starlancer is one of my favorite games and i wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few here that had played it. i first played it on PC, but didn’t get far because i was using the wank keyboard controls. i then got it on DC and had much more fun (thank you analog stick!). in retrospect i could have just gotten a joystick, but whatever.
but anyway, i consider it a flawless game. there are really no oversights, nothing is neglected, it’s a complete (and amazing, i might add) experience.
I’ve never played Starlancer, but I played the crap outta Freelancer a few months ago. That was a quality game.
I found Freelancer short, boring, limited, repetitive with a shallow storyline and stale gameplay that kept you repeating the same things over and over (the only thing that changed is that you got better weapons and crafts but then the enemies did the same too so it was the same feel all over again…)
It was also very limited in the trading aspects… But anyway the various random missions being the same all the time was it’s downfall… Cos when they are so repetitive they don’t make a fun sandbox game which is what freelancer was supposed to be…
The only ppl that liked it in my experience were the kind of ppl that play games just to level up their characters for whatever reason… I don’t do that so when the gameplay was like that I had no reason to play it… Why play to get a better craft when I’ll be doing the exact same things with it all over again…
And you couldn’t even hire your own wingmen or get to control bigger battleships… Things like that would have added some much needed depth but they didn’t bother with anything…
The best aspect of freelancer was that the controls were excellent and created with mouse/keyboard setup in mind so it wasnt a game just for ppl with joysticks… So perhaps i’ll be interested in a potential sequel if they add depth and variety since they got the controls and interface so good the first time…
I’ve played Starlancer on the DC also, i found it to be an excellent experience. But it could not rival the earlier works of Wing Commander.
As for Freelancer, I also liked that game, but the sequel was seriously lacking.
most everyone i’ve talked to that played starlancer eventually ended up with little respect for freelancer. the battles were much less interesting, it also suffered greatly stylistically, and it really just seemed like a typical wanky-developer-gets-the-rights-to-the-license kind of scenario 
the atmosphere of the first one was much more solemn and quiet like the dead of space. i just loved how it never at any point seemed like a “game”. i attribute that to the immense amount of detail and event progression.
bluefoot, you should try to track down a copy of it because i’d be interested to know what someone thought of the comparison between star/freelancer when they played them backwards. 
can anyone tell me exactly who MADE starlancer? was it digital anvil or warthog? did crave just publish it?
So, Starlancer is the prequel to Freelancer?
I’ve played a small amount of Freelancer, but my thoughts of the game basically mirror Alex’s. The controls are excellent, but the gameplay does get quite repetitive quickly. Overall it didn’t have enough variety to keep me interested for more than a couple of hours of the single player mode, a bit of multiplayer.
yes, freelancer has some loose ties to starlancer. starlancer was set in our solar system with a war raging between the coalition (who seemed to be comprised of mostly the russians) and the alliance (united states, great britain, japan, germany, and some others). the coalition captures the inner planets and chases the alliance to the outer planets. you come into it just as the alliance is regrouping and preparing counterstikes.
i believe freelancer takes place 500 or so years after starlancer (which takes place about 160 years after present day). after that war, the victors sent huge colony ships into deep space for some reason. it’s a long, long time after the original events and you are a long, long way from earth. freelancer doesn’t make many references to starlancer so i consider it more of a spin off rather than a sequel.
each mission feels unique, though you are often times being sent to destroy some huge enemy base, or escort a convoy to some base. it’s really the way that the mission develops from there that makes it great - there’s one mission where they work out this whole attack plan on an enemy carrier but as soon as you launch you find out your intel was wrong and the entire mission changes right there on the spot.
SOunds kind of like a game called X2
now that has to be one of the funnest space games I have ever played. It takes a while to get into, but once you are you could get immersed in it. Trading, battling, building an empire, etc. Ive always wanted to try out freelancer/starlancer though
fmalinkevich - There’s a Freelancer sequel? Wha? Did they add any depth or not over the original? What’s the title, where can I get a review…? I didn’t hear anything about it at ALL (and that happens to me very rarely if a game is good so…)
Scott - X2: The Threat is MILES beyond Freelancer, you have no reason to try it out. (Though the controls stopped me from being able to enjoy X2: The Threat since I don’t have a joystick and the gameplay is death with mouse and keyboard - wish they’d take lessons from freelancer for that thing ONLY, heh)
There’s a MMO version of X2 in the works btw…
Heh, well, I like Freelancer, and I got it for dirt cheap, so whatever.
I may try to track down Starlancer, I’ve been in the mood for a good space flight sim lately. One question: can it be played decently without a joystick?
EDIT: Just read Mega’s first post a little more carefully. Hmmmm… Can you play with a mouse? I managed Freespace pretty well with the mouse/keyboard setup, so that’d be ok.
i highly reccomend either getting a joystick or getting it on dreamcast.
[quote=“Al3xand3r”]Scott - X2: The Threat is MILES beyond Freelancer, you have no reason to try it out. (Though the controls stopped me from being able to enjoy X2: The Threat since I don’t have a joystick and the gameplay is death with mouse and keyboard - wish they’d take lessons from freelancer for that thing ONLY, heh)
There’s a MMO version of X2 in the works btw…[/quote]
=D
Yeah X2 is amazing, my friend introduced me (he loves the keyboard controls for some reason)
I have a joystick, i think the game is amazing. the expansion pack is out soon, and yeah, the MMO version is in the work and seems pretty cool (i was speaking to a tester
Hmmm, yeah, downloaded the demo. Definitely no mouse, which is crap. Ah well. It’s only $9.99 on Amazon, I might order it just for the hell of it. Maybe if I find something else to get to justify paying the shipping.
I’m slowly coming up with more and more reasons to regret selling my Dreamcast. sigh
On a side note, Freespace 2 is friggin EXPENSIVE. Damn. Oh well, maybe I’ll just play through Freespace 1 again. Hehe.
Sorry, for some reason when Freelancer was mentioned i thought of Independance War for some reason or another. I have played Freelancer however, and bothe were created by Digitial Anvil.