A wasted opportunity. "It could have been a champion."

Pro: Amazing potential

Con: Provox hired a incompetent and zero-experience novice to do the high-level game design, destroying the game in the process.

It's just criminal to take a game with so much potential and just torpedo it in such an obscene manner. What's really amazing is how much effort went into the game on the basic stuff -- engine, art, etc. -- and how little effort went into directing this to a great gaming experience. In the grand scheme of things, it takes relatively little money to hire a good writer/designer, compared to the rest of the investment. If only they had done that, this game would absolutely sing. As it is, it sinks like a stone.

The game really does not play well. There's a lot of unpolished and apparently untested aspects of the game. For instance navigation is very difficult/tedious. You cannot set waypoints or ride in tradelanes, autopilot doesn't work, and it takes like 5-10 minutes (in real time) for the jump drive to recharge. So traveling from point A to point B is about as tedious as sitting there watching a large file download from the internet.

It's difficult to believe that the game was betatested before it was released. The assumption would be that the publisher rushed the game towards the end, but that doesn't explain the horrible choices they made about the writing. Being rushed doesn't imply that you'll hire somebody who is horribly underqualified and incompetent.

They hired an incompetent 19-year-old student with zero experience to do the entire mission design and writing. He did even worse than you'd imagine. Here's the mission outline for the first two missions of the main campaign:

Mission 1:
Perform a dogfight against two ships. (highly difficult)
Perform a "scan" five times in a row. (highly tedious)

Mission 2:
Perform a dogfight against one ship.

Yes, that's it. Zero thought went into this. I'm not even going to get started on how bad the writing is. As another reviewer said, "A Saturday morning cartoon looks like Hamlet in comparison with the story." (Brett Todd -- gamesradar.com)

There's no tutorial of any kind, and learning how to deal with the command interface is awkward. And even once you get good at it, it's still awkward. For instance, every time you tractor in some goods (from a kill), you have to go to the inventory menu to select which ones you'll keep. There's no way to select "take all" by default. So every single kill essentially requires a tedious menu to deal with.

Some may believe that a patch will fix major problems, but the major problems are so major that this is exceedingly unlikely. They would have to rewrite the entire campaign, for example. That's not something one can simply patch.

The game is badly balanced. On discussion boards everywhere people are complaining that it's really difficult to win the very first battle. This is because the developers didn't try to make the game playable, let alone enjoyable. (From a game-design point of view, the first mission is supposed to show you how to play the game; it's not supposed to be a highly difficult trial.)

From a "bare simulation" point of view, the game is playable, and a patch might even make it enjoyable in a very limited sense, although the stuff that *badly* needs fixing will never be fixed by a patch.

But even if the game becomes playable, I recommend boycotting the game. Developers need to learn that it's not cool to destroy a game with so much potential. -- That post-purchase concerns like "fun" are as important as pre-purchase advertising. The writer needs to be fired immediately. And the person who hired him needs to be shot at dawn.

Do not even consider buying this game until you have tried the demo! You'll easily see from the demo how badly the game is designed.

Ok, but the game is highly moddable so you could rebalance the game at your will. I think it has potential and I was the first one who slammed this game in the 1st place but not i have tried the demo and check the coding the potential which is huge. Im just wating for 1 thing to buy it and it is fixing his joystick performance which they are already woring on. I also eager to see if they keep their word and release the multiplayer version in 1 year from now (eventhough comments stated it could be 2 years which I hope not)...

yeah boycot it... destroy the chance that it ever will have a MP (no matter how small this chance is)
id like to know what you guys are going to play next year... what are you going to play when FL is gone or at least parts of the community (its no big secret that there are less and less players online)

which alternative do we have then?
right now i see that a chance that has been given to this community is getting destroyed bit by bit and SFRU is the next section of LR which will end like DSO... dead
not because ppl dont want to play that game... but because ppl talked the game to death while in other communities the game gets a chance

in the end it doesnt matter if you like the game or not
even if 80% of the ppl dont like it because of whatever.. the other 20% are the important ones(that makes about 4922 of the registered members)... not the 80%... if they dont like the game then nobody will force them to play it
but

(plz dont nail me on the percentages now... even if there are only 10% it is worth it and if its 40% then even better... not to mention that we are not only talking about registered members)

SWAT_OP-R8R, you're certainly free to your opinion. It just sounds astonishingly defeatist to me. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're basically saying that you'll settle for practically any new space sim no matter how bad it sucks because there's no other choice.

