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Freelancer's story, shown in two hours worth of in-game cut scenes, only exists in single-player mode.The story is linear without any branches and can only be advanced when the player takes on key missions one at a time. There are no time limits to complete these missions, and the player can ignore and "pause" the story to take on side missions instead. To prevent the player from amassing too much wealth and equipment on the side and making the key missions too easy, the current key mission must be completed before the player is allowed to advance a level.
The opening scene when starting the single-player mode shows the destruction of space station Freeport 7 by unknown forces. The player assumes control of one of the survivors, Edison Trent, who is now without money or a ship on the planet Manhattan. Trent takes up employment with the Liberty Security Force while waiting for associate to wake up from a coma in the hospital. His contact in the LSF is Commander Jun'ko Zane, who provides him with a small basic starfighter. The main story involves Trent discovering a conspiracy and a cover up concerning what really happened on Freeport 7 and why it was destroyed. Trent quickly discovers that all of the survivors from the station begin to vanish or are found dead and has to do what ever is necessary to make sure he does not meet the same fate.
The player had several options in regards to how the or she built wealth and power in the Freelancer galaxy. One could be a fighter pilot for hire, a space pirate, a bounty hunter or the captain of a cargo vessel. Different jobs were accepted by conversing with NPCs or checking out the job board at planetary bars. Every mission, regardless of type, takes place in space. The player may also purchase more advanced ships as the game progresses. Each ship has different attributes which may or may not be useful to the player.
Freelancer's flight mechanics were made to be novice-friendly and thus controls over the facing of the ship are controlled by the cursor while engine direction outputs were controlled by the typical W-S-A-D keyboard layout; however joystick control is also supported.
The player gathers credits by completing missions given by NPCs. Missions that provided less assistance from other A.I. ships and with more enemies would provide a better payout.
Trading was also available as an option to earning credits though the universe's markets, although the economic system in Freelancer was very basic. The markets were always steady and could not fluctuate because of the player's actions. The price of an item in on one planet may be higher on another. Therefore it is in the players best interest to shop around before buying or selling goods.
Mining is also another way of creating an income however it is not the most efficient; the player would have to go to a marked mining field on the navmap and shoot at debris floating by the ship. Earth minerals and other strange alien minerals can be mined from the debris and the player can tractor these in materials into their cargo hold.
With the credits, players can buy equipment, ship parts, ships, weapons and ammunition.
In Freelancer, the player could pilot single person ships only; there was no option to pilot capital ships. Also, the player was limited to owning only a single ship. Each ship has a certain number of hard points for upgrading the ship. Each ship had a limited number of spaces for weapon hard points, and each type of weapon had a class assigned to it. Depending on the class, some ships could not use the higher class weapons. There are also hard points for engine improvements, and for shields. In Freelancer, there are different varieties of shields that have strengths and weaknesses to different types of weapons. There are also different classes of ships, such as bombers, which are slower, heavily shielded and heavily armed. Bombers were ideal for taking out capital ships and stations. Fighters are more suited to fighting bombers and other fighters. Freighters are ideal for the player who likes to trade commodities to earn cash. There are variants of these classes, such as heavy fighters, light bombers, etc.
Navigating on the map is a very easy task, as the player would only need to click on a location he would like to go and click on a way point button to plot out the most efficient way of getting to their destination. Each vessel is equip with autopilot to make long voyages easier on the player. The player can also manually pilot their ship to any location in the three dimensional world. All ships are also equip with cruise engines which are faster than standard maneuvering thrusters. When cruise engines are engaged weapons are not available due to extreme power requirements. Ships could also fire missiles that can temporarily disable a ships cruise engines.
Players travel from location to location through trading routes which accelerate the player's ship to near light speed, thus eliminating long space voyages.
Official jump gates that are man-made are created to allow easy and fast transit between solar systems and are usually guarded by the local police force or military. Some of the jump gates were off limits to players until they had acquired the access codes to the gates. There are three types of jump gates in Freelancer. There are system to system gates for interplanetary travel, region gates for traveling between vast distances, and here are also natural jump gates are found in the galaxy, usually in dust clouds and other places, and can only be found thro ugh either exploration or through buying the information from NPCs at bars when they are willing to help you.
In all there are 7 regions of space to explore in the Sirius Sector, which are:
A free roaming space sim which puts you in the shoes of a down and out pilot, and then gives you the freedom to earn your riches by performing missions for the various factions, trading or simply shooting other ships and taking their cargo!
