Freespace 2

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Freespace 2
Freespace 2 Logo.png
Studio United StatesUnited States Volition
Publisher United StatesUnited States Interplay entertainment
Senior Developer Adam Pletcher (Lead Designer)
Jason Scott (Designer)
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 August 1999
platform Windows
genre Space flight simulation
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
control Keyboard , mouse , joystick
system advantages
preconditions
medium CD-ROM , download
Current version 1.20
Age rating
USK released from 12

Freespace 2 (alternative spelling: FreeSpace 2 ) is a computer game for Windows from the genre of space flight simulations and the direct successor to Conflict: Freespace - The Great War . Like its predecessor, the game was produced by Volition and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1999. It ties in with the plot of the first part.

action

Freespace 2 continues the story of the first part. 32 years after the Great War , the GTA no longer exists, because the formerly hostile peoples have united and formed the GTVA , the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance . The Shivans have withdrawn.

The disappearance of the Shivans in the universe has not resulted in peace, civil war rages. A group of people led by Admiral Aken Bosch consider working with the Vasudans to be a threat to the human race. He split off from the GTVA and founded the Neo-Terran Front ( NTF ), which fights for independence.

The civil war has been going on for over 16 months. A very old artificial jump point is discovered in the star system Gamma Draconis (Knossos portal), which also lures the Shivans back into the familiar space. At the beginning of the conflict, the Shivan fleet seems quite small and the Alliance can even destroy a super destroyer larger than that of the "SD Lucifer", but in the further course of the game the GTVA appears clearly inferior to the Shivans, and the player is in again the role of having to defeat a superior force.

Gameplay

The game principle differs only slightly compared to its predecessor. Like its predecessor, Freespace 2 consists of a linear sequence of space missions in which the player controls a space fighter from the first person's perspective . This is largely the same selection as in the first part. The only new addition is a camouflage hunter. Even with the enemy units, there are only a few new units, the armament of which has been changed slightly to reflect the slight military progress since the events in Conflict: Freespace . The cockpit interface was completely adopted from the predecessor and is still fully customizable.

The mission goals of the single player campaign often vary, and scripted events often result in changes in the mission sequence. The results of the course of a mission can have an impact on the framework conditions for the next mission. If a player fails five times in completing a mission, he is given the chance to skip it. In contrast to its predecessor, the German version now also provides an overview of the current course of the war in Freespace 2 with voice output.

In the free multiplayer mode, Freespace 2 offers classic deathmatches as well as a game mode called Squad War, in which teams of four players fight for sovereignty in individual territories. The placement took place via Volitions online network Parallax Online.

development

Following Conflict: Freespace , Volition began work on a total of four titles, including Freespace 2 . According to the company, the development of the game went almost smoothly and was completed after a year of development. According to Volition founder Mike Kulas of Interplay, the publication time was brought forward by two months with a view to an upcoming quarterly balance sheet.

technology

Compared to the first game, Freespace 2 offers significantly better German synchronization, even larger ships, side missions and improved graphics with a resolution increased from 640 × 480 to 1024 × 768 pixels at 32-bit color depth - but without support for the intermediate resolution of 800 × 600 pixels - and nicer explosions. A 3D card is required for this, Freespace 2 supports Glide and Direct3D . With the help of an automated setup program, the game determined the basic configuration of the game independently, but this process remained highly error-prone, especially in connection with Glide. Program crashes could also occur during the game, which could render saved games unusable.

The keyboard is supported as input device either in combination with a mouse or in connection with a joystick. Force feedback is also supported for joysticks . Freespace also supports EAX and A3D . The multiplayer mode is available both over a network via the TCP / IP protocol for LAN games and online via a modem and the online service Parallax Online. Under Windows XP , the game can usually be played using the Windows 98 / ME compatibility mode.

reception

Reviews

Rating mirror
publication Rating
Gamecaptain 89%
GameStar 87%
PC player 86%
GamePro (US) 5 of 5
GameSpot 9.4 of 10
GameSpy 92%
IGN 8.9 out of 10
EuroGamer.net 7 out of 10
Meta-ratings
GameRankings 74 of 100
Metacritic 73 of 100

Freespace 2 received high critical acclaim and has received numerous awards from game magazines, making it one of the best games in the genre to this day. The Metacritic rating of the game is 91 out of 100, the value in GameRankings is 91.58%.

