“A Universe of Possibilities”. With this claim, developer icon Chris Roberts, the creator of Wing Commander, announced his new work Freelancer in 1997. The plan? A space simulation with a completely dynamic game world that should be in constant change: cities grow and perish, the weather changes spontaneously, the entire in-game economy is subject to constant fluctuation. Prices fluctuate depending on what the computerized traders happen to be importing and exporting. And in the midst of this living, breathing world, the player can do whatever he wants and actively shape his environment. The ultimate fantasy of freedom – in space.
The consequence? Enormous hype! At E3 1999, Freelancer scooped up four awards, including best game of the entire show. People sometimes stood in line for 90 minutes just to get a quick glimpse of a demo. Quite a few agreed: The thing will revolutionize the games industry!
Star Citizen, before it was cool
What followed after that might seem strangely familiar to the inclined Chris Roberts or Star Citizen followers: the huge ambitions, the ever more numerous features, simply could not be implemented technically. There were countless release delays lasting several months. The project devoured an incredible amount of money and just didn’t want to be finished.
Source: PC Games
At the end of 2000, the ripcord was finally pulled: the responsible studio Digital Anvil was bought by Microsoft, Roberts was withdrawn from the project and demoted to external consultant, the features were reduced enormously. Nevertheless, it took almost three years until Freelancer would finally see the light of day. At that point, there wasn’t much left of the rumored revolution.
The space adventure was good but not outstanding. Nevertheless, it enjoyed enormous popularity, which continues even to this day. Fans keep tinkering with mods for the game, calls for a remaster or a sequel just won’t stop – especially now that the title is celebrating its 20th anniversary. But why actually? What was so special about Freelancer? Today we want to take a closer look at that.
Away with the joystick!
Of course, you can approach the matter very soberly and say: In 2003, there was simply not that much going on in the Space Sims genre. Sure, there was Egosoft’s X series. However, its complexity put many people off. And EVE Online was more of a space MMO than a pilot adventure. So Freelancer was alone in the field.
But the truth is that the game – despite its shortcomings – still had a lot of qualities, especially in terms of gameplay. Here, Digital Anvil took an almost heretical path: Instead of relying on control via joystick, as was customary up to then, the decision was made to use a mouse and keyboard as input devices. So you use the cursor to target opponents and then open fire with one click. With the other hand you move your ship forwards, backwards, but also sideways. You can punish almost like in a first-person shooter. Accordingly, Freelancer also shows you the space action from the rear view, not the cockpit perspective.
Credit for Freelancer if you really want it: There are no dodges or barrel rolls, no instructions for your allies. So the game lacks a bit of tactical depth. Conversely, this also means that the controls are so simple, so intuitive and so precise that even newcomers can throw themselves into gripping dogfights after a little familiarization time – or simply curve relaxed through space.
Open Word, not quite so “open”
By today’s standards, the open world of Freelancer isn’t that “open” at all. The individual systems in the game are connected to each other by jump gates. You have to dock onto planets using a ring instead of simply flying through the atmosphere and then onto the surface. And otherwise the environment is kept much simpler than originally planned. There is no trace of the dynamic star system.
Source: PC games hardware
But Digital Anvil has still put a lot of effort into presenting you with a game world that at least gives you the illusion of something comparable. There are news channels where you can catch up on the latest from the galaxy. In bars you can talk stupidly to every guest and every waiter and everyone has something to tell you. And when you are in your ship, you will meet military patrols, transport convoys, robbers and other contemporaries everywhere.
You’ll be attacked, your cargo hold will be scanned, sometimes they’ll just radio you with a stupid joke. As a result, you always feel involved, like an important part of the gameplay. Freelancer presents you with a living, breathing universe in which – at least apparently – things happen without you having to explicitly start them first.
