Game Review by Johan Ljungman Publisher Microsoft Developer Digital Anvil Type of Game Space RPG and Simulation System Requirements Windows 98 ME 2000 XP 600 MHz processor 128 MB RAM 900 MB hard drive space 16 MB 3D graphics card CD Drive Sound Card Price 19 99 Quick Overview 4 Major Governments New Liberty Based on the US Bretonia Based on the UK Kusari Based on Japan Rheinland Based on Germany Outlying Areas filled with pirates with remnants of what s left of the Hispania Story Line You play as Edison Trent trying to restart your life after the attack You get recruited by the New Liberty Security Force and they give you your first ship to get you started again The game has a main story in which you try to figure out who attacked you and what s happening to the leaders of the nations The main story is used to unlock new ships and ship upgrades but once the main story arc is completed you get full access to the universe Scoring The game has two ways to measure success Levels are gained by following the main story line Money is gained by doing missions and trading between planets and space stations The two are linked in the way that some of the levels in the main story require you to gain a certain amount of personal wealth Artwork The game itself has gorgeous space environments in which the player can use what he can see as visual aids for navigation in each system The planets themselves have a set landscape that ties into its location in the universe Sound and Music Freelancer using a dynamic sound where things that happen farther away sound like they actually are farther away whereas if someone crashes straight into you you ll definitely know The music is made not by just one composer but by many to give the game a feeling of depth The New Liberty space will have a different score from say Kusari space Manual The manual has 42 pages and contains a run down of how to install the game HUD layout and the basics to flight and combat Bugs Because the game has been out a little over three years most of the bugs have been fixed What s Fun The open ended game play lets you choose whichever path you want to take After the main story ends you have the opportunity to go back into the game and make it into whatever you wish What is bad Game can get a little repetitive if doing missions and the long merchant hauls are not very entertaining unless you re into the thrill of escaping from space pirates in a big lug doing a particularly dangerous route can be very frustrating How does it compare I have not played any game that s similar to this one The open ended game play is very hard to find in games now and the space genre is no longer a good market for developers Appropriate Audience Any Space Adventure fan Players that love a good story Overall Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths Open ended game play Great graphics in the space environments Great combat sound and interaction Mouse steering no need for clunky joysticks Weaknesses Game play can get repetitive Niche market Worth buying Definitely it has one of the best stories of any game I ve played up to date with many mods to download to continue the experience there s also multiplayer servers for pvp and guild management How to improve on it Adding a better multiplayer system Adding a mod creator to the system for easy modding
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