Reddit reviews Freelancer (Jewel Case)

Good and/or Great space games, most of which I have played:

NOTE: This comment lists prices and online stores, I last checked the prices some time ago. There may now be a better deal(sale?) or a more trustworthy seller(some of the older games may have been added to gog), please check before purchasing any of them.

Real Time 4x game with both planet surface and space ships parts:

Open Imperium Galactica. You can get it here. (Free)

Imperium Galactica II (I would argue that this is the best strategy game that I have ever played, as you might have noticed, I have played many of them.) - ($22.50)





Light of Altair ($14.99)

Real Time 4x game with space ships part, but no planet surface part:

Distant Worlds - (39.99) (especially with the expansions)



Haegemonia: Legions of Iron - ($9.99)



Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity ($19.99) and the Rebellion expansion ($39.99)

Warpath (old game) abandonware?

Star Ruler ($19.99)

Turn based 4x game with space ships and planet surface part:

Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition - ($19.99)



Space Empires IV and V - ($19.99)



Turn based 4x game with space ships, but no planet surface part:

Master of Orion 2 - ($9.99)



Sword Of The Stars Complete Collection - ($19.99)

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter ($29.99) (NOTE: This game was almost unplayable at launch but has been fixed since then.)

or get both for $39.99


Endless Space ($29.99)

Turn based 4x game, with only planet surface parts:

Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire expansion - ($5.49)



UFO Afterlight(Only XCOM inspired game, there is like twenty of them, not set on earth) - ($9.99)


or get it as part of the 1C pack ($39.99)


Real Time Strategy game with space ships, but no planet surface part:

Homeworld - ([$9.54](http://www.amazon.com/Homeworld-Pc/dp/B00001LDCK/ref=pd_bxgy_vg_img_y
))


Homeworld Cataclysm - ($26.50)



Homeworld 2 - ($10.29)



Offworld Resource Base - ($7.32) (a lot like homeworld)



Genesis Rising - ([$4.99](
http://store.steampowered.com/app/3230/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1)) (also a bit like homeworld, just nowhere near as good)


Conquest: Frontier Wars - ($20.00)



Space Pirates and Zombies ($9.99)

Real Time Strategy game , with only planet surface parts:

StarCraft - ($14.99)



StarCraft 2 - ($39.99)



Dune 2000 - ($13.00)



Emperor: Battle for Dune - ($33.00)



Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War Platinum - ($29.95)



Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II - ($19.99)



Universe at War: Earth Assault ($19.99)

Supreme Commander - ($14.99)



Supreme Commander 2 ($14.99)

Space station/colony building/management

Spacecolony - ($2.50)



Startopia - ($5.99)



Colony building/space trade simulator

Space Bucks - ($1.99) (Warning: this game is a pain to get working on modern systems. You would need to install win 3.1 and then install the game on it)

Space combat simulator:


Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - ($9.99)

SOL: Exodus ($9.99)

Gratuitous Space Battles ($14.99)

Diaspora: Shattered Armistice (Free)

Space trading and combat simulator:

Freelancer - ($7.99)

X3: Terran Conflict ($15.99) (all X3 games are good actually)

Freespace - ($5.99)



Freespace 2 - ($5.99)



Darkstar One ($7.99)

Evochron Mercenary ($24.99)

Roguelike/strategy/adventure

FTL: Faster than Light ($8.99)



Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space - ($19.96)

Transcendence (Free)

RPG/Space simulation:

Star Wolves - ($12.99)

Star Wolves 2 ($19.99)

Star Wolves 3 ($19.99)

Space Rangers - ($9.99)

Space Rangers 2 ($9.99)

or get the last 5 games together (along with UFO afterlight) as part of the 1C pack ($39.99)

Solar Winds The Escape - (Free Abandonware), Galaxy - (Free Abandonware) (One of the first space games that I ever played and it was already pretty old back then. Still a damn good game though)

FPS/space combat simulator/RPG/strategy game




Salvation Prophecy - ($19.99)

RPG/space combat simulator

The Precursors - ($15.95)

RPG:

Mass Effect 1 ($19.99)

Mass Effect 2 ($19.99)

Mass Effect 3 - ($39.95)(with the extended cut endings)


System Shock 2 - ($44.98)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
(especially with these mods) - ($9.99),

STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic II (especially with the restored content mod) - ($9.99)





Anachronox - ($5.99)


---

Not yet released, but might become good/great:

Horizon

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Moon Base Eridani

XENONAUTS

Starfarer

StarDrive

Star Lords

Planetary Annihilation

Cortex Command

Void Destroyer

MAIA

Drox Operative

Blackspace Ongoing kickstarter!!!

Trending toward 57% OF GOAL Too bad, it looked pretty cool.

ScrumbleShip Ongoing kickstarter!!!

Trending toward 145% OF GOAL

M.O.R.E. Ongoing kickstarter!!!

Trending toward 148% OF GOAL

Nexus 2: The Gods Awaken Ongoing kickstarter!!! PLEASE DONATE!!!

This one was posted September 28th and is currently trending at 85% OF GOAL. Please spread news about it to everyone as this one has the potential to be one of the greats, just like its AAA predecessor: Nexus the Jupiter Incident.

In the States you can get it on Amazon here or here. I'm not sure what's available in Europe, but maybe Amazon will ship to you.

