walking around my local second hand charity store looking for a pair of shoes i came across a copy of freelancer for the pc. i knew nothing of this title but i DID recall seeing posters of it when i was much younger and thought it looked pretty cool, so i paid the 2 bucks and took it home.
so i boot it up and discover its a space shooter (among other things) and found myself enthralled. now i want to play some more space shooters, so im wondering if anyone can point me in the way of some good classic titles. even if its from the dos days it doesnt matter dosbox is great for that.
For the original playstation, Colony Wars 1 and 2 were great. I think they were released on PC. There are tons for the PC... star wars: rogue squadron, X-wing VS starfighter and of course the old wing commander series. I personally like the rogue squadron series on the Gamecube. If you want a recent game, project sylpheed for the 360 is not too bad.
If your liking Freelancer, I'd suggest you try out some of the mods. There are some extremely active communities going, doing some pretty amazing stuff with the whole open world multiplayer thing.
Aside from that, I remember there being a game called "Darkstar One" released a couple years ago. Supposedly it was the spiritual successor to Freelancer (after the developer and Freelancer 2 got shut down), but I have no idea how it turned out. Also, check out Starlancer. I'm too young to know the right comparisons, but Id say it plays like a newer version of the X-Wing games. Also, its a prequel to Freelancer.
For new games, I'm afraid the space sim genre is pretty much dead, for no apparent reason. Give me my Halo: Bridge Commander dammit!
Lol, only one post actually gave a proper response...
Try Freespace 2. It's older than Freelancer and is mission based but I'm sure you'll like it if you stick with it until you're used to the controls and stuff. It's only a few bucks on gog.com and it also has a fuckton of mods that either improve or completely change the game.
Darkstar One is okay, is has all the flaws Freelancer does sadly, perhaps more so, but I did play it to the end. Its controls won't be an issue though as it has a mouse based easy to use interface, unlike Freespace 2 which is more tuned for joystick play.
If you want multiplayer try Free Allegiance. It's an old Microsoft game that was made open source and has a good community that continues to develop it. It's not flashy but it's a really sweet multiplayer experience. It's kind of like Team Fortress in space with a RTS aspect on top. Pretty complex but with a helpful community, and to begin with you can stick to the simpler tasks like scouting areas for enemies, leaving behind temporary radar devices, finding wormholes or asteroids your team can use, etc. It's free of course.
A personal favorite of mine is the X series, with the most recent being X3: Terran Conflict. It's not nearly as pick-up-and-play as Freelancer, but it has depth like a motherfucker.
X-wing vs Tie Fighter was a lot of fun back in the day. Also Descent 2 & 3 on the PC. I suppose no list would be complete without mentioning the Wing Commander games. WC 3 & 4 were probably the best ones that I can recall.
Don't forget Jumpgate Evolution is coming out sometime this year (probably).
ha whilst im hardly ungreatful, what i was refering to were space shooters in the sense you are IN space, IN a spaceship. thanks for the suggestions, ill check out the X series as well as freespace after i finish freelancer.
This genre really need a new classic like Dragon Age to the old-school CRPG...... I think Freespace 2 is still the best. Sad, but true. However, after my flightstick broke several years ago, I just reinstalled Freelancer and Darkstar One to solve my nostalgic need from time to time. I love Wing Commander Prophecy, Tie-Fighter, and Independance War series alot. However, to be honest, they are archaic, I doubt any gamer of this gen could enjoy it. ( I think Independance War 2 is probably still quite enjoyable...... with a joystick) So, I recommand you stay with Freelancer, buy Darkstar One on Steam(but be tolerant to its shitty voice-acting), and try out Freespace 2 if playing a joystick space sim with a mouse is OK with you(its quite playable with a mouse).
ok so ive just spent 5 years in gamefaqs hell before posting here and i have to say seeing swears on a forum is downright shocking to me. god how sheltered ive been
I loved this genre, I think Freelancer may actually have been the pinnacle, but there are plenty of other great, similar titles, but there are also plenty of bad ones. Here are a few of the notable ones I can remember:
Mission Based: X-Wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing Alliance (loved this), Freespace 2 (which is now open source, search for Freespace Open or Freespace SCP). Freeform: Darkstar One (not bad, but pretty shallow), the X series (X2 onwards look fantastic, but they are extremely involved and can be quite slow. Probably the best space sandbox around, but you're pretty much left to make your own fun).
Then there's obviously EVE online, which I have virtually no experience with, but I don't think it's really a 'shooter' per se.
For a slightly different take on space combat, check out Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. That's a brilliant game and there should be more like it. I'd call it an RTT, I guess the closest reference I could give you is "It's kinda like Dawn of War 2 but with spaceships".
Have to throw in for Freespace 2. That game is just amazing. Also, TIE Fighter was amazing at the time, not sure how it holds up today, same with the Wing Commander series. I agree with the sentiment that this genre needs a reboot. I'm always looking for a good reason to dig out that old CH Flightstick.
If you're interested in something a little more strategy-ish, you might want to look at Homeworld. It has one of the best "space" vibes I've ever gotten from a game. I'm not really sure what that means, but everything about the presentation feels right to me. There's also Sins of a Solar Empire, but by even mentioning that game I risk summoning Jason Ocampo to this very room, and as awesome as that would be, it would be a long trip back for him.
