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	Freelancer
	Developer: Digital Anvil Publisher: Microsoft Genre: Space Sim Players: 1-N/A ETA: March 2003 Similar To: Privateer Published: 01 :09 : 02 Previewed By: Ryan Newman

Screenshots

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General Information
The space sim genre has been a little thin as of late. With Origin abandoning their heritage and Wing Commander designer, Chris Roberts, leaving to found Digital Anvil - and eventually release Starlancer - the major powerhouse behind the genre has been absent for a while. One of the most enjoyed, and often over looked, side-projects of the Wing Commander universe were the Privateer titles. These non-linear titles let gamers explore the entrepreneur in them as they traversed galaxies in search of fame and fortune. While other space sims have come out, none - correction: none playable without endless patches - have really let the player loose in space and have them find their way throughout a story set amongst a huge, travelable area.

Getting fairly good reviews, Starlancer proved a successful outing for Digital Anvil, and it's then that they set out to tackle the old Privateer-style of gameplay with Freelancer. Although Chris Roberts has departed the company, his influence is felt strongly as the stylish visuals, unraveling story, and solid design make their way into the upcoming Freelancer.

Hands-On
For being a beta, the preview copy was extremely solid and showed just a few problems that, by all accounts, should be hammered out fairly easily. Starting off with a fantastic cutscene, the backdrop to Freelancer is that hundreds of years ago, two races had been fighting for as long as they could remember, but one eventually got the upper hand. Seeing their destruction at hand, one set off from Earth to distant Sirius. Five huge ships: Liberty for the Americans, Bretonia for the United Kingdom, Kusari for Asia, and Rheinland for Germany, all of which consisting of surrounding territories as well, carry enough resources so that they may act as building blocks new civilizations. As 800 years have passed, the colonies have grown and life has returned to a sense of normalcy.

Since the colonies discovered each other, trade routes have been established and a loose alliance has been formed between them so that they may once again prosper. "The New Alliance" is fragile, and it will take a beating as Freelancer's story unfolds with colonies struggling for power and ancient artifacts hold mysterious power that is leading several factions to the brink of war. As a survivor of a recently destroyed port, the gamer meets a member of a defense force and acquires a basic ship. From here, the player is let loose in this wild new world.

Outposts in space and on planets will feature the launch docks, bars, equipment and cargo dealers, and a few having ship merchants. Most of the player's time will be spent in the equipment dealer and in the bar; purchasing new weapons, repairing ships, and picking up the latest info. The bar is the center of life on these stations as information can be bought, learned, and money earned. Jobs can be from a specific organization and completing the objectives will increase relations with said group. If there isn't anyone around that has work, a task can be accepted off the job board. One particularly nice feature was not having to go back to the station to receive payment, as it's automatically sent to the player's account. That's crucial because money is everything in Freelancer. Leveling up is based on how much the player is worth, and this is key because being of a higher stature and with a solid reputation, more lucrative jobs can be had; which, in turn, allow for better equipment and weapons to be purchased, which will make those high paying jobs beatable.

The big rewards are the ones to shoot for, because maintaining a ship and also saving up to get to the next echelon isn't easy. Of particular interest are shield batteries and nano robots, replenishing shield strength and hull integrity, respectively. Balancing the budget is crucial as some parts of space will be too tough to travel through and enhancements will be needed, so foolishly going into a fight will cost not just for basic repairs, but for also replacing the diminished inventory or batteries and bots; these are also a timesaver as they'll allow for longer flight times and less backtracking to stations for upkeep. This management aspect is also where the explorer and merchant in all of us can delight as the universe is extremely large and can be traveled to pretty liberally, but do expect some heavy enemies when venture too far off the beaten path - this also acts as a sort of buffer, and it helped to keep me on track with the story. New locations will generally be discovered during the game's storyline portions, but they can also be purchased as information from bars and also discovered during far-off journeys. These new locals will also more job opportunities and chances to try out some cool weaponry.

Controlling the ship is done via a default third-person view and with the keyboard and mouse. A first-person view was there, but the HUD didn't change to look like a cockpit and I found it too restricting for combat. Navigation can be done by either holding down a mouse button and moving the ship or in a free flight mode where pressing the button isn't needed; both will be used generously as one is better for fighting, while other for traveling long distances. The biggest factor for controls would be the lack of joystick support, so if you're used to whipping out the ol' Thrustmaster, be prepared to get acquainted with mouse navigation. The display is extremely clean, and the targeting system only rarely became too difficult to see, but the advance shot arc target was very accurate and still left room for competence on the player's part in terms of where and when to shoot. Any object can be targeted for specific areas to be disabled and scanned for valuable cargo. Beaming in floating goods from destroyed enemies is a great way of getting additional income and supplies, and for some players, it'll be their lifeblood.

During my campaign, I chose to follow fairly close to the story and take the role of a 'good guy'. I took jobs for the Liberty Navy, various police forces, and for high-profile companies taking out unsavory groups affecting their business. Missions ranged from escorts, taking out weapon depots and outposts, assassinations, or just destroyed any enemy that could be found. The player can also take the more mischievous route and disable trade lanes to ambush cargo ships and take their goods. Reputation is also a high factor as taking jobs for certain groups put me at odds with those doing the stealing, like the Lane Hackers, Bounty Hunters, etc. This would lead to interesting conversations in the bars (re: them telling me my reputation sucked).

It's a shame that my glowing personality wasn't given a chance to truly shine within the conversational parts of Freelancer. Interacting with other characters was limited to 'Accept' or 'Decline', but those simple decisions made significant impacts. If accepting a mission that turned out to be too rough called for it to be aborted, credibility with the hiring party would often lower. Do this too many times, or try to play both sides of the fence, and job opportunities could quickly become scarce as the alliance-wide Neural Net, and accompanying cards, kept pilot info, included reputation, available to any party interested in seeing how others thought of me.

Graphically, space-oriented titles tend to look great, and Freelancer is no exception as it is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. There are some debris fields that were genuinely haunting with scorched metal bouncing off my shields and larger bits slowly floating by; another impressive sight were portions with storms occurring, one had large black rocks floating ominously against a black backdrop that lit up into a dark purple as light would flash from various anomalies - very, very impressive stuff. Equally delightful where the ship designs and details; everything from space ports to the smallest fighters had increadible detail and fantastic shadowing that really gave a highly realistic appearance. Planets were also awe-inspiring as their enormity was displayed the closer in sight they became - be careful not to get too close though, otherwise your ship will burn up in the atmosphere, which also happens to look great. I could go on with how impressed I was, so I think I'll just sum it up with such: quite simply, Freelancer is one of the best looking games I have ever seen. Even more impressive were the nonexistent saving and loading times. It was unreal how quickly saving and loading occurred, especially considering the vastness and detail of everything.

The fighting mercantile experience is back in full-force with Freelancer. It remains to be seen just how large the gameworld will be, but I'm around 20 hours into the beta - not counting reloads and previous plays - and I've yet to explore every planet. It's so refreshing to see an unknown object, target it, and set the ship to cruise control or the convenient 'go to' option to cruise to it, and having the ship conveniently automatically navigate obstacles. Exploring all the sights is as easy as can be, thanks to every option being a menu or hotkey away - streamlining is always a plus. I have high hopes for this one; Digital Anvil seems to be on track to deliver an amazing title that should do well with those wishing for another Freespace, Privateer, or any other over-the-top space sim title. Freelancer is definitely one to look out for in 2003.

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