Freelancer (computer game)
| Freelancer | |||
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| Sales box logo | |||
| Studio |
 Digital Anvil
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| Publisher |
Microsoft Game Studios
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
March 2003 | ||
| platform | Windows | ||
| genre | Space flight simulation | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
Windows 7, 8, 10:
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| medium | CD-ROM | ||
| Current version | v1.1 v1.4 ( community patch ) |
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| Age rating |
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Freelancer is a computer game that the development studio Digital Anvil for Software Corporation Microsoft developed and in March 2003 for Windows - PCs was released.
Belonging to the genre of space flight simulations , the focus is on combat-heavy space action . In addition to the single player mode, which is based on a background story, a multiplayer mode and additional modifications are available.
Backstory
In the 22nd century a war breaks out in our solar system between the "Alliance" and the "Coalition" (referring to Starlancer ). Since the alliance threatens to be defeated, it sends large sleeper ships in the direction of the Sirius sector , a distant region of space. There the refugees colonize new star systems, which are named after the countries of origin of the sleeper ships. Bretonia is based on colonial England , typical star systems in Bretonia are called New London and Leeds . Kusari is reminiscent of Japan , Liberty of the USA and Germany is represented by Rhineland , which contains star systems such as New Berlin and Hamburg . The ship Hispania is missing, but the pirate tribes of the corsairs and the outcasts , another group of privateers, are descendants of this stranded crew believed to be dead.
The main character of the game also lives in the Sirius Sector: Edison Trent. He barely escapes an attack on the Freeport 7 space station , where he had just closed a deal. His freighter (including cargo) was destroyed in this attack, so that he has to go in search of work on the planet to which the survivors were brought ( Manhattan ). He finally comes across Liberty Security Force (LSF) agent Jun'ko "June" Zane , who provides him with a simple space fighter , the Starflier , and recruits him. Thus a story develops around an artifact , conspiracies and the nomads , an extraterrestrial, centuries-old race created by the Dam Ko'Vosh , a vanished race, to protect their systems.
In the course of the game you can always choose between the main story or work as a freelancer (e.g. dealer, pirate, etc.). You can explore new systems, buy equipment or even a new ship. The player has a status card on which his reputation with the individual factions (e.g. states, pirate tribes, etc.) is displayed. For example, if the player attacks allies of the LSF, this has a negative effect on the relationship with the LSF and positively on the relationship with their enemies.
Game mechanics
In addition to the linear solo campaign , the game world is also freely accessible. Nevertheless, the campaign must be completed in the end so that the player really has free access to all systems. In addition, the player can only reach the next higher player level at several points in time if he completes a certain mission of the solo campaign. A higher player level enables the purchase of higher quality spaceships and equipment.
The sectors are flown through by military and police ships, transport convoys, company patrols, robbers and terrorists whose relationships with one another (allied, neutral or hostile) are static. The reputation of the player in a group depends not only on the behavior of the player but also on the relationships with the other factions.
This enables a wide variety of career paths: bounty hunters (allied with the police, military or companies), traders (at least neutral with many companies), smugglers (at least neutral with criminals) or pirate (allied with terrorists). In the game, the expression “criminal” or “terrorist” is flexible, since each faction has its own legible legitimation to attack other factions. However, these paths differ little from one another, as the missions available differ only in difficulty and pay, with the most dangerous and best-paid missions being offered only by the corsairs and outcasts.
There is a similar diversity in the choice of weapons, equipment and ships, as each house offers a light hunter, a heavy hunter and a transporter, with strength and equipment options increasing in the order in which a single player visits the respective areas. In addition, the civil fractions, the corsairs and the Grenzwelten have their own rows of ships, which in the unmodified game are the only very heavy hunters who can carry the heaviest weapons and the best shields . Another very difficult hunter is added to the solo campaign.
The weapon arsenal is diverse: the normal weapons consist of rockets and various energy weapons , the latter being divided into laser, photon, plasma, tachyon, pulse and particularly rare artifact and alien weapons. In addition to the damage caused by a hit, the types of weapons mainly differ in terms of rate of fire and projectile speed , range and energy consumption, with special modifications being added depending on the faction offering, such as increased energy consumption and damage or reduced damage and greater range. Pulse weapons, which cause immense damage to the shields, but negligible damage to the hull of the ship, play an exceptional role. Furthermore, different rocket launchers are available to the player, one type similar to pulse weapons being aimed at shield destruction. Hunters have another weapon slot for flight interrupters . These are very fast and manoeuvrable missiles, which deactivate the cruise propulsion system on enemy ships and block it for a short time and can fire other approaching projectiles. For heavy and very heavy fighters, this place can alternatively be equipped with torpedoes, which are very slow and sluggish, but cause very great damage. Another slot is available for mine layers.
