Essential Space games

[Dedicated_Dark]

Posting here cause Space thread has like 4 people in it.

I finally decided to buy myself a flight stick or as the hippies call it, joystick.
Now start listing out all the must play space games so I can milk the shit out of this thing.

Here are mine so far:

Also Wing Commander 3 but I don't like live-action cutscenes or the cover art.

X-series, all their cover art sucks.

Now list people.

Edit: Due to popular opionion, Freelance has been downgraded to non essential.

Not ESSENTIAL:

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i play and mostly love all the space games i can find. freelancer is oh so goddamn fucking overrated it's beyond reason. it has no real economy, a stupid plot, a pretty retarded environment, a ridiculous flight system and everything is gated behind not only plot but levels too. with the computer's inability to dodge all the weapons are the same, and all the ships are only more powerful versions of just three different ships, one of whose is completely useless to the game's aim.
on top of this, the mod which should revolutionize and improve everything is just masochistic work, with fights which could take from 5-10 minutes to the infinite and beyond because the enemy has endless repair items and takes pitiful damage.

 

[J_C]

Huge brofist for adding Freespace 1 and 2. They are so good, it is beyond comprehension. Those mission briefings make the struggle in the war so desperate.

I also loved X-Wing Alliance a lot, so that is essential in my eye. Many people prefer the original X-wing and Tie-fighter games, but I think they are quite unfair in their mission design, so would rather stick to Alliance.

 

[Jacob]

Anyone knows if I need anything to run "Hardwar" on Win10? The ISO I downloaded from a certain abandonware website only installs about 30MB of data.

i play and mostly love all the space games i can find. freelancer is oh so goddamn fucking overrated it's beyond reason. it has no real economy, a stupid plot, a pretty retarded environment, a ridiculous flight system and everything is gated behind not only plot but levels too. with the computer's inability to dodge all the weapons are the same, and all the ships are only more powerful versions of just three different ships, one of whose is completely useless to the game's aim.
on top of this, the mod which should revolutionize and improve everything is just masochistic work, with fights which could take from 5-10 minutes to the infinite and beyond because the enemy has endless repair items and takes pitiful damage.

That game is an embarrassment, the control doesn't feel like a spaceship or a plane at all. Probably After Burner feels more realistic compared to it.

 

[Alfgart]

AFAIK Freespace 2 is still the best space shooter game evar

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

i play and mostly love all the space games i can find. freelancer is oh so goddamn fucking overrated it's beyond reason. it has... ..

Agreed on everything. But it's probably the most cinematic and accessible space combat game out there. So it's understandable mainstream audience will rate it highly. Because as it is, there is still no alternative to Freelancer.

I also loved X-Wing Alliance a lot, so that is essential in my eye. Many people prefer the original X-wing and Tie-fighter games, but I think they are quite unfair in their mission design, so would rather stick to Alliance.

Not a fan of the movies, but most of the star wars games I've played were exceptional, from my understanding X-wing games tie themselves too much to the events in the movies. Regardless I suppose I should try them if they are good games.

 

[warpig]

> Lucasarts games (Tie Fighter is imo the best but all are worth playing) games are really good, my favourite games in the "dogfighting in space" genre along with Freespace even though I'm not a big fan of the SW setting. I really liked Wing Commander and Privateer games when I was a kid but imo the gameplay didn't age too well (maybe except for Prophecy but idk, last time I played it was long time ago), cool story and cinematics though.

> Independence War and it's sequel Edge of Chaos are very good and more realistic than the Freespace style games.

> Klingon Academy, dogfighting with big ships, very cool from what I recall. And has a really kick ass soundtrack. Too bad it's a bitch to run on modern systems.

From more modern titles I liked Strike Suit Zero but it's more of an simple arcade shooter (your spaceshp can turn into a mech XD) with some influences from the classic games. Maybe House of The Dying Sun is worth mentioning. I don't think it's a very good game, it's very short and the missions are kind of similar to each other (built on the same premise of destroying certain targets in limited time) but I really like the core flight and combat mechanics. I like that it does it's own thing in this aspect instead of being just a clone of FS or Wing Commader. If it had a proper campaing and better, varied mission design it could be up there with the classics.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i play and mostly love all the space games i can find. freelancer is oh so goddamn fucking overrated it's beyond reason. it has... ..

Agreed on everything. But it's probably the most cinematic and accessible space combat game out there. So it's understandable mainstream audience will rate it highly. Because as it is, there is still no alternative to Freelancer.
.

thus let's vote "being kicked in the balls" as the best experience ever because it's intense, personal and there is still no alternative to such suffering.
nigga please.

