At the time of Digital Anvil's closing, the company was working on two Xbox 360 titles, one of which was dubbed with the codename Project Lonestar (the other, Project Enwor, I'll go into at length at a later date) but also known by the name of Freelancer 2. I have not played much of the original, so forgive me that I cannot compare the sequel to the original. The player would have again been in the shoes of Edison Trent as he attempted to find out the truth about the mystery of the space station disaster that Trent survived whilst alluding some shadowy groups. Anyways, this game (along with the other game that Digital Anvil was working on) had they seen release, in my opinion, would have been the best first-party Xbox 360 titles thus far and this one reminded me of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, which was one of my favorite Xbox games. A shame this one will not see the light of day.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Freelancer 2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
37 comments:
The original Freelancer was a hidden gem in Microsoft's first-party PC releases. It was deep, involved, gorgeous and full of possibilities. The multiplayer on it was pretty respectable, too. A sequel for the 360 would have made perfect sense and one can only hope that MS takes a little bit of Freelancer's style and packages it into a new title (if they don't revive this one outright.)
Freelancer has a depth of play and being rarely seen for a game of it's gender init's time. Even now with massive improvements in graphics capabilities of hardware and the games that vie to use this, Freeelancer stands out heads and shoulders above them. Offer much more than any present, pretty Space Sim. A deep emersment in Sci Fi that echos of Star Wars, Babalon 5, Star Trek, and many more.
The way private modding teams have dug into the heart of a game with little or no assistence from the producers of such, is strictly amazing. In many instances new life has been breathed into a possible dieing game. But dieing only because the producer, Microsoft, sees no worth in it's future. So we'll see many shallow games produced by microsoft as they attempt to localise their gaming to their console indevers.
A sad day when Digital Anvil was disbanded. It would be nice to see this team brought back together to resurect theirmaster piece, Freelancer. But then when you believe, perhpas anything is possible. Like flying raindeer and a jolly little Red and White clad man. Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas to all and to all....a good night
Freelancer was originaly going to be part of a trilogy, and the story started with Starlancer. Im working on building my own game engine that works in a similar way to Freelancers but is much more powerful(it can [hopefully] be used to create almost ANy type of game). I wouldnt mind applying that to a 'Freelancer 2'.
Freelancer is far the best Scifi space sim game that I have ever played. Actually, for my taste, it is the best game that I have ever played.
Knowing that Freelancer 2 almost was but probably never will be makes my heart hurt more than when I figured they just gave up after the first Freelancer.
What a shame.
you should try X3, freelancer was just a poor copy. But nice anyway :)
X3 was released after freelancer so freelancer can't be the copy of X3 :)
In comparison to Freelancer X-series are not so dynamic in terms of gameplay so things can get boring and the storyline is... well not so good.
But X3 is great game and actualy as far as i'm concerned better then freelancer. X3 is much more complex game then freelancer and it just has the better feel around it.
Why? - What bugged me about freelancer is that somehow it feels so unpolished and unfinished. It had great potential but it was not all exploited. Originaly freelancer was concived to be more complex and unlinear then it turned out to be. But in the end MS rushed the production... shame...
Someone needs to pick this game up and finish it - Freelancer needs to live on... Very few games can compare... Microsoft - PLEASE LISTEN!
God damn freelancer is awesome, I still play the multiplayer from time to time. We need a sequel!
try eve online to satisfy that hunger that's still ravaging your insides...and till someones has the courage to revive this project.
Eve Online, whilst nice eye-candy, costs heaps to play and feels more like a command and conquer during battles instead of as a first person shooter. X3 was way to slow and complex regarding aerial combat etc. Freelancer moved. If Freelancer 2 was ever released, it would sell like hotcakes. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing the original game actually completed (dynamic trading, in-built VoIP, etc). BullDo9.
Freelancer, like many other people have said, was easily the best Space Flight game I've ever played. I'd put it easily in my Top 5 all time great games, with the only thing keeping it down was the relative lack of planetary exploration (it was kinda like old RPGs where you picked a building to go to and were there. You didn't get to actually walk there and enjoy the scenery or interact with the locals).
