Freewheeling and open-ended space epics don't come along too often, which is a
shame because if there is any setting that screams "open-ended" it is outer
space. Games such as the classic Privateer that have tread these waters
before have earned a special place in the hearts of many gamers.
Freelancer has clearly been inspired by its predecessors in this sub-genre, and
for the most part it proves itself a worthy entry in the field.
Freelancer follows the adventures of Edison Trent, a freelance spacefarer who
runs into a spot of bad luck in the form of a sabotaged space station that takes
a big business deal, and his sizable investment, down with it. As Trent,
you must rebuild your wealth while working to find the cause of the disaster.
To accomplish this, you must take on a series of missions that will take you
through a universe filled with different worlds, systems, stations, and a number
of competing factions on both sides of the law.
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| In orbit around an Earth-like world. |
So is Trent a merchant or a mercenary? A bounty hunter or a deputy of law
enforcement? The answer is: you decide. The missions that make up
the game's storyline are only a part of the whole. Freelancer's universe
is filled with factions: navy, police, corporations, raiders, smugglers, and
many more. Each faction has a relationship, both good and bad, with the
other factions in the game. As you can imagine, the police don't get along
too well with the smugglers, while the police and navy hold each other in good
regard. When you accept and complete a mission for a particular faction,
you raise your standing in their eyes. Of course, you'll also earn the ire of
any opposing factions in the process. If you maintain a good or neutral
reputation with a faction, you'll be able to freely enter their bases and
conduct commerce with them. If your reputation is bad, you risk being
attacked on sight. So if you run a lot of smuggling missions, you'll
become a smuggler and be offered contraband cargo runs while having to dodge the
police and navy. Track down fugitives for the police, and you'll become a
bounty hunter welcome at police bases everywhere but will suffer constant attack
by raiders and other factions on the wrong side of the law. You can even
choose to run some missions for everyone, carefully maintaining a neutral
reputation. This can be especially profitable since you'll have access to
many different planets and bases and the goods sold there, while avoiding
attacks along the way.
The game encourages you to go out and explore on your own in several ways.
First, you are free to decide when you want to take on your next story-based
mission. In theory, you could play the game and build up quite a fortune
without ever taking on a story-based mission. Second, the game prevents
you from playing the story missions back to back. The next story mission
will often be locked until you gain another level. Experience is measured
in terms of your net worth, so you need to collect enough money trading cargo or
completing missions to advance. You'd also be advised to take on a few
extra missions before progressing the story so that you can begin the mission
with a large bankroll and a fully-upgraded ship. Finally, Freelancer never
ends. You can complete the game's story, but at that point you are still
free to continue exploring the game's universe and to take on random missions.
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