 

[dbx]

Frontier: Elite II, Freespace2, IWar and Kerbal Space Program it's all people need.
Best sandbox, best pew pew evar, best semirealistic pew pew, best semirealistic space dynamics.

 

[Astral Rag]

Elite Dangerous

 

[Blaine]

Freelancer doesn't belong on that list. Similar to Firefly (the TV show), it's useful only as litmus paper for retards: If someone likes it, you can be sure they're a retard.

Anyway, you guys forgot the Escape Velocity series. There's even an excellent, and completely open-source/free spiritual sequel available on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/404410/Endless_Sky/

It's a bit quirky and there's only one quest line at the moment, but it's a long, satisfying quest line with some C&C, and there are numerous hidden side missions to discover and solve. Mechanically, scratches all the same itches as EV and then some, while still being very much its own game. Fantastic exploration element.

 

[Ibbz]

Privateer 1 & the expansion are worth a go - also Starlancer (prequel to Freelancer) seemed enjoyable many years ago, although I only played the demo - it was much closer to Freespace / Wing Commanders in gameplay than Freelancer was.

 

[markec]

Tachyon: The Fringe is a great fun and has Bruce Campbell giving voice to main character.

 

[JDR13]

Now list people.

I'm not sure what's left to list. It's not as if the genre has a plethora of great titles, and you listed most of them in the first post.

 

[Blaine]

Well, you know, the Space Quest games technically take place in outer space....

Here's an actual, fully realistic space combat sim that some Codexers swear by, haven't tried it yet myself but looks gud: https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/

Here's a new one that I own, but haven't yet played past a few minutes to make sure it runs nicely (and also to get the hang of docking alignment): http://www.helium-rain.com/

 

[Shackleton]

I've not heard that much about it, but the bloke who made the Wing Commander series is apparently making a new game and everyone says it's going to be really good. You can even contribute some money for it now so it gets made even better! Honestly, it looks like it's going to be the best space game ever!!!1

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen

 

[DraQ]

Well, you know, the Space Quest games technically take place in outer space....

Here's an actual, fully realistic space combat sim that some Codexers swear by, haven't tried it yet myself but looks gud: https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/

You won't get to use the stick in either, though.

 

[Neanderthal]

Marsport.

 

[Temenos]

FreeSpace 2 without a doubt gets the brofist (and an honorary mention to FreeSpace 1).

In fact, I give it double brofists for the fact that because it was open sourced years ago, we have the "FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project" which has allowed it to not only work properly on modern systems (including others it wasn't designed for such as Linux), but has allowed the user-made mission scene to thrive in a way that I've not seen many others space games do so. Hell I just started a Blue Planet playthrough for the first time recently and that rivals a lot of commercial games I've played.

 

[yellowcake]

Anyone here remembers his playthrough of first I-War or can point to a walkthrough strategy guide on the webz? I really wanted to get into it a few years ago, to the point of building a period correct PC with a voodoo3 card but got my ass pounded repeatedly in an early mission with infinitely spawning fighter craft giving me a hard time.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS

SPACE RANGERS TWO
STARFLIGHT
STAR CONTROL TWO

I GOT HARDWAR WORKING ONE I THUNK I USED DOSBOX

 

[Alpan]

Freespace 2 is not just the best space game, but one of the best games ever. Years before something like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty even existed with their splashy campaigns, FS1 and FS2 had the tension and dramatic missions exactly right, and the developers understood that the scale of the ships was enough to ensure a cinematic look in space.

Freelancer doesn't belong on that list. Similar to Firefly (the TV show), it's useful only as litmus paper for retards: If someone likes it, you can be sure they're a retard.

I expected the usual Codex edginess from some replies in the thread -- but not from you, who made the thread for and spent a lot of time hyping Limit Theory in the 'dex.

It's still not too late not to be an idiot like the rest. Freelancer is indeed a project of failed ambitions -- but at least it exists. More than 15 years after its release there is nothing that scratches the same itch. If there is -- point me to it.

 

[octavius]

, the game of a lifetime.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Freespace 2 is not just the best space game, but one of the best games ever. Years before something like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty even existed with their splashy campaigns, FS1 and FS2 had the tension and dramatic missions exactly right, and the developers understood that the scale of the ships was enough to ensure a cinematic look in space.

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

 

[J_C]

Freespace 2 is not just the best space game, but one of the best games ever. Years before something like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty even existed with their splashy campaigns, FS1 and FS2 had the tension and dramatic missions exactly right, and the developers understood that the scale of the ships was enough to ensure a cinematic look in space.

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

Never forget. Did anyone survive that collision for the very first time, I wonder?
I was just sitting there, thinking, stop shouting at me you silly wingman. I will dive when I want-OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT HUGE SHIP DOING HERE!!!!