Freelancer's story is what really caught me. The cutscenes were cinematic in quality (not graphic-wise, although they were pretty good for their time). I mean, they were movie-quality. I felt like I was inside a thrilling sci-fi action flic at times. My favorite games usually have compelling stories that drive you forward, wanting to know what happens next. It wasn't untill a second playthrough that I began to fully explore the galaxy because the story was so compelling, I just had to play it straight through.
I'm sure every poster here knows about the online Freelancer petition, but unfortunately, it's only in the thousands. A million or two signatures would definately get MS' attention, warranting developing a sequel. Word of mouth would then increase the sales.
If you look at some of the best selling 360 games currently, or ones their touting for the future, they're all heavy on the story side or fairly creative with alot of thought put into the game universe. Games like Halo, Oblivion, Mass Effect, GTA, Gears of War, they're all driven by a quality of story unrivaled in previous generations of video games.
When Mass Effect was announced and early vids were shown of it, I thought THIS was Freelancer's equivilant sequel, with galaxy exploration tossed in to a great RPG and story arc. Sadly, having played the game, it's nothing like Freelancer, as you have pretty much no control over your ship, the Normandy.
When it comes down to it, Freelancer was an RPG, a ship-RPG. You could customize your ship to your tastes, rather than your character, which is what made it so encompassing. It's kinda like the racing games today, with the mulitude of customization options, like Forza 2. Forza 2 is not an RPG, it's a racing simulator, but sometimes, when I'm spending hours fine-tuning a look of a car, I'm reminded of the hours sometimes I spend DRESSING my RPG characters in games like Oblivion or Mass Effect.
I read all your comments above and i agree with them. I play Freelancer online for over 6 months (i didn't had internet till then), but i know this game for 4 years now, i played it then and i play it now.
Right now is the only online game i play, nothing else is like it, i don't want to play anything else, is useless.
Although i appreciate all the mods this game has (some are very good looking) i still play on unmoded server, just4fun euro freelancer server www.border-free.net. Why is this server so special? You have to warn before attacking someone, most of players use only guns, they don't reload and i made many good friends.
As everyone here said is a shame this game was rushed and didn't got near completion because they had great ideas and the game had great potential.
X2, X3 and Darkstar One don't have multiplayer and need powerful computers to run.
Starlancer and Freelancer are unique and i had fun playing them. All i can do is hope that one day a sequel (at least as good as Freelancer) will be made.
Have fun and see you in space ;)
I always liked Freelancer because of the multiplayer which allowed up to 64 people on a server, and it was great how people added more systems and ships, and it was simple. X3 takes alot more thinking and doesn't have the same multiplayer excitement.
I hope to god somehow, somewhere, sometime someone remakes Freelancer 2. Even if someone creates a new game with same-ish features I would be happy.
I played FL for years .I had hundreds of hours of fun and when it started dying ,I moved over to EVE .I bet that every EVE player would rather be playing an updated FreeLancer type game .If MS would take a strong look at the income that EVE produces , maybe they'd get a clue .
Freelancer is in short a masterpiece, I have been playing it pretty much solidly for the last 5 years, multiplayer for the last 3 years. The singleplayer option was brilliant with a well crafted storyline along with a generous (but not too generous) learning curve, coupled with the elaborate system exploration and ship modification the game was superb!
The mods that are out on offer for this game are brilliant, I would highly recommend the Monkey Universe mod for the RP fans out there as you wont find a better run server or a friendlier place to play.
FL2 would be great, if Microsoft put half of the resources into it as they did The Age Of Empires series for example, the amount of money they would make would be astronomical and if they managed it like EVE online (which I have never played) I am sure that Mr Gates & co would be laughing all the way to the bank (not that they aren't already).
Just my thoughts ;)
I had some of the best gaming experiences of my life playing Freelancer. This game really pulls you into its universe.
Exploring the galaxy and its different factions, engaging in intense space-combat, visiting seedy bars and smuggling illicit goods. You really do feel like you're in a gripping sci-fi novel at times.
One of my favourite aspects of the game is the outstanding music and sfx. The eerie music/noises playing while flying through some uncharted sector on the fringes of the galaxy create the unearthly, mysterious atmosphere of space flawlessly.
