Freelancer : Web Wombat: Games

Freelancer has been in development for quite some time over at Digital Anvil, and there were even rumours that the game would never see the light of day.

Thankfully, Microsoft bought Digital Anvil a few years ago and all of a sudden things were back on schedule, in a roundabout kind of way.

Sadly though, a glitch in The Matrix meant that my review was a little later than expected. Let me explain:

"Dude, I like you because your haircut is kinda stupid, but where's the f**king review you bottom-dwelling, scum sucking piece of chimp shit?"

Yup, that's how news of my almost-finished Freelancer review gets greeted by our esteemed and largely enigmatic editor (I'm watching you Barker - Ed).

I tell him: "But boss, it's like this: I was sitting at home, at like 10:32pm on a rainy Tuesday night, and what happens?

"The f**king police (though I suspect they were upgraded agents) come around and want to 'ask me a few questions' about the pair of Uzis I have pointed at their bespectacled faces.

"I tell them to kiss my toned and tanned arse and slam the door. But three hours later - while I'm trying to take on a Liberty Navy capital ship single-handedly - half a dozen Special Forces padres bust into my luxury cliff-top digs, screaming and yelling for me to put down my weapon.

Trent's version of the Electric Boogaloo was pathetic

"Well, I told them the Uzi was a part of my body and that they'd have to cut through bone and sinew to get it, a la Christie of Alien Resurrection fame.

"Long story short, I lose my temper, pop a few caps, swear a few times and find out my PC has taken a couple of MP5 rounds to the main board. Drat."

But, at the end of that long hard night, the sun rose, and down to the illegal PC warehouse I trotted, to pick up a cheap and probably stolen motherboard.

So that's why it's late. And, in lieu of my little run in with the five-oh, I think it's totally harsh for anyone, let alone the editor, to knit-pick about deadlines and tardiness.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's delve into Freelancer, a space combat sim game with quasi-RPG elements, a deliciously deep plot and some seriously enjoyable gameplay.

For those who read the preview, you'll already know what Freelancer is all about and how the game kicks off, and for those who haven't, click here to read it, because I'm too lazy to re-visit the decidedly cool beginnings of the Freelancer legend.

Starting out at the beginning of the quest is really cool - and I have no qualms in admitting that I've played through it more than once. But playing the game for the first time, when all is fresh and the plot is shrouded in complete mystery, is truly one of those few memorable gaming moments that won't be forgotten - kind of like when you first realise the tank in the Halo has mini guns as well as the howitzer cannon.

Enough with the damn letterboxed screenshots!

There's more atmosphere contained in Freelancer than your average backyard greenhouse, and part of this is due to the many human interactions you'll have during your expedition into the cold, dark depths of the future.

Sure, you may get bored by Trent's scripted reply's of "sure," "uh-huh," and "sounds dangerous," when trying to procure the average seek and destroy job, but the way NPCs look, talk and even walk brings an interesting level of realism to the game, despite the sci-fi setting.

I've spoken to some people who have said the story isn't that good, and that it gets too complex at points, but for me, this is as good as it gets.

I love the double and triple-crossings, the seemingly impossible odds you face and many obstacles that obstruct your progress, because it changes the way you view all prior meetings and events, that were seemingly 'innocent'.

And when you play through the game a second time, knowing what's going on behind the closed doors of these futuro-political leaders, it almost makes the game a little better - kind of like seeing Matrix Reloaded for the second or third time and truly understanding and recognising all the little nuances.

There's also a deep seeded sense of 'being on the run' pretty much all the time, where you'll constantly be fighting then escaping from massive enemy onslaughts, trying to reach the next remote outpost or neutral planet.

Oh, that's much better. Lovely graphics too

The Liberty Navy, the Rheinland Military machine or even a rag-tag band of criminals always seem to want to see your frozen cadaver floating through vacuum, and so escaping by the proverbial 'bees dick' is always highly rewarding.

One of the more impressive features of the game, while I'm still on my 'atmosphere' rant - which often gets overlooked in lieu of the graphics and scope - is the sound.

To be honest, a lot of what makes the game so addictive is the way it manages to pull the gamer in to its fictional universe. When you're just flying about, hit the TAB key and your sub-woofer will come to life in all its bass-giving glory as your afterburners double your cruising speed.

All the bleeping and buzzing noises you hear when exploring cities or when you're checking out the job market at a bar in a distant space station are subtle, yet perfectly crafted. The ambient sounds I guess you'd call them, are spot on and voice acting and score are also well above par for this sort of game.

