Gaming Nirvana
A commercial product lovingly crafted with care and detail. A scifi story epic in scope and layered with mysteries. An instant classic with legions of diehard fans in a niche genre. Boy, they don't make em like this anymore. All these sentences describe Volition's much beloved FreeSpace 2. Not to be confused with the partitioning utility software, FS2 is a scifi space simulation which deals with an alien threat to humanity out among the stars. Sound cliched? Yes, it is. But combine the best aspects of space sims (Wing Commander/TIE Fighter) and polish it until it gleams with radiant storytelling and space environments, and you've got this treasured masterpiece.
The first FreeSpace got everything pretty much right, but Volition outdid themselves on their second outing. Introducing dense nebulas to their already painterly regular space environs, the cosmic ether is a wonderful place to fight in. The pace of the game is leisurely at the beginning, but quickly ramps up to a deadly tempo as you fight to save humans and their Vasudan allies from the return of the Shivans, the antagonists of the first game. And boy, they return with a vengeance. Don't get comfortable now that mankind's built a huge new capital ship named the GTVA Colossus, the Shivans can more than match it. The twists and turns in the narrative are never anything less then captivating, and the entire game does everything to make you feel as if you're part of an epic struggle between spacefaring civilizations. In the end, questions will linger, which unfortunately must remain unanswered as it doesn't look like we'll ever get a Freespace 3 due to poor sales of FS2. One of the greatest injustices in gaming history.
