Freespace 2
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''FreeSpace 2'' is a 1999
space combat simulation A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat. Overview Some games in the ...
computer game developed by Volition as the sequel to '' Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War''. It was completed ahead of schedule in less than a year, and released to very positive reviews, but the game became a commercial failure, and was described by certain critics as one of 1999's most unfairly overlooked titles. The game continues on the story from ''Descent: FreeSpace'', once again thrusting the player into the role of a pilot fighting against the mysterious aliens, the Shivans. While defending the human race and its alien Vasudan allies, the player also gets involved in putting down a rebellion. The game features large numbers of fighters alongside gigantic capital ships in a battlefield fraught with beams, shells and missiles in detailed star systems and nebulae. Free multiplayer games were available via Parallax Online which also ranked players by their statistics. A persistent galaxy was also available as ''SquadWar'' for players to fight with each other over territories. In 2002, Volition released the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the w ...
for the game engine under a non-commercial license. This code became the core of the '' FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project'', which continuously improves it and enables new features. In cooperation with the ''FreeSpace Upgrade Project'' the game's graphics are kept up to date. The improved game engine is also used by various mod projects, for example ''The Babylon Project'' and ''Diaspora'' which are based on the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
series ''
Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...
'' and '' Battlestar Galactica'' respectively.


Gameplay

''FreeSpace 2''s gameplay involves the player piloting a starfighter using mounted weapons to destroy enemy starfighters, performing
reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
behind enemy lines, or escorting other starships. Its flight model is based on a looser interpretation of space physics instead of realistic
Newtonian physics Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical mec ...
. Hence, the ships are weightless and feel more responsive, though they require constant application of engine power to move. The result is that the game plays more like a "
WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every majo ...
simulator A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
" unaffected by
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
. Although joysticks are the recommended
controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...
for this game, the mouse is a viable alternative. Single player mode is executed in the form of a campaign, which follows a story as a linear sequence of missions are executed. The pre-mission briefing stage is where the player gets information on the background and objectives, and selects the ship and weapons. The choices of ships and weapons increase as the player proceeds further along the campaign. Certain missions, however, will dictate certain ships and weapons to be used. Weapons can be classified into primary weapons and secondary weapons. Primary weapons are kinetic and
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
weapons, while
missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...
s and
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
es are classified as secondary weapons. Each weapon has its own specifications such as its rate of fire. They also inflict different damages on hulls (body of the ships) or shields (the protective energy fields surrounding the ships), or possess special effects such as shutting down specific electronic systems or propulsion. The player flies around in a fighter with a first-person, in-cockpit view with a fully customizable fixed
head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
(HUD) as the visual interface. The HUD displays video communications and relevant data on the ship's status and performance, weapons, objectives, and targets. It can also warn players from which direction missiles are locking onto them from, thus becoming an aide for launching countermeasures or taking evasive maneuvers. Players have to maneuver into position and shoot through both shields and hull to destroy enemy ships. While hull damage is unrecoverable, shields recharge over time. With the game supporting
force feedback Haptic technology (also kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch) is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer ...
technology, joystick players will find their controllers vibrating or putting up resistance when they engage the
afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and co ...
s or collide with objects. Similarly, certain events, such as engaging afterburners and firing powerful weapons, will shake the screen as a form of visual feedback. ''FreeSpace 2'' has many helpful features available. The player can target enemies attacking a protected objective or match speeds with them. Power can be shunted between shields, engines, and weapons, thereby allowing faster recharge of shields, afterburners, and weapons at the expense of other subsystems. These features can be ignored without any detrimental effects on gameplay. The mission parameters are not rigidly fixed, as there is an allowance for the failures of some primary objectives. When the mission is concluded, a post-mission briefing will be conducted to discuss the mission, and the performance of the player, before the next mission can be taken on. ''FreeSpace 2'' allows multiplayer games to be played across a
local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...
(LAN) or over the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
via the free services provided by Parallax Online (PXO). The player can communicate with the other network players vocally through ''FreeSpace 2''s own
voice chat Voice chat is telecommunication via voice over IP technologies—especially when those technologies are used among players in multiplayer online games. Users might use either a VoIP engine system that is built into the game, or a separate pro ...
capability. LAN play allows the players to play the standard
player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
modes such as deathmatch, or cooperate to complete multiplayer missions. They can even join in games which are already underway. The same can be done over PXO but with the added incentive of having the players' statistics of kills and deaths being tracked on a ladder (ranking) system. Players can also form up or join squadrons in ''SquadWar'', an online persistent galaxy hosted by Volition on PXO, where squadrons fight each other for territories.