Why o why won't Microsoft make a sequel. I could see a new Freelancer game doing well released for pc and X360 what with the release of sci-fi games like Mass Effect and Tabula Rasa (not to mention the popularity of TV series like Battlestar Galactica). Modding on the X360 would work if MS ever implements the ideas they orignally had for Xbox Live.
All we can do for now is dream (sign the Freelancer Sequel Petition )
and hope the heads at Microsoft realize the market for a new aged space-combat-exploration-rpg.
I was hoping somebody could help me with a bit of a dilemma I have about this game. When I first heard about Freelancer I was already a huge fan of Starlancer. I ran out and bought FREELANCER and put it in my "Games to get to " box. Well, that is a pretty big box (several boxes actually). Well it's been a few years and I've been working my way through my box and now I'm finally just about ready to think about starting Freelancer and I started doing some online reading about the game and I came up with 2 distinctly different background story scenarios for the big bad alien Nomads. Microsoft's webpage says the story is just that the Sleeper ships wandered off to Sirius to avoid the war and 800 years later they are doing pretty darn good for themselves but it turns out that these really BAD aliens known as the Nomad used to live in the Sirius system and there seems to be some conflict looming. But then I read another webpage that says the story starts right after the end of StarLancer when the Nomads show up near Earth during a Coalition and Alliance battle and end the war by destroying the earth, our sun, and our entire solar system (except for one lone survivor hiding behind the planet Pluto)…..But no other webpages mention this part of the "back story" and it may just be poorly written Fan Fiction that I stumbled across, or perhaps this was an early story idea that never made it into the game? Or is this the ACTUAL scenario from the game?
This may sound like s strange question to be concerned with, but I have an odd rule about games or movies or books. If the story involves the Earth or the majority of the Earth's population being destroyed at any point (even 800 years ago) then I'm no longer interested. Resident Evil Apocalypse is one of my all time favorite movies EVER ( I have 3 different DVD versions including the unrated special edition 2 disk-set), but I refuse to watch Resident Evil Extinction because the thought of "most people" being zombies disturbs me (even if Alaska is still mostly OK). Ditto for "I am Legend" -- just not my thing. I spent 14 years in the Army and I am no stranger to death and killing, and I have to problems with games or movies that have a lot of violence, but for some reason I just don't like the idea of "all of us" being killed -- even if some survivors go off and fight vampires, or manage to set up a nice civilization in the Sirius system 800 years later --- any story that has the Earth as de-populated or destroyed just bothers me enough to skip it and go onto something else for entertainment.
I'm not trying to tell anybody what games or movies they should watch -- different things bother different people. If "I am Legend" is your favorite movie, good for you -- just don't push me into watching it. So I was hoping some kind individual would take the time to tell me if I'm going to love FREELANCER as much as I had hoped, or if that back-story with the Earth being blown up when Aliens explode the sun is actually part of the FREELANCER Story (in which case I will regrettably, skip this game and just move on to Independence War 2 a littler earlier then planned).
So…anybody care to clear up the confusion about the two different Back-stories I am finding online?
here's the intor, anon.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/freelancer-game-intro-from-microsoft/2706813846
in short - Freelancer is about Mankind launching 'sleeper ships' into deep space to start anew.
The game is set in a time 800 years in the future where these ships have established colonies in the Sirius system.
Thanks --- I just watched the intro movie --- I also asked a few friends tonight who are huge gamers and they told me the original idea was for the Nomads to destroy Earth, but the developers didn't like that idea so that's why it was changed before the game was finalized. -- great decision in my opinion, because with the Earth safe and sound I immediately installed FREELANCER (watched the intro again) and found myself dropped into what just might turn out to be one of the best space games I've seen. It's more RPG style then I was expecting -- not quite the fighter-only style that STARLANCER was, and it has soooo many more options and the story already is deep enough that I am taking notes. I went to Planet Pittsburgh and saw how well the game does at making you really feel like you are on a different planet -- it's like living out a sci-fi movie. This looks like something that can really take me away from the stress of work, school, bills, etc for hours on end. My big search now is for all the mods to install after I finish the original commercial release -- I've heard about some ones that sound really interesting -- so more research, some downloading, and in between -- plenty of checking out different planets and bases in Sirius.
