FREESPACE 2 Review By Grimm Freespace was the first flight sim that really caught my interest since  the original F-15 Strike Eagle game so long ago. Freespace had a story  that was first-rate and the graphics were awesome. Storylines in games are  usually just in the way of good game play but in Freespace, it really justified the game. I would play to find what happened next. Every couple  of missions meant new technology to unravel and a chance to explore new possibilities. The ability to choose your own ship and weapons in many  missions allowed you to play to your strengths as a fighter pilot. The  various weapons and ships were pretty good. The differences between the  operation of said weapons and ships were very noticeable and appreciated.  The only problem with the missions in Freespace was that the difficulty  level between missions was very uneven. Like the first version, Freespace 2's storyline grips me and makes me want to play and find out what is  going to happen next. Any game that can do that is primo with me.
Game Play Freespace 2 plays very much  like Freespace if you have played it already. If you have not, it is rather easy to get the hang of it. The comes with a quick key reference  card that is divided into three different categories for easy reference. Through the options menu you can configure the controls and HUD color to however you like. This does not sound like much, but configuring your  controls in a way that is most comfortable and functional means the  difference between success and failure.	Grimm destroys another fighter.
The campaign plays like a first-rate novel. You start off with some  training missions to get your feet wet. It is a good idea to visit these  training missions if you have not played in a while. They also give you a  chance to configure your controls to the way you want them. This keeps you  from getting geeked in the first real mission. The campaign brings you  into the story from the beginning. It also starts to show the surprises that the creators came up with since the first Freespace. Beam weapons...  got to watch out for those, for they can ruin you day rather quickly. The  biggest problem with the single player game is that there are no single missions that are not part of the campaign. You have to make use of Fred 2, the new mission editor, if you want any extra practice. It is cool that they include the editor but I think they went the cheap way out by not  including some ready to use missions like they did with Freespace. Freespace 2 is quite the multi-player game. It is loads of fun when you  divide up the duties with your friends or squad comrades if you play on Squadwar.com. If you play on the Internet but have a slower modem you might want to use bombers. Fred 2 will allow you to create multi-player  missions and or campaigns.
Graphics Graphics... you want cool  graphics? This is it. Check out the explosions. (Drool) When a ship blows  up you can see pieces fly all around and from the bigger ships you can  still collide with the pieces. If that's not enough, look at the nebula missions. (Drool some more) The nebula missions are truly great. In the  worst sections of the nebula your HUD flickers on and off while you are trying to complete the mission. The event movies are cool and really bring the story together. All these fantastic graphics come at a price, this means you must buy an upper echelon graphics card. The faster the card... the cooler the graphics.	Another Shivan visits his  ancestors.
Customization Fred 2 allows you to make  simple missions fairly quickly. But if you want to make a serious mission,  prepare to spend some time. With this editor you may allow any weapons or  ships and make the mission a challenge or a breeze. Fred 2 allows you to  create single-player and multi-player missions, as well as full campaigns. Fred 2 is pretty thorough by allowing you to add briefings and wav files to accent you custom missions. Community Freespace 2 has a huge fan base that is located around the world. This fan base stems from the games  Descent and the original Freespace space flight simulator. They're two main web sites that service these fans. The first site is located at PXO.net. This main site leads into the  other site dedicated to bringing pilots together for multi-player missions over the Internet and keeping track of these missions. This site is called Squadwar.com. PXO.NET will even  keep track of your stats online. These sites will allow you to form  squadrons and keep track of their ratings. I recommend that you check them  out. Requirements The box states this game's requirements as 200 MHZ Pentium with 64 MB RAM or 266 MHZ Pentium with 32  MB RAM. I believe these types of computers will play the game, but some of  the eye candy and resolution may have to be turned down. A 3d video card is required. I would try to get at least a 350 MHZ Pentium and as much as  128 MB RAM and a 8 meg or better video card.

Ratings Game play 8 Graphics 10 Single Player 8 Multi-player 8 Customization 7 Stability 9 Overall 8.33