Plot and setting

''FreeSpace 2'' takes place entirely in
outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. The playing area is vast when compared to the small starfighters piloted by the player and the effective range they have. This space is populated with interstellar bodies such as stars,
planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...
s, asteroids, etc. The implementation of nebulae as an interactive environment is one of the most distinctive and crowning aspects of ''FreeSpace 2''. Flying through a nebula involves impaired vision, and occasional disruptions to flight electronics. Nebulae have become known as an eerie and suspenseful arena of play. Journeys between star systems are achieved by "jumping" through jump nodes and traveling through subspace, while shorter intra-system distances are done by "hopping" into subspace at any time. All ships in a mission either "jump" or "hop" to make their entries and exits. The game's starship designs are clearly distinguishable between the three races. Terran starships tend to be plain and practical, the Vasudans' starships are artistic with sleek lines and curves, and the enemies' ships—the Shivans—are sharp, pointy and asymmetrical in insidious black and red colors. ''FreeSpace 2'' also features humongous capital ships, hundreds of times larger than the fighters, and armed to the teeth with beam weapons and flak guns. These ships are commonly scripted to seek each other out and engage in massive duels. ''FreeSpace 2''s story is brought out via narrative pre-rendered cutscenes, the pre- and post-mission briefings, as well as in-game chatter between non-player characters, and scripted mission events. The structure for the story is linear without any branching paths for alternate storylines, though there are optional covert missions which can further flesh out the story. The story can only be continued by clearing missions and progressing through the campaign. However, players are given the option to skip a mission if they have failed it five times in a row. This gives those who are interested in the story, but less skilled, the chance to continue on with the story without frustration.


Characters

The player takes the role of a pilot in the ranks of the Galactic Terran–Vasudan Alliance (GTVA). While the appearance and name of the pilot can be customized by the player, the player never gets to personally interact with other characters in the game. The pilot is also never shown in the game's cinematics or any other media. Just like the player's pilot, most of the other characters are low-key. The non-player character Admiral Aken Bosch, however, plays a crucial part in moving the story. As a prominent antagonist from the start, he sparks off a rebellion which escalates the scale of action, and brings in the other antagonist force, the Shivans, into the story. The storytelling took on a character-driven approach with expositions taking the form of cutscenes in which Bosch gives out monologues, revealing the purpose and driving forces behind his actions. A few established voice actors were brought in to give a polished touch to the voices in the game.
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominee
Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...
voiced the player's commanding officer, Admiral Petrarch, and Admiral Bosch was voiced by
Ronny Cox Daniel Ronald Cox (born July 23, 1938) is an American actor, singer and songwriter. His best-known roles include Drew Ballinger in ''Deliverance'' (1972), George Apple in '' Apple's Way'' (1974–75), Ozark Bule in '' Bound for Glory'' (1976), C ...
.
Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in ''Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), as ...
and
Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor, producer and director. He has appeared in the films '' Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), '' Posse'' (1993), '' 8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome'' (1994), ''The Usual Suspects'' ...
participated in bit roles as well.