Just to be clear, what I'm saying is: boycott the game so that next year when another space sim comes out the developers will be more careful not to wreck it, unlike the Provox bozos. The problem with doing a miserable suck job is that it lowers the bar, it sets a precedent for equally- or near-equally-bad games in the future. It poisons the whole genre. I say, don't let them get away with it.

no - im saying that LR already decided to support SFRU
and in order to see this community continue it would be a wise decision to use given chances

that you consider it a bad game is your decision but there are others out there which think different
some ppl should forget their illusion that that is a pure FL community where nothing else that is DIFFERENT (which doesnt mean worse) is not tolerated and doomed to death
LR is a community for Starlancer (even if most ppl tend to forget about LRs origin), Freelancer, DSO, DS1, DS2, EA, SFRU and Infinity
and in that way those game should get a fair chance... and players which want to play those games should be welcomed to the community instead of driven away

you may not like SFRU but the community wanted that game and now they have it.. and there are members of this community which want to enjoy it and they expect that LR does support this game with mods... downloads... news... and game information
this is what LR was made for... and not to say "everything that i personally dont like is crap and should be thrown outa here"

just accept that ppl wanted that game and that other ppl want to read an "objective" review and then decide if they try the game or not

and now finally:
1. new space sim... next year? maybe you know more than we do... so what new space sim do you expect? and do you expect that LR does automatically cover it?
2. have you ever got any information about how the developing process of a game does look like? I can tell you that in time period of 1 year it absolutly doesnt matter how a different game was... if it was better or worse... the developers usually dont even have the time to care about such things
3. if the job done by provox is so bad... can you do it better?
4. well it poisons the whole genre? which genre? do you count FL to the space sim genre? sry but FL is technically not a classical space sim... its more an arcade game which doesnt really fit between all those other games such as starlancer, freespace, wing commander,...

I was also hoping this would replace FL, and was let down.
If I ever buy this game it will be because of the mods and MP so we can form clans and play it as an RPG game...

Make no mistake about it I visit Gamespot on a regular basis and SFRU was our last hope for the next 2 years or more.

I've seen some sims coming but based on death matches, like who cares?

The problem with designers and distributors is that they are very well aware of the space sims problems which is exsactly why they bet on our starvation for a good space sim and know very well that some of us will settle for less, not so in my case.

Remove Eve and other pay per month online space sims and we've got nothing for the next 3 to 5 years that's how long it's gonna take to come up with a good space sim without pay to play.

So i'm not buying SFRU until properly motivated by mods and MP, meanwhile it's back on Guild Wars for me, at least there I can be part of a team while on Teamspeak and have fun without pay to play.

With today's PC potential, we needs and require great graphics, storyline, mods and MP, anything less is equal to shothing yourself in the foot, the days of the quick buck at our expense are over...

Ask anyone who played FL for years and they will tell you this:

SP + MP + Mods + Great graphics and no monthly fee = Great marketting and success remove any of those and you just shot yourself in the foot, the designers of Guild Wars understood this and started their own company.

See you in space someday maybe,

"There are those who believe that life here began out there"

Edited by - Poojah Nazol on 6/14/2007 3:59:12 PM

My disappointment is from the game controls, the acting, the graphics IMO are not that much better then FL, which is 6 years old, give or take a year.

The reason FL is the Game to judge others buy is the simplicity of the controls, which I told many Devs to make it just like FL for the mouse/keyboard and let the Joystick crowd have it there way just buy selecting which one you like.