:-D
To all you people who ask about Freelancer 2 returning. I know most of you have given up hope, but dont. There was a little company called Climax Online, who a while back started a game with the infamous GamesWorkshop. They was making a Warhammer Online game. The project was officially canceled in June 2004 when Games Workshop determined that the roll-out costs would be too expensive. However, work on the game never actually stopped as Climax Online continued the project using their own funds until the company reported in late 2004 that the Warhammer Online project was shut down due to difficulty in securing a publishing agreement. This was a sad time for all us Warhammer fans.
Then in may '05 EA Mythic bought the licence and started developing the game again. The game (Warhammer Online: Age of Recconing) is now due for release in the upcoming months.
Moral of the story, dont give up hope, there is always a chance that someone will come in and redevelop Freelancer 2. So just wait it out, keep getting your mates to sign the petition and keep your fingers crossed.
I loved freelancer too.. but I used to whip so much ass it was getting ridiculous.. I used to be a pure griefer on games release and I cause many roid rages.. probably a few peeps broke thier monitors (yes back then we all had monitors, no lcd!) I remember one guy I shot out the lane and the toolbag wouldn't pay- whole server came after me and I took on everyone with my sick skills- they all ate chicken that night
Some people in the Freelancer scene would maybe remember me... I was intensly covering Freelancer in the early years, and at times I still hope to get another go at a game in the same league.
Most of the guys from DA are now all over the place... Jörg Neumann is still as far as I know at Micrsoft as an Executive Producer for third party games, and helped make Mass Effect.
I do not know where the Roberts brothers are now, and I truely hope we get another Privateer/Freelancer game, with the engrossing story and the good MP element.
Germans og Islandics just dont make triple-A titles in the same way as games made in the US.
Cheers
Christian "Bargib" Koerner
I think its a shame that games companies don't listen to us all first origin killed off privateer then microsoft leace us standing because of the 360 why can't anyone ever finish what they started especially with the online following yet microsoft say they want to take online gaming too the next level......! Maybe they should look online for a better guide. Demonic
Freelancer was the first online game I ever really got involved with to any depth. For this reason it will always hold a special place in my game collection.
I eagerly awaited Freelancer for years and years after playing Privateer. I played many PC games since a small kid from 286 machines onwards. Remember all those old games such as the Quest series from Sierra and the Lucasarts graphic adventures? Hehe some real nostalgia there for me..
Anyway, I loved the WC games and the privateer series (although I found Privateer 2:The Darkening a odd change from the WC universe)and have always been a huge fan of the genre.
I can see why people crave for a Freelancer 2 as there really is no space based action game which has the same role playing depth and direct control system that Freelancer has.
As people have said above if MS actually caught on and restarted this project as a first person controlled morpg, living up to the dream that the original Freelancer team invisiaged it to be, I reckon it could and would be a worthwhile title.
It's a shame Freelancer was rushed out in the end, we all know it was. It deserves it's final installment completed and then to be let be...
Keep the hope and dream alive..
Don't get all that love for Freelancer. It was such a poor Elite clone. Sure, it looked okay and yes, it had a few nice touches (like the multiplayer), but overall I was just disappointed. It's also the only space game I know that didn't even attempt to give you the illusion of vastness. It was just a series of flat shoebox levels with planets so close to each other, they should have crashed any moment. I admit I never finished the single player, so I can't really say much about the story, other than the first half of the game was not very memorable at all. IMHO it's for the best that there no more bland games like that around. Too bad David Braben won't ever deliver Elite 4 - though I suspect there is a good reason for that. :(
I truly enjoyed playing the single player option of the game. Never really tried the multiplayer aspect so I do not have any comments regarding that.
The Single player story is immersive, not deep but very enjoyable and the characters were interesting. Just what I needed! The graphics are attractive yet its nothing groundbreaking nor revolutionary but it did its job very well and thats what is important. It can easily run on the decent systems.
Basically, its a very well-rounded game with lots of potential. I wished they released expansion packs to further the storyline or adds new adventure in the life of the main protagonist.
While its a game thats not going to win any awards, its still a very good and well-made game and thus, its regrettable for the gaming world that it is prolyl gone for good.