Story

The game begins 32 years after the events in ''Descent: FreeSpace''. Following the end of the Great War, both the GTA and PVE cemented their alliance by combining together to form the Galactic Terran–Vasudan Alliance (GTVA)—a single entity formed to cement the alliance between the Terran and Vasudan races after the destruction of Vasuda Prime by the ''Lucifer'' and the subsequent collapse of all subspace nodes to the Sol system as a result of the superdestroyer's destruction inside the Sol–Delta Serpentis jump node. Despite this alliance, opposition still exists to this union in the form of a faction of Terrans led by Great War veteran, Admiral Aken Bosch, who leads the rebel group under the banner of the Neo-Terran Front (NTF). The NTF's rebellion led to the faction gaining control over the
Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...
, Polaris and
Regulus Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation designated α Leonis, which is Latinized to Alpha Leonis, and abbreviated Alpha Leo or α Leo. Reg ...
star systems, while engaging the GTVA for 18 months, before launching attacks on the Vasudan systems of Deneb and Alpha Centauri. Seeking to stop the NTF from securing Deneb, the GTVA launch a campaign in the star system, though they are shocked to find Bosch within. An effort to stop him fails badly, and so the GTVA focus on securing the star system, with great success. Just as further engagements against the NTF are about to commence, an incident in the
Gamma Draconis Gamma Draconis (γ Draconis, abbreviated Gamma Dra, γ Dra), formally named Eltanin , is a star in the northern constellation of Draco. Contrary to its gamma-designation (historically third-ranked), it is the brightest star in Draco at ...
system leads to the 3rd Fleet of the GTVA being reassigned to the star system, where they learn that the Shivans have returned, along with the discovery of an artificial jump gate that leads to Shivan space. After securing the device and passing through it, the GTVA discover a nebula along with more Shivans, and a cruiser of the NTF, the ''Trinity''. Despite efforts to secure and recover the cruiser, the ''Trinity'' is destroyed, and the GTVA fleet focus on dealing with the Shivans, before returning to Gamma Draconis for reassignment. The NTF rebellion soon becomes the focus of attention once again after attacks intensify, eventually leading the GTVA to quell an attack on a space station with their latest ship, the enormous capital ship GTVA ''Colossus''. Dwarfing all other capital ships, this juggernaut-class ship's power proves more than a match to many NTF ships, defeating a major officer in the rebellion. Seeking to capitalize on this, the GTVI (Galactic Terran–Vasudan Intelligence) organise an operation with their SOC (Special Operation Command) to investigate and uncover information on Bosch's ETAK project, which is nearly wrecked when a Vasudan admiral attempts to hit Bosch's flagship, the ''Iceni''. Following the latest campaign against the NTF, GTVA forces re-engage Shivan forces in the nebula, while testing out new weapon and technology prototypes such as an AWACS cruiser that enables better vision in the nebula, a TAG missile that enables friendly capital ships to instantly lock on to the "tagged" enemy ship, and the Pegasus-class stealth fighter. With the aid of these new technologies, the Alliance destroys a Shivan Ravana-class destroyer. The 3rd Fleet soon return to GTVA space, where Bosch launches an assault to get the NTF to the Jump Gate. While the NTF loses many ships, the ''Iceni'' escapes with Bosch on board, thanks to sabotage preventing the GTVA ''Colossus'' from