Has Discovery and Freelancer in general...

[Jinx]

i second that .... freelancer is for most of it all ..... just old. - microsoft will most probably not release the source code ( and why should they do it ... there is no single reason for them to do so ) - and the computergame design has made huge progress ever since freelancer.

not only do new games look better.... but for a space simulation very important.... they often add semi realistic physics, such as newtonian effects ( seen in homeworld 2 in some mods like PD1.2+ ) or mass and accelleration effects. - even games like independence war 1 and 2 used a much better spaceship physics than freelancer.

after all, freelancer is rather something like the ancient shoot em up ... "afterburner"... i think new games will offer a much more intense gameplay and skill requirement. - freelancer was planned as a revolutionary project - i remember features that were praised when it was announced:

- full choice of character ( customizable character in an open world much more like a real mmorpg )
- fighters and capital ships - as well as small transports and huge freighters ( the original concept was that fighters and transports were to be piloted directly, while capital warships and freighters were given "manouvers" of offensive or evasive nature rather than a direct control over the ship )
- space, stations and planetary survaces - as well as cities and installations were planned to be seamlessly ( flight from space to the surface without a cutscene... and even getting out of the ship should have switched into a charater chase view where you d actually walk the cities. ( a bit more like GTA 3 )

those were features that were announced when freelancer was a vision still - a concept. and what we got was an arcade shooter with half a story but with quite decent graphics and a good basic structure.

if however new games actually fulfil what freelancer "wanted" to achieve ... freelancer will be forgotten. a game project that attempts to achieve these features is "infinity" - which at least tries to create planets of REAL size with real surfaces and a distinction between atmospheric flight and space flight.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC