FreeSpace 2 is a 1999 space combat simulation computer game developed by Volition as the sequel to Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War. It was completed ahead of schedule in less than a year, and released to very positive reviews, but the game became a commercial failure, and was described by certain critics as one of 1999's most unfairly overlooked titles.

The game continues on the story from Descent: FreeSpace, once again thrusting the player into the role of a pilot fighting against the mysterious aliens, the Shivans. While defending the human race and its alien Vasudan allies, the player also gets involved in putting down a rebellion. The game features large numbers of fighters alongside gigantic capital ships in a battlefield fraught with beams, shells and missiles in detailed star systems and nebulae. Free multiplayer games were available via Parallax Online which also ranked players by their statistics. A persistent galaxy was also available as SquadWar for players to fight with each other over territories.

In 2002, Volition released the source code for the game engine under a non-commercial license. This code became the core of the FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project, which continuously improves it and enables new features. In cooperation with the FreeSpace Upgrade Project the game's graphics are kept up to date. The improved game engine is also used by various mod projects, for example The Babylon Project and Diaspora which are based on the science fiction series Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica respectively.

Gameplay

thumb|left|A corvette and a destroyer attacking each other with beam cannonsFreeSpace 2s gameplay involves the player piloting a starfighter using mounted weapons to destroy enemy starfighters, performing reconnaissance behind enemy lines, or escorting other starships. The result is that the game plays more like a "WWII dogfight simulator" unaffected by gravity.

The pre-mission briefing stage is where the player gets information on the background and objectives, and selects the ship and weapons. The implementation of nebulae as an interactive environment is one of the most distinctive aspects of FreeSpace 2. Flying through a nebula involves impaired vision, and occasional disruptions to flight electronics. Nebulae have become known as an eerie and suspenseful arena of play. All ships in a mission either "jump" or "hop" to make their entries and exits. The game's starship designs are clearly distinguishable between the three races.

FreeSpace 2s story is brought out via narrative pre-rendered cutscenes, the pre- and post-mission briefings, as well as in-game chatter between non-player characters, and scripted mission events. The story can only be continued by clearing missions and progressing through the campaign. However, players are given the option to skip a mission if they have failed it five times in a row.

The Alliance Fleet resumes its efforts to track down Bosch, and discover that Bosch had built a device that enables him to communicate with the Shivans, which was the purpose of ETAK; the Alliance realise the jump gate was activated by Bosch, who had been stealing artefacts from archaeological sites looking into the Ancients, and had been hoping to meet and contact the Shivans. The Shivans respond to his transmission, and in turn board the Iceni, capturing him and fifteen other crewmen before attempting to destroy it. The GTVA manage to save the surviving crew and the ETAK device, but as they try to intercept the Shivan transport carrying Bosch, they discover a second jump gate in the nebula. The Alliance destroyer, the GVD Psamtik, attempts to secure the jump gate, but is destroyed by another Sathanas juggernaut shortly afterwards, forcing the GTVA to pull out. During this time, the GTVI and SOC launch a secret operation, discovering the threat posed to the GTVA by the Shivans is much greater than they had thought.

The Alliance devises a plan to halt the Shivan invasion by collapsing the two jump nodes from Capella to the rest of GTVA space. The plan works, but the GTVA loses the Colossus, their only match for Shivan juggernauts, in a diversionary engagement, resulting in a pyrrhic victory. The Shivans cause the Capella star to go supernova, destroying the fighting GTVA and Shivans there. The player can choose to flee the scene when the warning is given or stay and die defending the remaining ships, which affects the ending slightly. In the ending cutscene, the player's commanding officer, Admiral Petrarch, delivers a speech about everything the Alliance has lost, speculating on the nature of the Shivans and why they destroyed Capella, and if the player decides to stay, a small tribute is paid to the player's heroic actions as Petrarch informs his wingmen of his sacrifice. The Admiral concludes by saying that the Alliance now has the means to recreate the Ancient subspace gate, implying that there's a chance the node to Earth can be restored and that this conflict didn't bring only sorrow, before signing off.

Development

The news of FreeSpace 2 being in development was confirmed in a chat on November 6, 1998. FreeSpace 2 was developed in less than one year. The Volition team revealed they had written up a story and will be targeting high-end hardware with dogfights for a greater number of ships and even larger and more deadly capital ships. The team set themselves the goals of setting new standards for both single-player and multiplayer space combat simulations, and started to modify the FreeSpace game engine for FreeSpace 2. This team was the same team which had worked on Descent: FreeSpace, plus several new members. In order to flesh out the story, Volition hired Jason Scott as a full-time writer before work even started. The linear mission structure was adopted as it was decided it would help the immersion factor of the story greatly.

Due to time constraints, a lot of the initial ideas were dropped from the final version of the game, such as atmospheric battles, and new weapons types like a "subspace missile artillery strike". The team made major improvements to the same FreeSpace engine from the first game. Hardware acceleration for the graphics was also decided to be a requirement to target the high-end machines of 1999.

Compared to the graphical changes, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the computer-controlled characters was only slightly changed. The justification given was that the team felt the AI worked very well for the first game. All they had to do was to tweak it a little and fix some bugs. SquadWar was implemented as an attempt to establish a sense of continuity among the players in the form of a persistent online territorial fight, along with pilot statistics and ladder rankings. Volition hoped this concept would help to establish a strong, online community and build up the game's lifespan.