firing on it. While pursuing Bosch into the nebula, the GTVA attack Shivan nebular gas mining operations, only for the Shivans to retaliate with a juggernaut-class warship of their own, dubbed the ''Sathanas''. The ''Sathanas'' enters Terran–Vasudan space, despite an effort to destroy the jump gate linking the nebula to Gamma Draconis; the node between the two system had stabilised at some point. With the Shivans encroaching on GTVA space, the ''Sathanas'' is engaged by the ''Colossus'' as it enters the densely populated Capella system and, thanks to the player's efforts in disabling its beam turrets, is destroyed in the engagement. The Alliance Fleet soon resumes its efforts to track down Bosch, and discover that Bosch had built a device that enables him to communicate with the Shivans, which was the purpose of ETAK; the Alliance realise the jump gate was activated by Bosch, who had been stealing artefacts from archaeological sites looking into the Ancients, and had been hoping to meet and contact the Shivans. The Shivans respond to his transmission, and in turn board his command frigate, the ''Iceni'', and capture him and fifteen other crewmen before attempting to destroy it. The GTVA manage to save the surviving crew of the ''Iceni'' and the ETAK device, but as they try to intercept the Shivan transport carrying Bosch, they discover a second jump gate in the nebula, which the Alliance destroyer, the GVD ''Psamtik'', attempts to secure. However, it is destroyed by another ''Sathanas'' juggernaut shortly afterwards, forcing the GTVA to pull out. During this time, the GTVI and SOC launch a secret operation within the nebula, at great risk, to recover an operative and check the other side of the gate, discovering the threat posed to the GTVA by the Shivans is much greater than they had thought. The Alliance devises a plan to halt the Shivan invasion while evacuating civilians and others from the Capella star system, by collapsing the two jump nodes from Capella to the rest of GTVA space. The Alliance plans to recreate the same conditions that collapsed the Sol jump nodes—namely a sufficiently powerful meson explosion, using a number of Great War-era destroyers, including the ''Bastion'', which the GTVA send out to collapse the Capella–Epsilon Pegasi node by detonating its payload while it is within the node. The plan works but it is pyrrhic victory, as the GTVA loses the ''Colossus'', their only match for Shivan juggernauts, in a diversionary engagement at the other end of the Capella system. With not much left to do but escort the remaining evacuation convoys to the Capella–Vega jump node while a second payload is sent to the jump node, the GTVA soon begins to detect activity from the system's star, which is being bombarded with an intense subspace field by numerous Sathanas-class ships. This causes the star to go supernova, destroying the fighting GTVA and Shivans in system. The player can choose to flee the scene when the warning is given or stay and die defending the remaining ships, which affects the ending slightly. In the ending cutscene the player's commanding officer, Admiral Petrarch, delivers a speech about everything the Alliance has lost, speculating on the nature of the Shivans and why they destroyed the Capella star, and if the player decides to stay, a small tribute is paid to the player's heroic actions as Petrarch informs his wingmen of his sacrifice. The Admiral concludes by saying that the Alliance now has the means to recreate the Ancient subspace gate, implying that there's a chance the node to Earth can be restored and that this conflict didn't bring only sorrow, before signing off.