Story Mechanics
NPCs at the bar
Plot
The opening scene when starting the single-player mode shows the destruction of space station Freeport 7 by unknown forces. The player assumes control of one of the survivors, Edison Trent, who is now without money or a ship on the planet Manhattan. Trent takes up employment with the Liberty Security Force while waiting for associate to wake up from a coma in the hospital. His contact in the LSF is Commander Jun'ko Zane, who provides him with a small basic starfighter. The main story involves Trent discovering a conspiracy and a cover up concerning what really happened on Freeport 7 and why it was destroyed. Trent quickly discovers that all of the survivors from the station begin to vanish or are found dead and has to do what ever is necessary to make sure he does not meet the same fate.
Gameplay
Ship's HUD
Freelancer's flight mechanics were made to be novice-friendly and thus controls over the facing of the ship are controlled by the cursor while engine direction outputs were controlled by the typical W-S-A-D keyboard layout; however joystick control is also supported.
Credits (Economy)
The player gathers credits by completing missions given by NPCs. Missions that provided less assistance from other A.I. ships and with more enemies would provide a better payout.
Trading was also available as an option to earning credits though the universe's markets, although the economic system in Freelancer was very basic. The markets were always steady and could not fluctuate because of the player's actions. The price of an item in on one planet may be higher on another. Therefore it is in the players best interest to shop around before buying or selling goods.
Mining is also another way of creating an income however it is not the most efficient; the player would have to go to a marked mining field on the navmap and shoot at debris floating by the ship. Earth minerals and other strange alien minerals can be mined from the debris and the player can tractor these in materials into their cargo hold.
With the credits, players can buy equipment, ship parts, ships, weapons and ammunition.
Ships
In Freelancer, the player could pilot single person ships only; there was no option to pilot capital ships. Also, the player was limited to owning only a single ship. Each ship has a certain number of hard points for upgrading the ship. Each ship had a limited number of spaces for weapon hard points, and each type of weapon had a class assigned to it. Depending on the class, some ships could not use the higher class weapons. There are also hard points for engine improvements, and for shields. In Freelancer, there are different varieties of shields that have strengths and weaknesses to different types of weapons. There are also different classes of ships, such as bombers, which are slower, heavily shielded and heavily armed. Bombers were ideal for taking out capital ships and stations. Fighters are more suited to fighting bombers and other fighters. Freighters are ideal for the player who likes to trade commodities to earn cash. There are variants of these classes, such as heavy fighters, light bombers, etc.
Interplanetary Travel
Navigating on the map is a very easy task, as the player would only need to click on a location he would like to go and click on a way point button to plot out the most efficient way of getting to their destination. Each vessel is equip with autopilot to make long voyages easier on the player. The player can also manually pilot their ship to any location in the three dimensional world. All ships are also equip with cruise engines which are faster than standard maneuvering thrusters. When cruise engines are engaged weapons are not available due to extreme power requirements. Ships could also fire missiles that can temporarily disable a ships cruise engines.
Players travel from location to location through trading routes which accelerate the player's ship to near light speed, thus eliminating long space voyages.
Official jump gates that are man-made are created to allow easy and fast transit between solar systems and are usually guarded by the local police force or military. Some of the jump gates were off limits to players until they had acquired the access codes to the gates. There are three types of jump gates in Freelancer. There are system to system gates for interplanetary travel, region gates for traveling between vast distances, and here are also natural jump gates are found in the galaxy, usually in dust clouds and other places, and can only be found thro ugh either exploration or through buying the information from NPCs at bars when they are willing to help you.
In all there are 7 regions of space to explore in the Sirius Sector, which are:
The Starmap
- Bretonia, a British-themed cluster
- Liberty, a North American-themed cluster
- Rheinland, a German-themed cluster
- Kusari , a Japanese-themed cluster
- Independent Worlds
- Border Worlds
- Edge Worlds
| Game Name | FreeLancer |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes |
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| Original US Release |
March 4, 2003
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| Original US Release |
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| Aliases |
Memorable Games
a list of 4 items by Shadowbreak
a list of 4 items by Shadowbreak
My Finished Games (PC)
a list of 202 items by Etrips3
a list of 202 items by Etrips3
Notable Games
a list of 23 items by chr1s
a list of 23 items by chr1s
We don't have any info about FreeLancer's franchise games.