FreeSpace 2 was released on September 30, 1999, one month ahead of schedule, although the team had to quickly come up with and release a patch (version 1.01) for a software bug which prevented recognition of a CD during the installation process. Three months later, they released the next and final patch (version 1.20) to fix several other bugs. The release of FreeSpace 2 was considerably muted compared to its predecessor Descent: FreeSpace.

Despite Volition's interest and desire to develop add-ons and expansions for FreeSpace 2, Interplay told them to stop. Faced with source code which became practically useless to them, Volition released the source code for only game engines to the public under a noncommercial license on April 25, 2002. Mike Kulas, the President of Volition, said this was to give those outside the game industry a chance to look at the code of a commercial software product, a desire he and Matt Toschlog had when they were not yet in the industry. In the years since, no sequels to FreeSpace 2 have been made and Interplay has only published a limited re-release of it on February 2, 2004, to commemorate the company's 20th anniversary. Derek Smart, creator of Battlecruiser 3000AD, had casually mentioned his interest in the Freespace license, but nothing significant came out of this. In 2013, Interplay acquired the remaining rights to the FreeSpace franchise for $7,500 after THQ went to bankruptcy court.

Reception

Reviews and awards

thumb|left|The game's backdrops have received high praise from reviewersFreeSpace 2 has garnered high praise from most established reviewers. FreeSpace 2 received numerous "Game of the Year" awards for 1999, and was nominated for "Computer Simulation Game of the Year" during the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Every review praised FreeSpace 2s graphics. From the ships to the backgrounds, the reviewers were pleased with the details Volition had paid attention to, such as the thematic differences in the ship designs between the races, the textures and clarity of the backdrops, and even the realism of the explosions, though FiringSquad pointed out explosions from torpedo strikes were lower in quality. The nebulae feature was also praised for its rendered atmosphere, which reviewers described as tense and paranoia-inducing as they keep expecting enemy ships to appear out of the gases in a deadly ambush. Combatsim even claimed FreeSpace 2 was unrivaled among its space combat peers in the graphics department.

GameSpot felt FreeSpaces story was "both deeper and darker" than either the Wing Commander and X-Wing series, establishing invincible foes who never lost their stature despite the player learning of plausible ways to defeat them. Game Revolution felt the story was "first rate" for being able to "build several different conflicts into an unforgettable climax", nicely presented by the emphasis of story telling by means of in-game events.

FreeSpace 2s key attraction is its dogfights. CNN.com said the close-ranged dogfights make for engrossing, and exciting skirmishes. FiringSquad described it as a "total thrill" to be among 20 fighters flying in between opposing capital ships with beams, missiles, and flak all around and warnings going off, as they try to seek out and destroy their opposite numbers, a view which GameSpot agreed with.

GameSpot, in electing FreeSpace 2 as one of the "Greatest Games of All Time", pointed out that while most of the game's features could be found in its predecessor or peers, its "sheer quality of presentation and gameplay" was the key reason for their choice. Ars Technica also posed FreeSpace 2 as the last significant stage in evolution of the space combat genre .

Fans of the FreeSpace series have created modifications (mods) of FreeSpace 2. The first mods were just custom campaigns, with series of missions created through FRED2, the mission editor freely packaged with FreeSpace 2. One such mod which gained notability was Inferno, which sets its story decades after the conclusion of FreeSpace 2. Released in July 2003, the mod was hosted on established sites, such as GameSpot and CNET, as part of their FreeSpace 2 contents.

Sales

Despite glowing reviews, FreeSpace 2 was a commercial disappointment. In the United States, it totaled sales of 26,983 copies by the end of 1999, according to PC Data. Writing for Daily Radar, Andrew S. Bub remarked that the game "horrifically" underperformed and was one of the most unfairly overlooked titles of the year. FreeSpace 2 was a runner-up for GameSpots 1999 "Best Game No One Played" award, which ultimately went to Disciples: Sacred Lands.

FreeSpace 2s sales were acknowledged as disappointing, and described as awful by Kulas. He, however, stated that as the team had stayed within budget by sticking to schedule, Volition should at least be breaking even with the estimated final sales of the game. In NowGamer's interview with Jim Boone, a producer at Volition, he said that this could have been due to joysticks' being sold poorly because they were "going out of fashion" and more modern first-person shooters, such as Quake, were "very much about the mouse and [the] keyboard". He went further on to state: "Before that, when we did Descent for example, it was perfectly common for people to have joysticks – we sold a lot of copies of Descent. It was around that time [when] the more modern FPS with mouse and keyboard came out, as opposed to just keyboard like Wolfenstein [3D] or something".

Legacy

With the release of the game engine's source code, the possibilities of changing the game greatly opened up, and the fan community made use of the code to update the game using recent technology. Led by Edward Gardner and Ian Warfield, the FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project was formed to standardize changes and maintain a core engine for others to take advantage of. Using the new fan-updated engine, projects such as Beyond the Red Line, based on the new Battlestar Galactica, and The Babylon Project, based on Babylon 5, have become possible. PXO, the free Internet gaming service handling SquadWar, was initially acquired by THQ in their 2002 acquisition of Outrage Entertainment (renamed as Outrage Games). The service was continued until July 2003, when Outrage Games was dissolved and PXO terminated. The components of its website were, however, later handed over to the FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project to help them create a similar service in tracking statistics and rankings.

References

  • Interplay Entertainment Corp. FreeSpace 2 website archived by Internet Archive
  • Volition FreeSpace 2 website archived by Internet Archive
  • Volition FreeSpace 2 website