„Freespace 1 – The Great War“ is probably the most progressive and ahead of its time space fighter simulator from very early on. And it’s still a banger even today. Yes, you heard right, this game is very old (originally released 1998), yet its gameplay and mechanics has set the standard for and influenced probably all space fighter simulations released after it. The dogfights are fun or very challenging depending on the difficulty level you choose. Graphics were game-changing as was the capability of the engine to process massive battles with many fighters, bombers and capital ships. Thus, the game is forcing you to make the correct wing team arrangement, weapons loadout and ad-hoc adjust your tactics in the field.
Apart from the great single player campaign with an intense story, you can also compete against real players via multiplayer options.
Although the game developer studio closed in the meantime and fans are ever since waiting for a sequel to the second instalment “Freespace 2”, both games enjoy a vibrant and very active fan base which has released several updates and additional content based on the game engine over the years. Look for Knossos, Hard-Light and Freespace Port to find the additional content which requires Freespace 2 as base game.
For the review, I played the vanilla version with the latest nGLIDE drivers on Windows 10 at 640x480 resolution with mouse and keyboard. The play time was about 10 hours for in total 29 missions (10 in act 1, 10 in act 2, 9 in act 3).
Here is my pro and cons list:
Pro:
+ varied missions
+ surprises during missions
+ great, thrilling story and build-up
+ interesting point of view in story telling with a surprise at the end
+ ad-hoc tactics
+ very well streamlined HUD
+ weapon & battle effects
+ mission, wing team and weapon loadout planning
+ shield, weapon, energy management of the fighter
+ wing/pilot commands
+ intense dogfights
+ smooth controls
+ nearly perfect mechanics
+ massive battles
+ cinematics adding to atmosphere and setting
+ situational music
+ tense last missions
+ great story ending
+ fighter AI challenging
+ loosing battles
+ in-battle rearming option
+ style and graphics so old it could be considered vintage
+ mouse controls
+ joystick controls
+ still running on Win 10
Cons:
- Missions do get a bit repetitive later on
- Music is rather repetitive, too
- Last mission loadout and approach only determinable by trail & error
- Space environment boring after a while since it only features varied colour nebulas, or occasional asteriods
Conclusion: Anyone slightly interested in Sci-Fi space fighter simulations with a great story, great gameplay, perfected mechanics and breathtaking staging should get this game, even if it’s already very old. For an update to the latest graphics, look up e.g. Freespace Port.
Rating: 8/10
“Freespace 1 – Silent Threat”, the add-on included in the purchase in my view unfortunately is lacking way behind the main game. Of course, it shares all the great engine, mechanics and battle basics but otherwise just seems like a random assortment of additional missions, loosely connected to some background of a covert operations branch of the GTI.
Hence, I jump right to my pro/cons list of about 12 missions and 5 hours play time:
Pros:
+ some good dogfight missions
+ some challenging opponent setups
Cons:
- Most missions with boring “destroy them all” objectives
- Ethically questionable mission goals, including attack of unarmed civilians
- Default mission wing team and weapon loadout usually not suitable for the task
- Several missions bugged
- Loosely connected missions
- Missing background story
- Repetitive mission briefings
Conclusion: not worth playing through in my opinion, only if you want to practice dogfights and your skills more.
Rating: 5/10 points