To protect against these weapons, each ship can be equipped with one of three shield types, each of which has particular strengths and weaknesses compared to the individual energy weapon types. To protect against missiles and torpedoes, the player can install countermeasure launchers in his ship, which throw off decoys that can deflect the incoming missiles from their own ship.
Game world modeling
The various navigable planetary systems differ not only in terms of the predominant color of space , but also in terms of special features such as rubble and asteroid fields or gas clouds. This means that they can be recognized by their appearance alone. In the game, the systems are connected to one another by "jump gates" and hidden " jump holes ", for example in rubble fields. Each of the colonies has its own police and military, both of whom watch out for cargo attacks or smuggling of goods by the player or various NPCs and attack pirates if they have visual contact. Pirates attack traders, police and players if they dare to venture into one of the rubble fields and if their reputation is not good enough towards the pirate parties involved or if they do not discard their cargo (when requested). This creates the feeling of being part of the action.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode takes place in the free game world of the solo mode . In addition to the numerous mods of the scene , server rules and server events, this game variant offers many options for integrating your character into the game. The fun of the game is based on the fact that the players interact with each other and not only come into contact with NPCs, as in the single player mode. The normal maximum number of players per server is limited to 128 in the original version, but certain mods allow even larger numbers of players (currently up to 200). Despite the fact that the game is quite old, it is still very popular. On different servers, which sometimes have their own rules, mods and leagues, as in many other online games, players are often organized in clans who are mainly pirates and shoot and tax other players, especially freighters, (i.e. blackmail tolls) ), or be on the good side and fight the pirates. Armed acts inevitably result from these differences.
Development history
Freelancer takes up a basic concept that was developed in 1977 for the pen-and-paper role-playing game Traveler and first realized as a computer game in 1984 in the classic Elite .
As a precursor to Freelancer 2000 in StarLancer by the Software Corporation Microsoft published, developed by Digital Anvil .
Freelancer, as a continuation, was then again by the development studio Digital Anvil developed and in March 2003 for Windows - PCs released.
System requirements
| System part | Minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| operating system | Windows 98 / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 |
| processor | 400 MHz |
| random access memory | 128 MB RAM |
| graphic card | 16 MB |
| drive | 8x DVD / CD-Rom |
| free hard disk space | 900 MB |
| Input devices | only keyboard and mouse control (no joystick / pad) |
Shutdown of the multiplayer server
In April 2008, Microsoft's global list server was deactivated. Since then, connecting to a multiplayer server has only been possible by establishing direct connections or by making modifications provided by the community. An alternative list server was later provided by the community, but it is only automatically selected by Freelancer after an unofficial patch has been installed .
successor
A petition was started by fans, which is addressed to Microsoft and calls for a successor or an extension of Freelancer. Until 2006 one was also worked on under the name "Freelancer 2: Project Lonestar" for the Xbox 360 . However, Digital Anvil was closed by Microsoft in 2006, which minimized the chances of an official successor.
In 2012 Chris Roberts announced a kind of successor to Freelancer with " Star Citizen " , which, however, takes place in a universe with a completely different background story. An alpha version of the game is currently available.
Similar games
One of the first games that resembled Freelancer was Elite from 1984, its successors Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters , which received a modern MMO variant in Elite: Dangerous . Other games in the genre include Jumpgate , Vendetta Online, Wing Commander Privateer , the X Games , X-Wing Alliance , Everspace and Darkstar One . Also two games from the StarWraith series, RiftSpace and Evochron: Alliance are space simulations in which the player has to earn his money through trading and the like.
Web links
- microsoft.com: Freelancer ( Memento from October 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- Freelancer at MobyGames (English)
- Link catalog on the subject of freelancers at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
- freelancercommunity.net (engl.)
- Masterserver replacement project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Reindl: Freelancer - Large community patch published . gamestar.de. June 29, 2004. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ flsp14unofficial.zip ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on dlh.net
- ↑ Community project for an alternative list server
- ↑ "Freelancer Sequel" on petitiononline.com (Engl.)
- ↑ Freelancer 2 [X360 - Canceled ] ( English ) unseen64.com. April 4, 2008. Archived from the original on March 8, 2010. Retrieved on May 9, 2014: “ A sequel, Freelancer 2, was in development by Digital Anvil / Microsoft Game Studio in 2006 for the XBOX 360, and was internally know as “Project Lonestar”. Sadly the game was canceled for unknow reasons, even if it looked really good. "
- ↑ The Lonesome Death of FreeLancer 2 ( English ) WC News. December 5, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2014: “ At the time of Digital Anvil's closing, the company was working on two Xbox 360 titles, one of which was dubbed with the codename Project Lonestar [...] but also known by the name of Freelancer 2. "