Stefan "Desslock" Janicki from GameSpot described Freespace 2 as one of the best space flight simulations of all time and especially emphasized the even better staged fights in which large combat ships no longer only have to serve as "exotic targets" for the player, but themselves now also delivered effective battles with enemy ships. Volition also tries very hard for the credibility of the game world by keeping the balance between new content that is playfully desired and the preservation of the historical background. Only the artificial intelligence and pathfinding of the opposing and accompanying pilots are still very flawed despite improvements compared to the predecessor.

Mick Schnelle from GameStar particularly praised the graphic opulence of the title and praised the behavior of the computer-controlled pilots as realistic. However, he criticized the plot as confused and constructed. Second tester Peter Steinlechner saw it similarly, who also criticized too few playful changes compared to the first part. In addition to the graphics, he positively emphasized the exciting mission design.

Awards

  • PC Player: Best space combat simulation of 1999 and "All Time Top 100 Games"
  • Smarter: 1999 Simulation Game of the Year
  • Computer Gaming World : 2000 Premier Award Winner "Best Science Fiction Simulation"
  • GameSpot: Sci-Fi Simulation of the Year
  • GamePower: Best Simulation 1999
  • GameSpy: Simulation Game of the Year
  • FiringSquad: Best Action Game of 1999
  • Computer Games : Sci-Fi Simulation of the Year
  • GameSpot: Greatest Games of All Time

Commercial success and the consequences

In terms of sales, Freespace 2 fell far short of expectations. According to the April 2000 issue of PC Gamer, only 26,983 units of the game have been sold to date. As one reason for the low sales figures, Kulas gave the early publication date at Interplay's request, as it was no longer possible to develop a sufficient advertising strategy. As a further reason for the obstacle, Kulas stated the controls, which were heavily geared towards the joystick. Due to the success of real-time strategy games and first-person shooters, however, the market has shifted in favor of mouse and keyboard controls, while the joystick is no longer part of the standard equipment. Although Freespace 2 also supported a mouse and keyboard like its predecessor, it was not nearly as playable with them. According to lead designer Adam Pletcher, there was also the decline of certain genres and a generally increasing loss of importance of the PC games market in favor of game consoles. However, since the game stayed within budget and sold for a longer period of time, according to Volition, at least a small profit could be made.

The economic failure of Freespace 2, which is extremely high-quality from a production point of view, is considered a turning point in the genre of space flight simulations. With the exception of Freelancer from 2003, no game in this genre was able to build on the successes of previous titles. As a result, the interest of major game manufacturers in developing more games dwindled. The space flight simulations, which enjoyed great success with the Wing Commander and X Wing series in the early and mid-1990s, thus shrank to a niche genre.

In June 2013, Interplay acquired the Freespace trademark rights from Volitions' insolvent parent company THQ for US $ 7,500 .

FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project

Since the US version of the game's source code has been released for non-commercial use since April 25, 2002, the game has been improved by the online community . Responsible for this is a team of volunteer fans who have come together within the so-called FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project , which expanded FreeSpace 2 , improved it graphically and ported it to Linux and Mac OS with OpenGL . The current version of the SCP is 3.7.2.

The new features since the source code was released include:

There are also packages with more complex models and higher-resolution textures.

Some modifications are derived from the Freespace 2 SCP . So there is The Babylon Project , which is set as a complete game in the universe of Babylon 5 , and a variant that deals with the remake of the Battlestar Galactica series ( Beyond the Red Line is designed as a total conversion of Freespace 2 SCP ). The Diaspora campaign is also located in the Battlestar universe . There is a port for Freespace 2 which converts Freespace 2 into Conflict: Freespace . There is also a modification of the Silent Threat campaign, which is available as a free download under the title Silent Threat: Reborn .