Edit: They're physical copies, sure, but it's better (for CR, who deserves his cut) than torrenting.

Unfortunately it's not readily available at retail, and none of the usual online distribution platforms have it.

If Amazon is an option for whatever country you're in, they usually have copies. It's $19 US with free shipping on amazon.com right now:
http://www.amazon.com/Freelancer-Jewel-Case-Pc/dp/B000NJFMR4/

http://www.amazon.com/Freelancer-Jewel-Case-Pc/dp/B000NJFMR4/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1314759546&sr=1-1

9.99. . . cant really beat that for an awesome game.

Amazon has it in stock for $10

> Star Wars TIE Fighter and X-Wing - loved that space combat :)

You will have more of it in:

X-Wing Alliance - LucasArt has finished the story in it.

Freespace 1 and Freespace 2 - they're the best spacesims made in the golden era.

StarLancer. It also has a sequel, but Freelancer is nothing like the others. Even story doesn't really transfers.

They're old, but if you compare them to X-Wing or Tie-Fighter...

Some newer games

STRIKE SUIT ZERO

Eterium

Void Destroyer is mix of space combat and rts. If you'd like it there are sequel and another similar game on the way.

Chris Roberts is making now his uber MMO called Star Citizen, which will have a single player portion named Squadron 42. It's been already called second coming of Chris and biggest scam in game industry since forever. IMO game will come out sometime in next 10 years. :P It will have less arcade and more Newtonian physics/flight model.

If it's not a problem check also Independence War 2.

> SimCity 3000

Cities Skylines

Sim City 4

Banished for some medievaly feeling

Older games that still hold up:

Freelancer (You might just have to pirate this one as getting a legit copy can be difficult some times)

Freespace 2

Independence War I and II

Contemporary games:

Evochron Mercenary

X3 series

Kerbal Space Program



Games still in development:

Elite: Dangerous (Paid Beta)

Star Citizen (Paid Alpha)

No Man's Sky (unknown)

Limit Theory (unknown)

Enemy Star Fighter (Unknown)

The Mandate (Unkown)

Void Destroyer (Early Access)

Rogue System (Unknown)

Classics:

Elite and Elite 2

Wing Commander Series

XWing and Tie Fighter games


Free Games:

Diaspora

Pioneer

Orbiter

I'm sure you probably meant from a website where you can download the games, but Amazon has it for 10USD. http://www.amazon.com/Freelancer-Jewel-Case-Pc/dp/B000NJFMR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344756354&sr=8-1&keywords=freelancer

I'd definitely recommend it.

You can get it on Amazon, but it's a little expensive. Or you could get lucky in a thrift store, like I did.

/u/Krossfireo is spot on.

A quick search on Amazon came up with a ton of places to get it cheaply. Click here

For mods and anything Freelancer related that isn't a copy of the game itself The Starport is the place to go.

It's a FPS featuring pretty much none of the things you asked for, like 90% of the suggestions in this thread. Think Halo, with a side of Borderlands or Diablo. It looks good, but again, not at all what you asked for.

Sadly, I don't think there are many bigger commercial space games like you described for the 360. It's certainly one of my favorite genres, and if they existed on 360 I'd probably own them. Your best bet there is to look at the indie games and see if anything tickles your fancy.

On the PC, you could look at:

• Starbound has been suggested and is in early Alpha but updates are supposed to be coming Soon^TM (to be fair, the nightlies have been flying out like mad, so updates really are in-progress). This game has a lot of modding support as well, and the developers are very into the community. This game best fits your requirements -- customizable spaceship, upgrades (coming Soon^TM), planets to explore (literally thousands) alien villages, temples, you name it.
  
• The huge but SP only X3: Reunion (but the learning curve is a brick wall with spikes). Mostly in-ship about building a space-trading empire.
  
• You could go old-school and pick up Freelancer, which is pretty fun and probably cheap (but you might need to look a bit), and has a much more flexible learning curve and a dedicated server so you can play with your friends. Unfortunately, your interaction with planets is pretty limited, but the shipfighting is fun as is tinkering with your ships.
  
• Space Engineers features Minecraft-like shipbuilding and is under very active development. This game is my current space-fixation. Just check the sub-reddit to see some of the awesome stuff people have made. This one is more about building ships than exploring, but there are some pretty neat asteroids to poke around in.
  
• Interstellar Rift is a concept but if they can pull it off, it will be right up your alley.
  
  Starbound and Space Engineers have very, very active subreddits (with the developers posting as part of the community in SB) and you can get a feel for them there. There's even a few more for PC to look at that I'm not as familiar with (Evochron Mercenary, Kinetic Void, Blockade Runner, Starmade) that might be what you want.
  
  I wish I could help you find this type of game for the 360 but I'm just not convinced they exist right now. It's a shame that consoles don't get interesting games like these but the genre seems pretty niche right now, so the games are mostly from smaller developers releasing on PC.
  
  Edit: I did think of one console game that fits, but it's for the handheld (DS/3DS). Inifinite Space is probably the most unique handheld game I have played. You determine the layout of your ships by placing the sectors (e.g. where fire control, or the hangar, or the bridge are) and this modifies their stats. You also collect group members and assign them officer roles in your fleet. Again, blows my mind something like this hasn't ended up on the 360. Pick this up if you're looking to scratch the itch while on the go.