The sheer size of the universe you're gifted with is another totally absorbing aspect of the game, and though in the single-player mode you're generally restricted from areas unless they are tied to the plot, the overall result can only be described as epic.

As was mentioned in the preview, you will generally have to complete one (usually prolonged) plot-based mission, then be told to 'lay low' or 'find some work until I can find Rudiger the one-eyed taxidermist'.

An Asteroid belt - and please, no trouser jokes...

This leaves you ample time - usually three or four jobs worth - to increase your wealth and then spend it on upgrades, which is crucial to surviving and winning space battles/dog fights.

It's also a hell of a lot of fun outfitting your ship with a variety of weapons, shields and other groovy doodads, such as more powerful and longer-lasting afterburners. Almost every planet, space station and outpost will have an equipment dealer of sorts, each of which usually has different goods to the one you last visited.

Depending on your ship, which you can trade in for a different model at the ship dealer (which are usually only found on large capital ships, major space stations or planets) you will be able to outfit a specific amount of equipment.

The vessel you begin the game with, for instance, has three weapons hard points, which can loaded with either guns or missiles. You start with two basic laser weapons, and I opted to fit a missile launcher in the third hard point, as opposed to another rapid-fire weapon.

The 'workhorse' weapons you'll come across can be divided into five groups as well, such as laser based, photon based weapons etc., each of which affects specific shields in different ways.

At the equipment shop, you can also purchase better shields, mine droppers, proton torpedo launchers and cruise disruptors, which basically stop your foes from powering up their cruise engines and jetting away from the terrible wrath you are so keen to unleash on them.

A Rheinland heavy fighter tries to evade a 'cosmic egg'

Ships wise, there are about three ships per political party, so about 15 all up. The five factions, such as Kusari and Bretonnia, usually have a light fighter, a heavy fighter and freighter, and while it's obvious that the emphasis is on combat, it is quite fun to go on a bit of trading frenzy every now and then.

Each faction's ships are decidedly different in appearance too, with the Bretonnian's favouring graceful and very pretty fish-like styling cues, the Rhinelander's preferring more utilitarian/military designs and Kusari ships mirror their Asian heritage with sleek designs, complete with dragon-esque motifs.

The gameplay involved in Freelancer, like the rest of the game, is highly absorbing and uses a control scheme not seen for almost 15 years. I'll grab the excerpt from my preview, coz again, I'm feeling lazy today:

"First understand this: laser, tachyon, particle (etc) weapons aren't fixed in place to shoot straight forward - they actually follow the targeting reticle on screen, controlled by mouse inputs. This also controls your direction and Combined with the WASD keys, makes taking down bogeys amazingly enjoyable.

So, in laymans terms, if you position the targeting reticle in the top left-hand corner of the screen, you'll not only move in that direction, but you're guns will fire at where the reticle is pointed too.

You may be thinking this sounds like a cock n' bull story and, hey, even I was sceptical at first. But at the end of the day, this new and, dare I say it improved, control method is… oh wait, I just said improved.

"I read three light fighters and one capital ship, over."

The act of dog-fighting is made all the more interesting with limited amounts of strafing on offer, and punching the X on the keyboard also violently shifts your thrusters into reverse, so if you've got a mob of Corsair scum on your six, they'll fly straight by you.

In theory it doesn't always work like that, but is an excellent evasive tool to have at your disposal nonetheless. Combat is fairly conventional, involving hull, shield (recharges), and weapon energy reserves. Fire your guns too much, and you'll have to wait for them to recharge - or you could just buy a ship with a better power rating.

The same goes for the shields and hull, though you can purchase nano bots (hull) and batteries (shield), which come in handy during tougher battles by recharging them to full capacity respectively.

The enemy AI is also rather nifty, and while starting off as pretty easy to deal with, as the game progresses, so does the ferocity of your opponents, and enjoyably so."

Combat itself is highly rewarding, and thanks to the intuitive control method, you'll be using all the tricks in the book, but without having to worry about complex controls.

Simply tailing a bogey and wearing down his shields is one of the most enjoyable past-times, and it's very suave how the sound effects change from a general 'pop' as your weapons fire first hits shields, to the loud metallic 'thumps' that occur as blasters tear into the metal hulls of your hapless opponents.

Lasers, torpedoes, missiles - it's all here

Unlike the TIE Fighter games where you constantly had to monitor your weapon/hull/shield levels and divert power accordingly, Freelancer takes care of all this for you and let's you concentrate almost 100 per cent on combat.