The multi-part Blue Planet campaign , which is set 30 years after the events of Freespace 2 and continues its story, is very popular in the community . The central point of action is the meeting of the GTVA fleet and the earth, cut off from the rest of the galaxy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Stefan "Desslock" Janicki: FreeSpace 2 Review. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , October 15, 1999, accessed July 17, 2012 .
  2. ^ A b Roland Austinat: Freespace 2. In: PC Player . December 1999, pp. 150–152 , accessed January 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Mick Schnelle: The most beautiful space shooter: Freespace 2 . In: GameStar . December 1999, p. 144-148 .
  4. ↑ a b Ben Hanson: The Secret History of Volition. In: Game Informer . GameStop , March 30, 2011, accessed July 6, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Christian Tauwel: Test: Freespace 2. In: Gamecaptain. December 29, 1999, accessed July 17, 2012 .
  6. ^ Nash Werner: Freespace II. In: GamePro (US). IDG January 1, 2000, archived from the original on February 4, 2005 ; accessed on July 17, 2012 (English).
  7. ↑ Matt 'Mix' Fox: freespace 2. In: GameSpy . News Corp. October 10, 1999, archived from the original on June 21, 2003 ; accessed on July 17, 2012 (English).
  8. ↑ Trent C. Ward: freespace 2. In: IGN . News Corp. , October 1, 1999, accessed July 17, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Robert "shape" Purchese: Free Space 2 Review. In: EuroGamer.net . EuroGamer Network , October 15, 1999, accessed July 17, 2012 .
  10. ↑ a b Average rating of the game based on 19 ratings. GameRankings ; Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  11. ↑ a b Average rating of the game based on 16 ratings. Metacritic ; Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  12. ↑ Best Games of 1999. (PDF) In: PC Player . March 2000, accessed January 28, 2018 .
  13. ↑ PC Player All Time Top 100 Games. In: PC Player . Retrieved November 1, 2007 .
  14. ↑ Intelligamer 1999 Game of the Year. In: Smarter. February 7, 2000, archived from the original on June 5, 2001 ; accessed on November 1, 2007 (English).
  15. ^ The 2000 Premier Awards. (PDF) In: Computer Gaming World, issue 188 March 2000, pp. 69–90 , accessed on January 28, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Science-Fiction Simulation of the Year. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , January 10, 2000, accessed November 1, 2007 .
  17. ↑ Top Four '99 Simulation Games (Sims) (PC only). In: GamePower. December 2, 1999, archived from the original on March 1, 2000 ; accessed on November 1, 2007 (English).
  18. ↑ The GameSpy Best of 1999. (No longer available online.) In: GameSpy . News Corp. December 14, 1999, archived from the original on November 11, 2007 ; accessed on November 2, 2007 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archive.gamespy.com
  19. ↑ Jakub Wojnarowicz: The Best Games of 1999. In: FiringSquad. December 30, 1999, accessed October 26, 2007 .
  20. ↑ The Year's Best . In: Computer Games Magazine . April 2000.
  21. ^ Matthew Rorie: The Greatest Games of All Time: Freespace 2. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , November 14, 2005, accessed October 26, 2007 .
  22. ↑ Orange: Freespace 2 Sales Numbers. In: FreeSpace Watch. April 14, 2000, archived from the original on January 23, 2009 ; accessed on July 9, 2012 (English).
  23. ↑ Interview with Mike Kulas. In: Volition Watch. November 2000, archived from the original on March 9, 2001 ; accessed on July 8, 2012 .
  24. ^ Brian Rubin: The Day the Space Sim Died. In: Space Game Junkie. September 22, 2011, accessed July 17, 2012 .
  25. ^ Dave Tach: Interplay purchases Freespace IP from THQ and Volition for $ 7,500. In: polygon. Vox Media, June 6, 2013, accessed June 7, 2013 .
  26. ^ Ivan Sulic: Freespace Source Code. In: IGN . News Corp. April 25, 2002, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  27. ↑ FreeSpace 2 EULA Issues
  28. ↑ hard-light.net