Freelancer, sounds just like Privateer 2

Well, I haven't played Freelancer, but I've played both Privateer 1 & 2, and it sure seems it's the same game. Even the name is so similar!

Microsoft did it once again: took something, ruthlessly copied it and now presents as something new and innovative. Hmmm...

I personally really doubt that the article author has been a player since his first Atari, otherwise he would not have missed the two Privateer titles and the legendary Elite, the predececor of all.

This is my first post here on THG and I definitely agree. The game sounds like a Privateer clone. Maybe this is M$ idea of the "Clone Wars". But I won't say that I am not interested; I can't get Privateer I or II to work on my XP/2K machines and the networking abilities of it sound really interesting. I used to play Traveller, an old space fairing role playing game and that used to be great. This game sounds like it might just be able to capture the camaraderie of playing with/against real people instead of just the machine.

AL

I agree that as I said in the reviw that it has it's roots in a lot of the older games and that much I liked. The new graphics and look and feel is good. Like I said some will like it and others will not.

Well, forget Privateer, "Elite" had this game beat by almost 20 years!

It's a bit disappointing to see someone who professes to be of the 'Atari' age of gamers, yet then reviews a 'refreshing' game by Microsoft and doesn't make a single mention of the of the grandfather of all space trading/mission games: Elite. Judging from the review, Freelancer obviously borrows heavily from Elite in every aspect, and simply adds the refinements that modern technology can now offer.

One would have thought that the legendary David Braben at least deserved a mention? Or is the BBC micro beyond even our venerable reviewers' years?

Regards,

Phil

hey

i too thought, when i first read this, that it does sound EXACTLY like privateer. very good game i was.
i dont mind them bringing out another version of it because id like to play it again, tho its prolly too old and wouldnt work on my comp (win XP), so this looks like somthing im going to have to get.

Phoeno

Jesus guys.....That was one of the worst reviews i've ever read. Firstly the game is deisgned by chris roberts. The guy who designed the wing commander series and PRIVATEER 1 and 2. Digital anvil was his studio. Miscrosoft bought digital anvil several months before freelancer was to be released. It is supposed to be like privateer 1 and 2, if you had read ANYTHING about this game you would know that. How someone can review this and not mention that most basic fact is beyond me and indicates ZERO reasearch was done on this.

Quote:
It's a bit disappointing to see someone who professes to be of the 'Atari' age of gamers, yet then reviews a 'refreshing' game by Microsoft and doesn't make a single mention of the of the grandfather of all space trading/mission games: Elite. Judging from the review, Freelancer obviously borrows heavily from Elite in every aspect, and simply adds the refinements that modern technology can now offer.

I thought exactly the same thing, I cut my teeth on the Atari 2600, "Tank Battle" anyone?

My thoughts precisely.

Ok, so technology has moved on 10 years or so, since Elite 4, but the basic elements of the game appear identical.

Remember the students they got in to do the station videos? :-)

Chris


Chris

I'm supprised no one said this game plays just like earth & beyond (except you don't have to pay-to-play).

The heck with all those other games you guys have been mentioning.. I have one game that launched all of this. TRADEWARS. I have to say that I LOVE playing Freelancer, but the parallels to Tradewars are just insane.. MS should have titled this game Tradewars 2003. lol!

I'm not sure, but I think we must be playing different games.

The Freelancer I played didn't let me ignore the story without stifling my advancement - system jumpgates deny you access unless you've advanced to specific points in the story. For an "open-ended universe" it's a very combat oriented game, and it gets extremely annoying to be attacked every time you exit a station or jumpgate in what are supposed to be civilised and patrols systems. Having a trade lane interrupted is fair and makes sense for pirate-types to do, but a six fighter assault on a planet's orbital space is suicide. Or at least it would be if there were enough police craft around that cared about protecting those in their good books.

Trade in Freelancer is a joke and looks like it was tacked on simply to put a tick on the list. There is no economy in Freelancer - supplies of goods don't change and prices are always static. You are guaranteed to make an identical amount of credits taking Item X from Planet A to Station B every single time you make the run. Law enforcement hails you regularly to scan you for contraband... not that I've seen anything that resembles contraband. I guess drug running and slave trading isn't in vogue with space trade games these days  

I had high expectations for this game, having loved playing Privateer 1 & 2, but the end result that made it to store shelves feels half complete, albeit a very polished half complete.

If only Privateer 2 would run under Win2k. Ahh well, time to go play Starlancer again - at least that was a game that built upon it's predecessors instead of declining.

Delwyn, a disappointed space-sim fan

Del, you should give it another go. You need to complete the main plot line before you can really enjoy the freedom aspect of the game. The main plot shouldn't take you long to finish, should be able to do it in one day. After that the freedom aspect of the game really opens up.

And just a few points:

Trade prices do fluctuate.
If you want contraband you need to get good faction with a criminal organisation. You then gain access to their bases and can purchases there weapons and trade goods.
Criminal groups include the outcasts and cosairs. Running contraband is very difficult but the profit you can make from it is amazing. When you complete the main game you will be around level 18 and can pretty much purchase anything. Levels are really only important when your doing the main quest. Overall the game has far more freedom that say privateer 2 (not as good as privateer 1 though). To outfit the top ship costs around 900k credits. When i won the game i had 100k credits just to give you an idea of how much work you need to do  

Thanks bjon, I'll give it some more time, but it does still bug me that I'm locked into following the story. I was definitely looking forward to a new Privateer. Maybe I'll just play on a locally created server and avoid DA's railroaded story entirely  

Del.

I haven't played any of the aforementioned games, but it sounds like a graphical version of Tradewars? Is that accurate? Because if that's what it is, I'm definitely interested.


<-----Insert witty sig line here.

Okay the top ship actually costs around 1.5 million. I found a secret base selling another better ship lol. And it can supposedly take class 9 weapons!! I haven't found any class 9 weapons yet though.....

Another aspect of the game i recently discovered is salvage missions. These are normally picking up by asking or buying info from someone in the bars. This will unlock a point of interest on one sector of your map. You can then fly to that point and the ship there will normally empty and you can salavage or destroy it. They are normally located in asteroid or gas fields. Sometimes they may be a trap and will be defended. Also you can find ships called asteroid miners in asteroid fields, these are run by some of the large corporation and can be attacked and the ore that they have been mining can be tractor beamed in.

It would really be interesting to see this game had chris roberts stayed on the project till the end and microsoft hadn't forced the game into an early release. But still, i think it's pretty reasonable all things considered. Maybe we will get some patches or player made mods if the game sells well enough that would be nice.

Played Privateer 1 and 2 both were dos based, very addictive games.
Then Ms pulled their scam that if you don't buy a license you will not be
supported by the new and only operating system for PCs. yea right
This was not the only game they hijacked, remember Mech Warrior.
At least they had a game designer re-do the graphics on MW and changed the the story line a bit, brought the fighting to Earth-Sol home-worlds.
Still have the Galactic Map showing all the inhabitable trade worlds of Privateer. Not one name was changed.
The only reason to get Privateer now is you need the MS version to be able to download the mods that private designers made. The Moders changed everything, new worlds, ships, characters and quests. Ms lost their butts when this happened, it was like Linux user modified as needed.
by the way if find a copy its worth getting, there is on mod that creates a whole new game better graphics, better ships completely new universe.
Main reason Freelancer 2 will not happen, Ms will not get a dime if they release it. Copy rights are coming due so they will lose it anyway.
Hehehe all for sticking it to B Gates hiphip stick it to ya Billy boy.

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