January 2009 Archives

We need another Descent: Freespace.

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I, need another Freespace :(

The space-sim/shooter that was once a mainstay of PC gaming is today a sorry shadow of it's former self. Don't get me wrong, I am more than grateful of the small low budget releases like Spaceforce: Rogue Universe and Dark Horizon. As enjoyable as afformentioned titles are they struggle to capture the spark that made space combat so exciting in games like Wing Commander, Starlancer, and the legendary Freespace series.

One of my biggest complaints of the genre in recent years has been the emphasis of Privater type trading depth. What was once a very small sub-genre of games like Elite and Privateer now seems like a requirement for any space sim, which has led to the problem we have now in that the rest of the game suffers as a result.
 
While space trading does have its charm, it tends to drag down the pace an awful lot which is what made games like Darkstar One and Spaceforce so average. This no-mans-land between X trading depth and Freespace action is not a good place to be. Put the budget from the trading aspect into the writing and voice acting and who knows, we could finally have a challenger to the Freespace 2's 10 year throne.
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--Shaz-- DESIGN 2006
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