Freelancer Critic Reviews

The word epic describes Freelancer, Microsoft Game Studios' latest title, thanks to its strong narrative and virtually limitless game play opportunities.

With a smooth control system, well designed game structure, and first-rate graphics, obvious time and effort was put into this game that will keep you occupied for some time.

Freelancer’s approach and style is one of the best examples, par excellence, of the formula Chris Roberts left behind: flashy visuals, first-rate Hollywood talent fleshing out the story, and a compelling world seemingly created from scratch.

Freelancer will serve to delight and enrapture. The online portion alone is worth the purchase, but I'd be shocked if you didn't spend at least 50 to 60 hours on the single-player campaign.

Freelancer isn’t just a game – it’s a way of life.

One of those rare games that is complete in every aspect. The content and the technique is nearly perfect, and it molds flawlessly into a genuinely entertaining experience.

The sum of its parts come together to craft a whole that's so wonderfully and lovingly polished that fans of games in general owe it to themselves to pick up a copy.

A cool, easy-to-play space sim that lets you do whatever you want.

It is not the revolution in the space combat genre that many were hoping for, but it certainly is the next evolution.

The gameplay is truly a remarkable achievement... Aesthetically pleasing, lots to do, lots of options, lots of ships and weapons to buy, and a great story. Sounds good to me.

An accessible, action-packed outer space role-playing game with plenty of personality and a marvelous online component.

It might not be universally perfect, but it’s certainly the king of infinite space.

Mindbogglingly huge and engaging, this is one of the great space games of all time... A classic.

The ambient music and low hum of your engine perfectly invoke the feeling of being out on your own in space, while radio chatter around the various planets and bases only enhance the realism.

What's great about Freelancer is that it's relatively easy to learn how to play and relatively easy to play, yet still provides enough of a challenge to give hardcores a real workout.

What makes Freelancer a compelling game is the sense of a living universe, vast areas begging for exploration, and the ability to hook up with friends online and start being either total bastards or glorious do-gooders together.

The game is fun, action-packed and polished to a fine sheen. Additionally, the cool multi-player element and the sheer number of missions give the game plenty of replay value.

You're left wishing that the planets were a bit more interesting after you touch down on them, though. The RPG elements are not fleshed out too well, though, so don't expect "Morrowind" in space.

The mixture of both story-based and open-ended gameplay comes off with a decent effect, and while the interface could have used work in some areas, it is great in others. Throw all this in together with a fun multiplayer mode, and we have a very good - but not exactly classic - game.

If we consider they worked for this game for about 4 years, a massively multiplayer add-on being cancelled 2 years ago, its presence on just one CD doesn't really justify the absence of a true nonlinear gameplay, the imbalance between the economical and military aspects, the lack of some options which are considered now a standard of the genre, the low difficulty of the game due to the poor quality of the AI and the short period of time after which both modes don't offer any more challenges.