Development

The news of ''FreeSpace 2'' being in development was confirmed in a chat on November 6, 1998. ''FreeSpace 2'' was developed in less than one year. The Volition team revealed they had written up a story and will be targeting high-end hardware with dogfights for a greater number of ships and even larger and more deadly capital ships. The team set themselves the goals of setting new standards for both single-player and multiplayer space combat simulations, and started to modify the FreeSpace game engine for ''FreeSpace 2''. This team was the same team which had worked on ''Descent: FreeSpace'', plus several new members. In order to flesh out the story, Volition hired Jason Scott as a full-time writer before work even started. The linear mission structure was adopted as it was decided it would help the immersion factor of the story greatly. As the relations between the Terrans and Vasudans dominated the first game, it was decided to scale the focus down to a personal level with Admiral Bosch and his decisions to rebel. Scott's close work with the designers, and co-ordination of the voice recording process helped to tightly integrate the story into the missions, giving a more sophisticated feel to the story. Due to time constraints, a lot of the initial ideas were dropped from the final version of the game, such as atmospheric battles, and new weapons types like a "subspace missile artillery strike". The team made major improvements to the same FreeSpace engine from the first game. By revamping the core of the graphical engine, and adding 32-bit support, they sped up the interface screens and graphic processing. Hardware acceleration for the graphics was also decided to be a requirement to target the high-end machines of 1999. This allowed for a greater number of ships visibly active on the battlefield, satisfying the team's penchant of having great numbers of fighters and capitals ships duking it out in a big battlefield, instead of "multiple small-ass" battles. The shifting of their target focus to higher end machines also fulfilled their top priority of having capital ships many times larger than fighter crafts. The team also followed real world concepts for some of their designs. The Pegasus stealth fighter was modeled on the stealth technology of the 1990s for people to relate to it easily. The game was restrained from becoming too realistic by the team's recognition that most gamers only want believable worlds to have a blast flying around in and blowing things up. Compared to the graphical changes, the
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
(AI) of the computer-controlled characters was only slightly changed. The justification given was that the team felt the AI worked very well for the first game. All they had to do was to tweak it a little and fix some bugs. There was, however, a lot of work done in improving the multiplayer portion of the game. For ''FreeSpace 2'', the player's personal computer was assigned a greater role in predicting the possible consequences for other players' actions. This reduced the amount of data needed to be transferred between the computers, which would result in a smoother playing experience. Beta testers were recruited to stress test and troubleshoot the multiplayer mode as well. ''SquadWar'' was implemented as an attempt to establish a sense of continuity among the players in the form of a persistent online territorial fight, along with pilot statistics and ladder rankings. Volition hoped this concept would help to establish a strong, online community and build up the game's lifespan. The process of fixing the bugs detected was even publicly published on the game's official website as the "Bug Fix of the Day" feature. ''FreeSpace 2'' was released on September 30, 1999, one month ahead of schedule, although the team had to quickly come up with and release a patch (version 1.01) for a software bug which prevented recognition of a CD during the installation process. Three months later, they released the next and final patch (version 1.20) to fix several other bugs. The release of ''FreeSpace 2'' was considerably muted compared to its predecessor ''Descent: FreeSpace''. Its publisher, Interplay, did not organize contests for it, nor did they generate pre-release hype up with the same drive as before. They also posted the incorrect system requirements for the game on their site. ''FreeSpace 2'' was also placed on less-visible shelves than ''
Descent 3 ''Descent 3'' (stylized as ''Descent³'') is a first-person shooter video game developed by Outrage Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows in North America on June 17, 1999. ''D ...
''. When
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
awarded ''FreeSpace 2'' the "Sci-Fi Simulation of the Year" award, Interplay pushed out the "Sci-Fi Sim of the Year Edition" to capitalize on it. Despite Volition's interest and desire to develop add-ons and expansions for ''FreeSpace 2'', Interplay told them to stop. Volition was then acquired by
THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...
in 2000. As Interplay owns the rights to the ''FreeSpace'' series (as well as the ''Descent'' series) and Volition's owners, THQ, is only interested in pursuing development on what they own, Volition was unable to continue developing the ''FreeSpace'' franchise. Faced with source code which became practically useless to them, Volition released the source code for only game engines to the public under a noncommercial license on April 25, 2002. Mike Kulas, the President of Volition, said this was to give those outside the game industry a chance to look at the code of a commercial software product, a desire he and Matt Toschlog had when they were not yet in the industry. In the years since, no sequels to ''FreeSpace 2'' have been made and Interplay has only published a limited
re-release In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Rec ...
of it on February 2, 2004, to commemorate the company's 20th anniversary. Interplay, by that time, was in financial trouble, failing to pay rent and wages to its workers. Seeking investors to inject it with funds, Interplay changed business strategies: instead of developing and publishing single-player games, it sold licenses to those games and looked towards developing massive multi-player online games. Derek Smart, creator of '' Battlecruiser 3000AD'', had casually mentioned his interest in the '' Freespace'' license, but nothing significant came out of this. In 2013, Interplay acquired the remaining rights to the '' FreeSpace'' franchise for $7,500 after THQ went to bankruptcy court.


Reception


Reviews and awards

''FreeSpace 2'' has garnered high praise from most established reviewers. ''FreeSpace 2'' received numerous "Game of the Year" awards for 1999, and was nominated for "Computer Simulation Game of the Year" in the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, 2000. Every review praised ''FreeSpace 2''s graphics. From the ships to the backgrounds, the reviewers were pleased with the details Volition had paid attention to, such as the thematic differences in the ship designs between the races, the textures and clarity of the backdrops, and even the realism of the explosions, though FiringSquad pointed out explosions from
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
strikes were lower in quality. The nebulae feature was also praised for its rendered atmosphere, which reviewers described as tense and paranoia-inducing as they keep expecting enemy ships to appear out of the gases in a deadly ambush. Even though a couple of reviewers wrote that the nebulae made them dizzy, they still liked the feature. Combatsim even claimed ''FreeSpace 2'' was unrivaled among its space combat peers in the graphics department. The graphical standards were such that when XGP reviewed the Anniversary Edition in 2004, Wehbi found the graphics to stand up quite well to the recent games then. GameSpot felt ''FreeSpace''s story was "both deeper and darker" than either the ''
Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
'' and ''
X-Wing The X-wing starfighter is a name applied to a family of fictional spacecraft manufactured by the Incom Corporation from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Named for the distinctive shape made when its s-foils (wings) are in attack position, the X-win ...
'' series, establishing invincible foes who never lost their stature despite the player learning of plausible ways to defeat them. Game Revolution felt the story was "first rate" for being able to "build several different conflicts into an unforgettable climax", nicely presented by the emphasis of story telling by means of in-game events. While Eurogamer supported the story as intriguing, it also marked down its rating of the game for the way the story was told. The reviewer felt the "just a cog in the machine" story-telling approach left him apathetic towards the non-player characters and missions in the game. FiringSquad, however, said it created a "very believable military atmosphere", which helped to show how things revolve around big events, instead of just around a single person. Combatsim.com offered another angle; Reynolds said the gameplay elements of ''FreeSpace 2'' are "light years beyond the competition" and more than offsets the loss of being personally immersed in the game's universe. ''FreeSpace 2''s key attraction is its
dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every majo ...
s.
CNN.com CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
said the close-ranged dogfights make for engrossing, and exciting skirmishes. FiringSquad described it as a "total thrill" to be among 20 fighters flying in between opposing capital ships with beams, missiles, and flak all around and warnings going off, as they try to seek out and destroy their opposite numbers, a view which GameSpot agreed with. The game's AI was judged adequate to provide for such fights, being cunning enough to trick others to crash into the walls of narrow openings, and good enough to detect and warn their wingmen of enemies coming up directly behind them. There are those who expressed minor disappointments with the AI tending to collide too often with other objects. While the dynamic mission objectives were celebrated for coming up with twists and turns to spice up the story, there were a few who found these "in-game
red herrings A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question. Red herring may also refer to: Animals * Red herring (fis ...
" overused instead. Sharky Extreme praised ''FreeSpace 2'' for having the enormous capital ships, as this burst the "trapped in a bubble" trend in ''
Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
''- and ''
X-Wing The X-wing starfighter is a name applied to a family of fictional spacecraft manufactured by the Incom Corporation from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Named for the distinctive shape made when its s-foils (wings) are in attack position, the X-win ...
''- type games. Instead of the action simply coming to the player, it flows all around, and the player is the one who has to go and seek it. The scenes of these giant ships duking it out, with many
gnat A gnat () is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae. They can be both biting and non-biting. Most often they fly in large ...
-like fighters swarming around in their little dances of death, have led reviewers to feel a sense of epicness, comparable to reliving battles in science fiction series like ''
Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...
'' and '' Star Wars''. Similarly,
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
praised the scaling of ships and battles and said that they "
ame #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
as close to creating the feeling of a World War II naval battle in space as any game has ever come. That's what fighter combat, in space or on Earth, should be all about". Opinions were generally favorable towards ''FreeSpace 2''s multiplayer implementation. ''SquadWar'' received favorable responses from the reviewers who were impressed by its persistent nature and statistics tracking. While the required registration with PXO was considered a troublesome process by a few, the gameplay itself was a smooth experience with no lag at all. Other reviewers' experiences with lag were different. Reynolds of Combatsim.com said Internet gaming was laggy with ships jumping places, but LAN gaming was smooth sailing. GameSpy's reviewer said lag became more apparent on a dial-up connection during a multiplayer mission with four or more players. FiringSquad's reviewer's experience was similar but he said the lag was not enough to hinder his enjoyment of the multiplayer action. Blake Fischer reviewed the PC version of the game for '' Next Generation'', rating it five stars out of five, and said that "no self-respecting space-combat junkie should live without it". GameSpot, in electing ''FreeSpace 2'' as one of the "Greatest Games of All Time", pointed out that while most of the game's features could be found in its predecessor or peers, its "sheer quality of presentation and gameplay" was the key reason for their choice. Computer and Video Games has acknowledged it as offering the best dogfighting among the space combat classics. Ars Technica also posed ''FreeSpace 2'' as the last significant stage in evolution of the space combat genre . Fans of the ''FreeSpace'' series have created modifications (mods) of ''FreeSpace 2''. The first mods were just custom campaigns, with series of missions created through FRED2, the mission editor freely packaged with ''FreeSpace 2''. One such mod which gained notability was ''Inferno'', which sets its story decades after the conclusion of ''FreeSpace 2''. Released in July 2003, the mod was hosted on established sites, such as GameSpot and CNET, as part of their ''FreeSpace 2'' contents.