Lastly, there's Solar Jetman. It's not really a space shooter, but it I'll take any chance I can get to plug that totally lovely game.
Also, where is Dave? He should be all over this thread?!
" walking around my local second hand charity store looking for a pair of shoes i came across a copy of freelancer for the pc. i knew nothing of this title but i DID recall seeing posters of it when i was much younger and thought it looked pretty cool, so i paid the 2 bucks and took it home. so i boot it up and discover its a space shooter (among other things) and found myself enthralled. now i want to play some more space shooters, so im wondering if anyone can point me in the way of some good classic titles. even if its from the dos days it doesnt matter dosbox is great for that. thanks in advance. "
Chis Roberts Space Shooters that inspired Freelancer :-
Wing Commander series - of these Wing Commander III is the best of DOS set which uses actual textured polygonal ships and named video sequences from actors like Mark Hamil and John Rhys-Davies, while Wing Commander IV was made for DOS and Windows and there's a DVD release which was made too which came on two discs and had all of the video in DVD quality MPEG2. You can actually get the whole series including 3, all remade for Windows, in the Wing Commander : Kilrathi Saga DVD. It's around if you look at collector's sites, as the WC IV DVD. Wing Commander III has the best story of them all, real heart and enjoyable characters. Thomas F Wilson as Maniac (from Back to The Future as Biff/Griff) is awesome in the role. His outtakes and 'diary' sequences in IV were hilarious.
There's also Wing Commander V (Prophecy) but I don't recommend it. It has no relation to the previous story and frankly, no heart. The gameplay is about the same as IV. Windows and Gameboy Advance.
There are some other Wing Commander games too, such Wing Commander for 3DO and a few more DOS and Windows games, but they're more of a curiosity than anything else.
Privateer : There are two games in this series - Privateer 1 uses the same engine as Wing Commander II, so it's all prerendered 2D frames which are stretched in relation to the camera, but has a great story and trading system. Privateer II : The Darkening uses the same engine as WCIII, so it's proper textured 3D. Also it has a big name cast for the video sequences including Clive Owen in one of his first big roles.
Starlancer : Windows and Dreamcast. It's literally the predecessor to Freelancer where Chris Roberts had envisioned Freelancer to be more of an MMO (back when Anvil games were being chased by MS and EA at the same time, he was a bit of an industry hero since his days at Origin where he created the Wing Commander series) hence the mouse controls. Starlancer was all keyboard or joystick and frankly played better than Freelancer imho.
" ok so ive just spent 5 years in gamefaqs hell before posting here and i have to say seeing swears on a forum is downright shocking to me. god how sheltered ive been "
Heh, welcome to Giantbomb. I may be completely useless most of the time, but this community is generally awesome. =)
Tie Fighter is all I have for you. God it has been a while since I've played that one...
Freespace goddamn 2. Or hell, Freespace 1 if you want to start from the beginning. They're pretty much millitary with no trade mechanics and very linear (mission-based), but SO well-done that you'll never want anything else. If i had to compare the mission structure with any game, i'd say Modern Warfare 2. That's how good it is.
well if you're looking for space shooters, the halo games would be your obvious choice. republic commando is also a great space romp if you like tactical action. or you could just wait a few year for infinity ward to eventually create call of duty: space warfare.
@graniteoctopus: You'll need Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Which I'm guessing you don't have.) but Shattered Horizons is a good space shooter. It's on steam and it's quite cheap. ;-)
If you hit Freespace 2, be sure to download and install FS2 Open. It's an open source project that improves and enhances the original engine. Manages all of the settings for Freespace 2 from a handy, tabbed menu, and adds in plenty of graphical updates to make everything nice and pretty. Once you have it, you can load up a bevy of mods ranging from one based on Sci-Fi's gritty version of Battlestar Galactica (Beyond the Red Line) to...well...Wing Commander.
And here's more!
Privateer Gemini Gold - Based off of the Vega Strike engine and freely distributed, it's something more of a total conversion and it's a lot of fun. I played through the original Privateer, but this one really does it justice if even it is a little rough around the edges.
The Last Starfighter - Someone actually created the arcade game out of the movie of the same name. Getting my flightstick working with this was a little iffy, but if you're interested in trying this out for nostalgia's sake, here it is.
I just wish someone would remake Tie Fighter or X-Wing. But instead what do we get? Wing Commander for XBLA. Pfft.
" @graniteoctopus: You'll need Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Which I'm guessing you don't have.) but Shattered Horizons is a good space shooter. It's on steam and it's quite cheap. ;-) "
Meh it's more of Counterstrike in Space. I have it and it uses space more thematically than anything.
If you're interested in something a little more strategy-ish, you might want to look at Homeworld. It has one of the best "space" vibes I've ever gotten from a game. I'm not really sure what that means, but everything about the presentation feels right to me.
Homeworld absolutly rocks, It's highly recomended, If you can still find it. The story is a bit, weird, But the game itself, really really cool, I also really enjoyed homeworld cataclysm, Dreadnought are just so awesome.
@graniteoctopus: You're giggly because it's Vinny, The Vinny, so jealous,
You could check out Allegiance, even if you did once ten years ago - it's updated, it's free, and it can be totally addictive if you can get over the learning curve and play some good games. If you try it on a weekday afternoon/evening or Sunday afternoon it seems to be pretty full of players. I still think a good game of Allegiance with a top-notch team is one of the best game experiences out there.
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