Strafing is a fairly groovy idea that doesn't really get used in the early parts of the game, for the chief reason that the amount and skill level of your foes is fairly light on.

About a third of the way through the single-player campaign, however, you'll have to utilise every trick in the book (strafe, reverse thrust, countermeasures) to evade fire, as some of the battles you'll be involved in can totally and absolutely full on.

Getting around in the Freelancer gameworld is heaps of fun too, even though it doesn't sound too appealing. I think that this is perhaps due to how many modes of transit there are (six in all), and also the funky effects that accompany them.

Whether you're playing online, are between missions or have even finished the single player quest and are out to explore every nook and cranny of the massive gameworld, making money is what makes the Freelancer universe go around.

There are a number of ways to make money, from the all-action assassination missions you'll pick up from those at the bar or off the employment computer (also at the bar), to hauling freight from planet A to outpost B.

Running cargo from one area to the next won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it is still a great way to make some cash, and nice and relaxing for quiet types, like me.

The tradelanes - wooo, trippy...

The best way to get started is to first buy a freighter, which can hold their own in combat thanks to their multiple blister turrets, and then comes the research…

Simply put, you'll want to find two establishments that offer complimentary goods. For example, you may purchase metals at a planetary base, fly to a space station where you sell them for a tasty 28% profit margin, then head back to the planet with synthetic foodstuffs, which are much needed at the planetary base, again gifting you with a portly 35% profit above what you paid for them.

But by far the most lucrative way to earn spondoolies trading is to do the Han Solo, that is, become a smuggler of illicit materials; drugs, guns, the usual stuff.

This is more dangerous than delivering generic resources, but also much more lucrative. Some bases/planets/outposts have a police or authority presence and if you get scanned, it's often better to high-tail it out of there, rather than face a troupe of furious do-gooders.

You can also go 'mining', which involves blasting flotsam and other junk in debris fields or asteroid belts. You'll find metals, and sometimes you'll come across the odd weapon or two, and of course there are combat missions that are generally the quickest (though not easiest) way to make money.

It's also wise to be cautious of who you fly missions for, as your reputation with specific groups and factions is vital for a whole range of factors, such as purchasing advanced weapons and learning of new and sometimes secret locations.

Graphically, this game is tip top. Sure, the folks at Digital Anvil have used a number of fancy effects, but they're used at the right times and places, which isn't always a clear-cut task - graphical overkill is often the easy way out.

Pleb: "Sir, I copy bogeys" Boss: "Then pick them off"

When all the effects are turned on, the game looks amazing, with super-high res background nebulae adding to the effect of massive polygonal planets and suns, floating in the darkness of space like the heavenly bodies they are. All the ships on offer look gorgeous too, and together with some tasty-looking vapour trails, the pictures are very pretty.

The massive rings that make up the trade lanes also look rather impressive, and when you start getting into the meat of the game, and partake in a few colossal skirmishes, the amount of weapons fire and also fighter, capital and heavy ships is more often than not simply mesmerising.

Explosions are okay, they could be better, but effects like the weapons fire and flying through gaseous quadrants are the icing on the cake in terms of eye candy.

The Freelancer gameworld is truly a thing of incredible beauty, and past the gorgeous gameplay, past the exciting plot, the eye-popping graphics and killer sound samples, there is an absolutely massive digital universe to explore - and for me, this is truly what gaming is all about.

The ability to just play this game and become totally absorbed - nay lost - in a fictional world is something I find utterly compelling, even addictive.

Beyond the single-player campaign there is also an excellent multiplayer aspect, and if you play through the campaign, then jump online for some trans-Atlantic socialising, I guarantee you'll be grinning from ear to ear for a long time to come.

The multiplayer game plays a little differently to the single-player game (i.e there's no cut-scenes and limits to tech), but the fact that you can readily explore anywhere in the Freelancer universe is an offer most won't be able to refuse.

In summing up, Freelancer is a game not without flaw - it's got a few niggling details. But the pros far outweigh the cons and at the end of the day, very few RPG-influenced space-sims get made, which is a damn shame.

Fans of the Privateer and Elite games will revel in this modern-day interactive space opera, and countless others will gob-smacked by its sheer size and scope. Highly recommended.

Game: Freelancer
System: PC
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Digital Anvil
Distributor: Microsoft

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explantion)

Freelancer is on the shelves now.

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