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Final Thoughts
Right, I've been playing Freelancer far too much and will soon start playing much less due to starting work and not having a decent computer (this being a pretty big problem - Freelancer does work too well on a 233MHz PC!). Anyway, I keep reading comments like "Freelancer is vast", "Freelancer best space sim ever" and I must disagree. Its damn good I'll give you. Its big but not in any way vast (size is a problem - for single player the bigger the better but for multi-player you could argue FL is too big - seeing other players is too rare so you end up with 90% of PvP occurring in a pre-arranged location rather than random fights. Also there should be more incentive for killing players and to avoid being killed than there is). And its not a space sim. The planets don't move goddammit. And they're way out of proportion.
The good bits about FL are the neat trading system (though there should be more to do with your wealth - building/buying bases maybe, more expensive equipment, harder/more varied missions), the mouse controlled flight (love it or hate it but FL is the best space fighting game I've played - the others are too fiddly), the faction reputation system (Hardwar was great until you worked out that killing one Klamp-G or Laz ship and then one of their enemies left you immune with everyone that counted) and the pretty background graphics (not the foreground though - the planets don't look right and the space stations are SOOOO dull and grey).
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The Ultimate Space Sim
The Ultimate Space Sim would be a blend of Freelancer (control & fighting system, faction reputations), Hardwar (like it or not, it had SOOO MUCH ATMOSPHERE. the patches had some good after you're rich ideas too - buying bases & producing your own goods to sell etc) and Elite (physics, HUGENESS). I reckon it should have Planetside flight like hardwar to give you a sense of really being there, interplanetary flight like Freelancer BUT WITH ROTATING PLANETS that are sensible sizes and look real. Interstellar travel would involve tethering your ships to passing comets and adding thrusters to redirect them & accel to near c (some time-dilation problems here but what the hell). This would be a costly business to reward rich people so maybe the odd wormhole too. You can also buy/build bases and in multiplayer you must have escape capsules - so dying means you lose your ship & hence quite a bit of your money.
(Comet idea is nicked from Adam Roberts' SALT. Good book! Just finished his next, STONE which is top-notch is you like good SF).
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