Sales

Despite glowing reviews, ''FreeSpace 2'' was a commercial disappointment. In the United States, it totaled sales of 26,983 copies by the end of 1999, according to
PC Data PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, t ...
. Writing for
Daily Radar ''Daily Radar'' was a news aggregator and portal site for Future US's male-oriented content, including sports, film and television, and video games. Daily Radar started as a gaming website like IGN, GameSpy and GameSpot, and was later renamed and ...
, Andrew S. Bub remarked that the game "horrifically" underperformed and was one of the most unfairly overlooked titles of the year. ''FreeSpace 2'' was a runner-up for
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's 1999 "Best Game No One Played" award, which ultimately went to '' Disciples: Sacred Lands''. ''FreeSpace 2''s sales were acknowledged as disappointing, and described as awful by Kulas. He, however, stated that as the team had stayed within budget by sticking to schedule, Volition should at least be breaking even with the estimated final sales of the game. In
NowGamer Imagine Publishing was a UK-based magazine publisher, which published a number of video games, computing, creative and lifestyle magazines. It was founded on 14 May 2005 with private funds by Damian Butt, Steven Boyd and Mark Kendrick, all wer ...
's interview with Jim Boone, a producer at Volition, he said that this could have been due to joysticks' being sold poorly because they were "going out of fashion" and more modern first-person shooters, such as '' Quake'', were "very much about the mouse and hekeyboard". He went further on to state: "Before that, when we did ''
Descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree ** Ancestry ** Lineal descendant **Heritag ...
'' for example, it was perfectly common for people to have joysticks – we sold a lot of copies of ''Descent''. It was around that time
hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
the more modern FPS with mouse and keyboard came out, as opposed to just keyboard like '' Wolfenstein D' or something".


Source code project

With the release of the game engine's source code, the possibilities of changing the game greatly opened up, and the fan community made use of the code to update the game using recent technology. Led by Edward Gardner and Ian Warfield, the '' FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project'' was formed to standardize changes and maintain a core engine for others to take advantage of. Using the new fan-updated engine, projects such as '' Beyond the Red Line'', based on the new '' Battlestar Galactica'', and ''The Babylon Project'', based on ''
Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...
'', have become possible. PXO, the free Internet gaming service handling ''SquadWar'', was initially acquired by THQ in their 2002 acquisition of Outrage Entertainment (renamed as Outrage Games). The service was continued until July 2003, when Outrage Games was dissolved and PXO terminated. The components of its website were, however, later handed over to the ''FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project'' to help them create a similar service in tracking statistics and rankings.


References


External links


Interplay Entertainment Corp. ''FreeSpace 2'' website
archived by
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Volition ''FreeSpace 2'' website
archived by
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Volition ''FreeSpace 2'' website
* * {{good article 1999 video games Commercial video games with freely available source code Cooperative video games FreeSpace Fiction set in the 24th century Fiction set around Gamma Draconis Fiction set around Polaris Science fiction video games Fiction set around Sirius Fiction about supernovae Space combat simulators Video games developed in the United States Video games with alternate endings Windows games Space MOGs