Descent
Freespace: The Great War
For: pc
Genre: action/space sim
Reviewed by: Escee (Brandon)
Developer: Volition
Publisher: Interplay
Released:5.31.98
Freespace: The Great War kicks
ass. Why? Read below.
Graphics
Freespace is definately strong
on graphics. It has a fully-rendered intro, and great
graphics ingame. The framerate was great for me, and if you
use less than a PIII, you can easily adjust the graphic details
to raise your framerate dramatically. Slowdown was simply not
an issue in this game. The visuals are awesome, and you can
easily see the massive differentiation between your fighter
and the great 2km-long captial ships. The details are great
- you can see the mesh impact when you hit a ship's shield.
There is nothing bad to be said about the graphics offhand.
Sound
Sound is well done in Freespace,
and the background music is good. The sound effects, for the
most part, are also good, but could have been better: for example,
the sound of your weapon hitting a ship's hull (not shield)
is very unrealistic and bland. The sound of your weapon hitting
a ship's shield, however, is very good. With a subwoofer
or base, you can really hear the Gs when your ship is at top
speed or using the afterburner.
Gameplay
The gameplay is wonderful.
From the beginning, you can immediately get into the action
and fight, after the optional training missions - the training
missions also do a good job of getting you used to the controls,
and getting you ready for the first mission. The objectives
are well laid-out. The command briefings and mission briefings
do a very good job of explaining the storyline and the objectives,
as well as how you are to go about completing your objectives.
The actual game itself is also a joy to play, and it is very
fun to take out enemy ships and to command your fleet. Taking
out capital ships might look overwhelming, but you are given
the right weapons, and your teammates, as you need them in order
to make taking out capital ships fun. You can easily see your
progress as you lower a capital ship's hull. The disabling,
disarming, and targeting of subsystems is an added twist that
makes the game more fun. Earning medals and advancing in rank
is an exciting feature. Getting a command briefing is always
an interesting event, as it keeps you up-to-date with what is
going on in the story beyond what you have actually taken part
in, and how your successful missions have benefited command.
Although you can't save in-mission, I didn't mind since the
missions are short enough (but not too short) that you don't
need this feature. Picking your weapons, selecting your favorite
ship, and leading your fleet to victory: this is Freespace,
and Freespace does it well.
Control
The controls are actually good!
You don't have to hold down an acceleration key, as you just
set your speed using the +/- keys. Steering can be done
using the mouse, joystick, or even keyboard, and is fairly easy.
The training missions acquaint you with the controls as you
need them, and the game comes with a stand-up control reference
sheet. Targeting ships is also well done, with over 5 different
target commands. You can cycle through all ships, hostile ships,
friendly ships, or ships you are to escort, all easily targeting
the closest ship first. You can also target any ship which you
point at, target your attacker, or target the ship which is
attacking your escort. Very well done. One gripe I have is that
I cannot tell a wing to guard another wing, only to guard an
individual ship. The controls are set up pretty well, but there
are few things that could have been done better.
Lastability
The game does include multiplayer,
but not too many people are in the lobbies. The lastability
would have been better if there were more people playing Freespace
online. However, there is usually enough people playing to start
a game and fill up the avaliable slots, but there are usually
only 1-4 games running at once. There will always be other things
to bring you back to play the game again, such as the extra
missions, trying to get all the medals, user-created campaigns
you can get online (check archives.volitionwatch.com/fs1), or
creating your own missions with the included level editor. I
just think that the multiplayer component, unfortunately, is
not popular enough right now.
Ratings
| Graphics |
9.9 |
| Sound |
8.0 |
| Gameplay |
9.8 |
| Control |
8.5 |
| Lastability |
7.0 |
| Overall |
8.9 |
bottom line: if you like
space/action games this is a must buy, and if you don't,
maybe this game will change your mind. |
9.13.00
click on the above screenshots
for larger versions.
images from gamespot
and happypuppy
|
