Vol.
2, Issue 9
January 27, 2000
eres
a novel concept: An alien race threatens the human race. Its
a kill-or-be-killed situation, and weve got to take to the
stars in our space fighters (many of which are developed from
ships found in the previous game in the storyline) to defend civilization
as we know it. If youve EVER played a space combat sim in
your life, youve probably heard this whole spiel before.
In fact, with a few notable exceptions (like Battlecruiser
3000 AD and a few forth-coming products) - space combat sims
havent changed much in many years.
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Dang
there's a lot on that screen (40k)
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Unfortunately,
I can (with conviction and a clear conscience) say that Freespace
2 is following directly in the well-trodden footsteps of those
before it. In fact, it seems that it is almost stepping in the
exact boot-prints of previous games. However, rather than jump
right into the details, I want to take a moment to acknowledge
that Freespace 2 does deliver fairly solid gameplay in
a tried-and-true format. I experienced no major bugs or hassles
with getting the game to work. I found no features notably absent,
and no features were boasted about that they didnt actually
provide. The game ran solid and required no crazy patching or
setting-tweaking.
Graphically,
the game is very strong. Textures are well done, and while poly-counts
for ships arent high, good lighting and plenty of ships
on-screen at once help make up for it. Effects are done well,
although I personally dont like the lengthy death
throes that most targets go through before falling off your
radar screen. The game isnt revolutionary in the graphics
department; but its close to cutting edge for the genre, and is
clean and solid. Although I hold a special place in my heart for
the Babylon 5 Combat Sim that never saw the light
of day, Freespace 2s graphics come close to reminding
me of the battles and action from the Babylon 5 TV show...
much lower poly counts, to be sure; but the look and feel of the
action are very similar.
Sound-wise,
the game is fairly good. I think that some sounds are too transient
or arcade-y, but overall they keep you in the game
(I could pick a bone about sound traveling in space... but, Ill
let it slide for gameplay reasons). Voice acting is well done,
if not spectacular; and the background music for things fits decently
well if not exactly drawing your attention or making you
think gee, this stuff is good.