You all have to admit FL has the best and easiest controls to play/learn the game with. It has a great tutorial that teaches you as you play the game. The cut scenes are the best of any game so far even DSO and SF2. The voice acting was great also. The story is great. FL is thee game of games of space Sims and TLR if you take a look around it is Freelancer. It may have been Starlancer but it is now FL not DSO or SF2 or any other game that fell to short to take the crown off the King of Space Sims today. FL is the reining King and all other games will be judged by it here at TLR as we FL fans are TLR.

If you want to know how others feel about FL go read this thread
How we discovered the glory of freelancer

Edited by - FlyByU on 6/14/2007 5:46:46 PM

Its funny, in a thread in the space force forums, someone compared the bugs that are present in SF:RU to Freelancer. The person claimed, Freelancer was patched like 10 times because it was so buggy. (lol)
Another person is saying, the game is very stable because he encountered "only" 3 crashes in 20 hours of playtime. (rofl)
And last but not least, I always see the people saying how they love the graphics... lol. Looking at the graphics from a more objective view, they are moderate at best. Just look at planet textures maybe?

I cannot stand such a fanboy talking, its almost ridiculous.

Anyways, I dont think this game will re-activate the genre.
My hopes are more in Infinity, even though its an MMO, and in the FL Source.
Good look, SF:RU!

PS: Can anyone point me at a successful Darkstar One page? Or D1 modding page? I dont think LR is the only place where DA was a flop.

Edited by - w0dk4 on 6/14/2007 7:30:21 PM

I'm with breslin and flybyu.It had great potential,but fell ridiculously short of even my lowest expectations.

SWAT,I'm not sure why you are such a vocal supporter of this drivel.But hey I respect that you have your opinion.You seem to not respect other differing opinions though.

If 80% of a diehard community like this one dislikes/hates a game,there is seriously something wrong with said game.

Who in their right mind buys a game knowing it's junk because there isn't anything else new out?People supporting games with sub-par content is one of the reasons why we don't get any new good ones.

DSO is dead because no one wants to play the thing.Even as bad as it was (horrible isn't too strong a word),it was still better than this dreck that is shoved upon us.Talking about a game doesn't kill it.Playing a demo and seeing how worthless a game is does.

I still don't understand why you are so militant about this game SWAT.This community will continue regardless.The only thing that might kill it is supporting junk like SFRU.If people new to this genre see it giving a game a free pass just because they liked the original premise,and ignore the reality of a rotten game,why would they trust anything it covers?

Your statement "and not to say "everything that i personally dont like is crap and should be thrown outa here" ",belies its content.Because we disagree with your support for a game,you want our opinions thrown out.You can't have it both ways.We discuss things like adults and agree to disagree is what should happen.Don't let your obsession with this thing marr your reasoning.

Some of us hate it with a passion,you want to cuddle with it.Whatever floats your boat.Because we don't accept it with open arms,you seem to take it personally.You say many love it?Fine let them post and you can all have a love-in with your copies of SFRU.Funny thing is,I'm not seeing anyone showing the love for it that you do.

Who cares if it takes years for another good space sim?People are still playing Doom for goodness sake!Why?Because a good game will stand the test of time,bad games get used at the range when you run out of clay pigeons.

Edited by - scannerdarkly on 6/14/2007 9:25:29 PM

im not a supporter of the game itself... im more a supporter of this communtiy... and i respect other ppls oppinions... but i dont respect when those ppl tell others what they have to think about a game
LET PPL MAKE THEIR OWN DECISION

LR is not a FL community... it is a multigaming community and some ppl better should get rid of the idea that FL is the best of the best and that LR is just here for FL

in the past 7 years ive been leading 2 big multigaming communities where players did play up to 15 different games
but there the members respected that one group wanted to play a space sim... the next group wanted to play a shooter... the next group wanted to play another shooter... and the next did play a flight sim
they respected that others did like different games... there was no crap like "this game sux"
the ppl respected that there are players willing to support games which were not as popular as others