Luckily for us, space genre isn't totally dead yet with titles like the ever-growing Eve Online and X3. There are also at least THREE space MMO in the works soooo HURRAH for all of us!
i loved freelancer i whish they made freelancer two the modders really sunk their teeth in to freelancers heart to
I loved freelancer. It is an amazing game. I enjoyed the storyline and looked forward to a continuation. I played the multi player part for three years until so many people had left that I would have had to go to some of the modded servers that I didn't care for. I do look forward to a freelancer 2 and if it does come out I will be getting it the day it comes out. Until then though there is another game coming out that looks promising in simulating the multi player aspects. Infinity is a game that is being worked on by independent programmers that is supposed cross boundaries that freelancer never crossed. Check it out for yourselves.
http://www.infinity-universe.com/
Infinity/infinity_overview.php
I believe it looks promising and even though it can't continue freelancers interesting storyline, the gameplay looks to exceed the boundaries freelancer stopped at. Seamless transition from planets to space. instead of jumpgates you get jump drives so unlike freelancer where if you fly in one direction for a long timeyou get nowhere in this game you actually might discover something. It isn't freelancer but it seems lilke the best alternative to me.
Freelancer was a game that Microsoft didnt really publicize,didnt really finish,didnt really have faith in.
Freelancer was one of those games where they let the imaginations run free releasing all the space fronteir ideas come to life and oh my god. didnt it really just kick ass !
I mean you have a game that for its time was probaly the silent achiever as other games and consoles like PS2 etc were all largely publicized , i mean i only heard about Freelancer in the deepest pockets of the Microsoft games websites and i tried the demo out in a large muddled up pile of free demos at my local computer shop - see there wasnt really much love in the game, it seemed like the game was just rushed to be completed so that Digital anvil had something to hand to Microsoft . . .
YOU GUYS GAVE THEM GOLD !
story line was absolutely the best, countless days and nights literally glued to my computer chair just gazing in the amazement that was freelancer.
multiplayer kicked ass aswell .. words cant really describe how much fun the game brought to me.
and it really kills me when no apparent sequel came out .
but i have faith. i dunno if any of you play Banjo Kazooie on N64, here was a game that exceeded public opinion and criticism , with its large success they unveiled there sequel and again it had much greater success . i remember myself and many many N64 fans prayed for a number 3 of the Banjo Kazooie series but none was to be foreseen in the near future.
BUT ! almost 7 years later number 3 (Banjo Kazooie Threeie ) if im correct will be release ,on 360.
basically , old school games and silent achievers all get there much sought after sequels . it's only a matter of time.
If you want to play Freelancer like it was meant to be, then come to our server and see what a two year modding team has done to it. Our Server is Olympus - Home of the Gods and we run Nightstalker's Universe Mod. Now this is not a simple add-on of a few ships or systems. This is a two year total fix of everything that was broken in the game and...
Over 100new custom systems in 3D...
Over 500 ship models from every SciFi show you could think of!
All of the ships have been modeled to perfection! We have cloaking ships, Colonial Vipers, The BattleStar Galactica, and so many more it's not p[ossible to list here.
Come to our web site and check us out.
http://olympus.gwcdata.com
We are the 6th most active Freelancer server in the world and have over 290 active players from all parts of the globe.
Hope to see you back in space!
Zeus - Creator of the Olympus Freelancer Complex
yabber yabber...
If yer wanna see a mod with those stats mentioned above + cloakin ships and amazing stuff etc...
you might wanna go to http://tekagis.com
Yup!
If you'd like to fly the Cobra MkIII again, go to Zeus in Tekagis...
Awakens old memories flying that pile of junk...
i was [COH]WARCOMMANDER-GOD when the freelancer game was still hot, the clan (Clan Of the Hammer) was powerful to the extreme, 120 active pilots on the AC-2 server alone. i still have the contacts for my pilots, and if Freelancer 2 ever DOES see daylight we would be so happy. we are incognito in eve online now, waiting, biding owr time
Hi to all, just wanna say that Freelancer is still Alive ! I fly on Void Server last 3 years, and its long time in TOP 3 of all FL servers ever. Visit us - [b]www.voidserver.com[/b] and Scream ON !!!
vanilla ftw
except maybe player looting
new systems and ships are lame
Post a Comment