[Melkor]

Are Freespace 1 & 2 the only good space simulation PC games?

[Lucika]

Are Freespace 1 & 2 the only good space simulation PC games?

Yup.

[Polpolion]

Are Freespace 1 & 2 the only good space simulation PC games?

They are not the only good ones, but they're certainly a worthy candidate for the best.

Other ones that could be considered excellent include the Wings Commander series and the X-wing vs. Tie fighter series.

[General Battuta]

Are Freespace 1 & 2 the only good space simulation PC games?

They are not the only good ones, but they're certainly a worthy candidate for the best.

Other ones that could be considered excellent include the Wings Commander series and the X-wing vs. Tie fighter series.

TIE Fighter in particular.

Some people also really enjoyed Tachyon: The Fringe and Starlancer, and in more recent years, Freelancer achieved some moderate popularity, though none of them are as good as FS2.

Independence War was a cult hit, as I understand it, but I haven't had the luck to play it.

[Melkor]

Thanks, I might buy it sometime

[wolfen]

Freespace rules.

[Scotty]

Rankings:

1) Freespace.  Forever, it is the pinnacle, the best ever.  At least until (if) FS3 ever becomes reality.  You never know how long it may or may not take.
2) X-Wing/TIE Fighter.  I love the cockpits on this one, as well as the combat system.  I think this one first introduced the energy management system.
3) Wing Commander.  Haven't played, but heard good things about it.

[InsaneOne]

Starshatter is a pretty decent space sim, though it can get a little repetitive

[SpardaSon21]

Starlancer was okay, I heard one of the Wing Commander guys made it.  Plus it has an unusual storyline and backstory (namely we were signing a treaty with the Russians/Arabs and they backstabbed us, us being the NATO and the Japanese), plus the smallest warzone ever in a space sim, our Solar System.  Good thing space is so damn big.

Freelancer is NOT a space sim like how Freespace is a space sim.  Its like Privateer 1 or 2 in a third-person view with a lot less freedom.  As an arcade-style game, its good.  As a full space sim, no.

Also, TIE Fighter is excellent.  Its pretty much why I'm eagerly awaiting Fate of the Galaxy.

[ShadowGorrath]

1. FreeSpace 2 SCP
2. Homeplanet Gold
3. Freelancer

[eliex]

FreeSpace is certainly the best, but other good ones include the Tie Fighter series, Starlancer and Freelancer as people above have mentioned already.
To be honest, with all this going on, I have no idea why the space sim genre died out.

[JGZinv]

Tachyon is free roam to a degree, had Bruce Campbell, some over the top characters, and the best flight model.
However I hear that Novalogic/their online distribution sites has really chewed it up and spat it out with the downloadable
version. Might look for a retail copy like on ebay or something else. The downloadable can be fixed as I've had to do it
with some people... see FringeSpace.org

Xwing/Tie series is a great start for anyone. Xwing vs. Tie Fighter. Balance of Power expansion. X Wing Alliance was the peak
pretty much.

GameTap has a few games on there that deal with flight, including Tach.
Not sure what their status is or how well they've been upkept though.

RPG + flight combat = ACE Online or Air Rivals depending on which part of the globe you're in.

[Pred the Penguin]

Freespace beats all others.... lol

I liked Freelancer, but it's not the combat shooter that Freespace is.

[Vip]

What Star Wars fan would I be if I didn't mention the entire X-Wing series ?
X-Wing (the first game in the series, pretty hard even for experienced people, no reloading missions, but still, really fun and satisfactory),
TIE Fighter (you can fly as an Imperial pilot, ain't that enough ? Besides, a good campaign and very fun to play),
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (the first game in the series to feature multiplayer, besides not much different from the two above),
X-Wing Alliance (nice plot, the Battle of Endor, lots of improvements over previous titles)

Wing Commander is like one of the first space-sims in the way we understand it, but it can be a bit problematic to run on modern hardware and OS.

Tachyon and Starlancer aren't really that great, but I'd give them a shot. Starlancer was quite nice last time I played it.

Freelancer - I really really liked the plot, even though it's more of an arcade shooter than space-sim, and the trading system plainly sucks.


And yet, Freespace (especially Freespace Open) can't be beaten by any of those. No other game has managed to make so perfect capship battles, so great atmosphere of danger (especially FS1). This is the only position where you actually feel that it's not a bunch of ships firing some single shots, but a freaking chaos, when you try to get a lock while flaks explode all around and enemies sit on your six.

[Pred the Penguin]

Never played any of the Star Wars themed space-sims, though I am a SW fan. =/

Wing Commander is older than me. XD

[Narvi]

If you like empire-building games, hate your mouse, love your keyboard, and enjoy reading economic spreadsheets, you might want to try the X-games. I've only played X2 so far, but the combat is respectable (if resolved by ramming way too much,) you can build stations, buy wingmen to protect them, and eventually buy your own fully-customizable battleship.

Be warned that the X-games are not for the impatient. It'll take you hours to get an actual fighter which isn't a scout craft and won't explode if a combat vessel sneezes on it.

[Lucika]

If you like empire-building games, hate your mouse, love your keyboard, and enjoy reading economic spreadsheets, you might want to try the X-games. I've only played X2 so far, but the combat is respectable (if resolved by ramming way too much,) you can build stations, buy wingmen to protect them, and eventually buy your own fully-customizable battleship.

Be warned that the X-games are not for the impatient. It'll take you hours to get an actual fighter which isn't a scout craft and won't explode if a combat vessel sneezes on it.

If strategy games, I have to mention Homeworld 1 and 2.

[IPAndrews]

Homeworld 2 is a thing of beauty. A breathtakingly pretty RTS game. I found the gameplay flawed sadly and very frustrating. The storyline also was complete nonsense. In spite of this it was worth investing time just to admire the glorious battle scenes.

[Lucika]

Homeworld 2 is a thing of beauty. A breathtakingly pretty RTS game. I found the gameplay flawed sadly and very frustrating. The storyline also was complete nonsense. In spite of this it was worth investing time just to admire the glorious battle scenes.

Yup. HW1 was much better. The problem with HW2 is that (since you're carrying your fleet over) you might have to replay an earlier mission in order to have a CHANCE of completing the present one - to raise your fleet.

[Grizzly]

There is also X3: Reunion, which is the best Elite-Style game i've ever played. Especially when you apply the patches . it has an nice modding community (Roguey's mod rules ), good economy system, breathtaking graphics, and bsg style flight physics. It also has massive system requirements, by the way...

(THere is also Vega strike, worth checking out ).

On Homeworld... Don't really like that game. I've played Off-World Resource Base, and that was a good game, Homeworld was just to hard to control for me when I played it.