LR is also such a multigaming portal
and the ppl here need to learn that there are players which want to play games like SFRU or DSO or Evochron or whatever and that those ppl want to be disturbed by others.... they dont want to see that those FL players prevent that a SFRU community can grow... they dont want to see that the game doesnt get support (MP + mods)

Some ppl here at LR behave like this is their personal playground for FL and that nothing else is going to be tolerated except it would be a FL2 or something that fits 100% into their expectations

again i need to say im not defending SFRU... i would do the same for other games aswell because every game deserves a chance and every game community deserves a chance to develop and grow aswell

to claim such a crap that im militant... and dont respect others oppinion... or love the game is totally ignorant to what has been said before
right now it looks more like im very liberal to this situation by not being against the game... and not supporting it
(not to mention that it looks more like you dont respect my oppinion atm)

It was the LR community which cried "give us that game -- give it to us" and like with DSO the LR staff worked for YOUR wish and now you guys come and say everything crap... we never wanted it... boycot it... throw it out
and maybe when the next game appears you expect the LR staff to work for you again? and they you say again ... "throw it out"? LR did waste alot of resources this way in the past and from my time as LR admin i know for sure that the LR staff is not very happy about all this.

I dont see a reason why LR ever should decide to support a new game again if the community does act like this and destroy every single chance that the LR staff did offer.

so
IF you dont like a game... then dont play it... but dont destroy the fun of others... dont destroy other ppls work with trash-talk... dont prevent that other players can make THEIR OWN oppinion based on OBJECTIVE FACTS

speaking of objectivity - have you played this games demo? purchased the full version? 20 bucks (or however much) = 1-2 hr's of work for most people, and i doubt most of us would actually play this game for that long.

if you want to show you respect others opinion's you'll quit spouting your opinions about their opinions. oh, and crappy games getting covered is not going to help LR (and yes, this is the FIRST) - I am not hostile to the new additions, I'm glad to get news on what's coming down the pipe - but this game appeared from nowhere, and there's nothing remarkable about it other than a new pixel shader (and it is crap - HDR lighting does not fix ugly, low-poly models - it just makes them shine). I gave this demo/game a 3/5-4/5 because I do want to give others a chance to decide for themselves - for me, flying very slowly over long distances to fight a couple ships with my FORWARD-FIRING/FIXED guns is just not that fun, but that's me. The game looks O.K. but the ships designs look like they were stolen from Freelancer/Starlancer concepts and trailers - the whole thing just looks like a rushed effort to cash in on the desperate wish for a new spacesim, and the entire interface theme is a ripoff of FL's. I may not be able to code a better game, but that doesn't mean I don't know plagiaristic uninspired crap when i see it.

yes ive played it... and ive my own oppinion which is not 100% positive on the game
but i keep it for myself because of the community and those which like to play the game
its a matter of fairness to those players


but if this fairness towards the game and those which like to play it is not welcome here maybe i should just write a few reviews about FL... every bug... every logical mistake... every single problem that this game does have
or i just tell some old SL players to post their oppinions about FL and rip it appart


would you like that? no?
ok then respect those which like SFRU and other games

No, they're giving their opinions about a game, and you have a right to yours. That's the way gaming communities work. If someone plays a game, they tell about what they think of it. They don't have to agree, and that doesn't mean they don't respect what others think about the game as well. Giving a game poor reviews shouldn't discourage those who enjoy the game... we all have different tastes. But perhaps if enough people don't like the game, their criticisms might help people who are considering purchasing it to think twice. Why are there film critics? Book critics? Game critics?

This happened personally to me, because I played the demo for this game, tried to understand the interface, played through a few missions, and then gave up on it after my ship somehow got stuck in the middle of space and wouldn't move. That, combined with the poor reviews from fellow Freelancer fans here, turned me away from buying the game.

But by no means is that the case for everyone. TLR is a place where people are free to express their opinions, and I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to on this topic.

to ask ppl to boycott something is a little bit more than just posting an oppinion