I'm an Englishman living over here in the USA, so I have the best of both worlds.. the luxury of playing Freelancer the day it was released, and the culture of being brought up playing the classic Elite (on my Acorn Electron.)
I loved Elite.. I still do.. and nothing will ever be as good. Nothing will spark the imagination as those line drawn starships did (see my sig) and nothing will beat landing on a new planet to find the enconomy is especially favourable on this trade run.
Until now.. Freelancer is the best replacement Elite I've seen, and I've played them all. Trust me... you'll love it to. Yes, sure, there are a few aspects that some will find monotonous or frustrating (like the lack of variation in the bar missions and ALWAYS dying the first time I try one of those super-profit runs - I swear it's fixed!!) but overall we have a winner here. And with the MOD community already turning our some create additions to the game, I can't see myself getting bored for a long while.
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Patrick "Romeo" McCann - Mostly Harmless