it a 5 if you love it so much?" - that is probably what you are asking right now.
Because, the voice acting is just plain horrible. It's not stiff, it's not rigid - I actually like the voices in this game. Then what's the problem? Everything is a cut-and-paste sort of deal.
From what I reckon, they had different voice actors recorded saying each faction, each "We don't run this base, but" line, and each ship type, number, letter, planet, system, port...then they paste it all together. It sounds like when you call the bank to find out the current temperature and she's all "The current..temperature in your area is fifty..one..degrees...fahrenheit."
It gets a little monotonous. It gets very monotonous, and annoying, actually.
The Replay Value is out of the roof on this game, for me. I've been waiting for this kind of game for a long time. This game, actually. I mean, I've been waiting for FreeLancer since they first started making it some 5 years ago.
I personally love long lonely flights from planet to planet, selling h-fuel and buying more stuff to sell elsewhere. I will be playing this game in the distant future, and it ranks with the Civilization games for "Games that'll rock no matter how out dated they become and I will play them probably once every few months when nostalgia or need for good gaming hits me."
Story's pretty plain and there's really not much to say. It's not a bad story, but it's not top of the line. It could do without a story, so what they've given as a story is a bit lacking. Sound confusing?
Let me explain.
Without a story, it would still be an excellent game. However, if they're going to give it a story, it's worthy of a really really good story, and could handle one very well.
I do like how it harkens back to the old days of gaming, in terms of characters and factions and such.
Theme. Yes, this game got ratings out the wazoo because I absolutely love the theme. I cannot express how much I love the dashing pilot freelance bounty hunter pirate rogue in space theme. I have dreamt about this game for a very long time. I only wish I could put on the boots and jacket of a space cowboy and hit the jump gates in my ricketty souped-up out-dated ship with contraban in my cargo-hold.
Over-all, there's just not much for which you can fault this game. There's a lot you could say "they should've done," but there's not really much you can say 'they shouldn't've done,' except for the gripe I had with the sound.
Basically, the missing .5/10 is for things they should have done, not mistakes or problems with what they did.
On a side note, I do have on gripe that doesn't fit in anywhere: WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD? Everyone is nameless. You recognise characters by their uniform, and you recognise their faction, not actually their character. Sure, you'll see the same guy in a bar sometimes, but he's not "Jaden Troy, Bounty Hunter."
No, he's "Oh, well - I'm with the .. Bounty Hunters Guild. We don't exactly run this place, but .. we have an understanding with the people who do."
That's it. He's with the Bounty Hunters Guild. Who needs a name when you have a mouth full of that sentence to spew forth?
