Freelancer vs. Freespace 2

(Originally posted on Friday, 2 July 2021)

I came back to playing the game Freelancer, only because I was totally disappointed with the game Freespace 2. In the past I had found numerous Internet forums where most people claimed that the game Freespace 2 is overall better than the game Freelancer and I have to say only this: What a load of CRAP!

I was so pissed off by the game Freespace 2 that I uninstalled it already after a few missions. In my opinion Freespace 2 is MUCH WORSE than Freelancer!

I have already described Freelancer here:
Freelancer – great space combat and space exploring

Now I will compare some crucial things in Freelancer with the game Freespace 2. Please notice that I recorded all the gameplay movies below with the graphic setting “Background stars” turned OFF! Thanks to this little trick I have NO nebulas in the background (where there were hardly any stars visible anyway), so I have much more BLACK space around me!


1. Flying mechanics with a computer mouse.

Freespace 2 is basically unplayable with a mouse! Your spaceship turns around according to the ABSOLUTE mouse movements! It means that when you move your mouse to the left then your spaceship turns around to the left AS LONG AS you are moving the mouse! When you want to turn around more to the left then you have to move your mouse more to the left!

During dogfight combat you often have to fly in FULL circles, so you have to KEEP moving your mouse to the left, and left, and left, and left. In reality you have to, from time to time, lift your mouse and place it to the right of your mouse pad to be able to keep turning around to the left (to be able to keep moving your mouse to the left).

This is a game-breaking steering mechanics!

In comparison, in Freelancer when you move your mouse a little to the left, then your spaceships STARTS turning around a little to the left and KEEPS turning around to the left even after you stopped moving your mouse. Bigger mouse movement simply means bigger turning speed of your spaceship, so there is no need to keep moving your mouse even when you want to fly in circles. This is exactly how it should be done!


The gameplay movie above is a perfect example also for the next point (2. Flying mechanics independent from the steering device).


2. Flying mechanics independent from the steering device.

I was VERY annoyed by the flying mechanics in Freespace 2. My spaceship ALWAYS moved in the direction that I was looking at, so it felt like flying a normal plane! It was totally unrealistic because there is no air in space. Please, notice there were not even strafing movements and I could fly ONLY ahead!

In comparison, in Freelancer there are two “flying modes” – “normal” (default) and “special” (after activating the Engine Kill manoeuvre). The first one is similar to the flying mechanics in Freespace 2 (totally annoying), but at least there are strafing movements, HOWEVER in the second “flying mode” (after activating the Engine Kill manoeuvre) you can look around while maintaining the same flying vector, so it really feels like moving through space! AWESOME!

The first gameplay movie above (in the point 1. Flying mechanics with a computer mouse) is a perfect example.


3. Open-world space.

In Freespace 2 you can’t explore space at your leisure because there are only fixed missions at fixed places. Moreover there is nothing beyond the main story, so when the main story ends the game also ends.

In comparison, in the game Freelancer you are regularly FORCED to do some side quests! At such times you can explore AT LEAST a particular star system at you leisure and visit many accessible places (like planets, space stations or battleships). More importantly when the main story ends you can still play the game! Even better, there are MANY star systems to explore that are NOT visited during the main story AT ALL! Awesome! Let me repeat: AWESOME!!!

The exploring is very fun even in the early game – I always enjoy flying through a very strange asteroid field called the Badlands in the very first star system.



4. Role-playing elements and personal freedom.

In the game Freespace 2 you can give orders to your wingmen during some missions, but the main story is overall linear. Giving orders to your wingmen is praised by many gamers, but I was so pissed of by the fact that for TURNING I had to use not only a mouse, but also keyboard, that when I had to learn/set new keyboard keys also for giving orders to my wingmen, I simply gave up. Overall there were too many keyboard keys to remember.

In comparison, in the game Freelancer you can’t give any orders at all, BUT you can do whatever you want when you are forced outside the main story! You feel totally free! This is where the game really shines! Please, notice that some people complain that “there are no escort side missions”, totally ignoring the fact that such missions ARE within the main story (exactly like in Freespace 2). MOREOVER, even outside the main story in Freelancer you can join a formation with other spaceships! It means that when the formation is attacked all escort ships fight against the attackers, while the big transport ships try to run away! Cool!


Please, notice what rules there are when flying in a formation:
1) your flight path and flight speed are set automatically,
2) docking to a Trade Lane is automatic,
3) the formation is maintained when the Trade Lane ends,
4) you can look around by switching to the turret view and activating “mouse flight”,
5) the formation is lost when your “allies” reach their destination in a particular star system,
6) the formation is lost when your “allies” reach a Jump Gate to another star system,
7) when the formation is attacked you have to leave the formation on purpose, otherwise you will stay by the side of a big transport ship (if there is such a ship in the formation).

Please, notice that using a freighter instead of a fighter makes Freelancer a whole NEW game! Flying a freighter feels like flying a bomber – you go mostly straight ahead firing with your turrets, HOWEVER you can stop or slow down and then accelerate to make the attackers fly beside you!


When flying a side mission you have to turn around from time to time, because you are not allowed to fly too much away from the mission waypoint (when you do you have 30 seconds to get close enough).

Out of curiosity I flew a side mission in Badlands with a freighter. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I still think that freighters should be used only in “open space”.


Please, notice that when you want to feel safer in a freighter you can join a formation with Police forces! Cool!


Please, notice also that joining a formation from a relatively big distance includes a kind of cheat – you “catch up” with the formation flying faster than you are normally allowed! In the movie above soon after I pressed F4 (Formation) my speed was shown as 300 (the Cruise mode started automatically), but the rest of the formation was also travelling with the speed of 300 (when I got close enough I could see that their Cruise engines were working too), so my speed HAD to be higher than 300!


5. Freelancer story.

I have to comment on the story of Freelancer because some people claim that Freespace 2 has a better story. Well, as I uninstalled Freespace 2 only after a few missions, so I can't judge its story in an honest way, but its start didn't really impress me at all.

In comparison, the story in Freelancer is AWESOME right from the start of the game! It feels like watching a movie (during long, but interesting cut-scenes) AND playing a role in the movie (many things happen and much very important info is given in-game, during the main story missions). It's very hard to describe the feeling, so I recorded some gameplay movies from the mission 2. Please, notice that these gameplay movies do NOT cover the whole mission, but only some parts of it!