Space sims:
Freespace - Imho simply the best, both of them
Wing Commander - All of them AWESOME, except for Arena of course, which is simply an Asteroids clone, play Secret OPs, if you didn't do that
already
Starlancer - Well, the story was a bit cheap (cliché russians are evil and want to take over the universe), but great in all other aspects
I-War 2 - Great story, nice graphics, but DAMN, it's hard.
Freelancer - I don't mind the mouse control very much, cause it works very well. It's a great game. Nice story and graphics and surprisingly long (in a time you can finish new games in one day...)
Except for the story missions, there isn't very much interesting stuff to do after a few days of playing it. Ship wrecks and of easter eggs didn't keep me busy for long. Freelancer is clearly one of the best games in the genre, but lacks content. Some more non-story missions would have made the game even better.
Darkstar One - I'm currenly playing it. Simply put: It's a Freelancer clone. While it doesn't feel quite as polished as Freelancer, it also has a few more features, plus it has better graphics. Sidequests and more generic missions fix one of the weak points Freelancer has.
It's a good game, but really not outstanding. I bought it for 10€ and that was a really good buy.
X³ - Still nice graphics. The feeling of beeing in space is really great. It also has an interesting story, but can't deliver it very well...
The trading part is very complex and takes a lot of time. The interface is a bit confusing too. Well, if you like complex games, X3 is a good choice.
The space action part is very weak though. It's neither easy, nor fun to fly a fighter in battle imho.
Space RTS:
Homeworld - Both parts are great. HW2 is imho the best space RTS out there. The gameplay is great and I love the art style. Watch out for HW: Cataclysm. It's like HW1.5. And the storyline simply rocks. It's even more immersive than HW2.
Haegemonia - Wow... I didn't pay much for it. I could have gotten a burger for the money.
It's very well balanced, and there is a lot of tension during the campaign. The story is quite nice and the graphics are still amzing, so is the music.
Just watching the spectacular space battles is fun enough.
Sins of a Solar Empire - Sweet! It's hard to explain... I didn't have much trouble finding my way into it. Even though you can do a lot, it's all pretty simple. Great music and graphics complete the game. And you can build gigantic fleets. Seriously, your fleet can be really really huge, which results in pretty cool battles. Plus there is an active modding scene of SotSE.
I have only two complains:
1. There is no single player campaign (unless you count the tutorial). Even though the game would be perfect for it, it's either multiplayer or you fight the CPU. This hurts even more, cause the story in the intro sounds interesting...
2. It simply takes too long. Invading systems puts you at the disadvantage, so you can't do it until you're clearly stronger than your opponent.
So while you try to build more ships to beat him, he probably does the same. Sometimes there isn't much fighting until two big armadas crash into each other.
