Best Space Fighter Game?

[Lemon]

I haven't played a space fighter since Colony Wars on the ps1. I'm looking to buy a new game now so does anyone have a recommendation?

Edit: I want it to be on the PC. thanks

[masteraleph]

Space flight sim, you mean?

There haven't been any normal ones in the last few years, really. The only recent one is Freelancer, and to my understanding, you're really not flying the ship, but using your mouse to shoot. Some people liked hit, I hated the idea too much to even try it. However, some of the older ones still have very nice graphics, and can be had for very cheap. Among these are:

Freespace 2
Tachyon: the Fringe
Starlancer
X-wing Alliance

Freespace 2 picks up where Freespace 1 left off- mysterious alien race, trying to destroy humanity, ancient race, yadda yadda, but it's pretty good and has an amazing sense of scale.

Tachyon gives you two main plot paths with some crossover missions. Basically, after the intro missions, you can choose between GalSpan, a megacorporation, and the Bora, a group of space colonists who want to remain independent from the rest of humanity. Has some fun missions and you accumulate money with which you can buy ships and parts.

Starlancer is essentially the Cold War gone Hot, in space. You're fighting for the good guys (Europeans, Americans, Japanese) versus the bad guys (Russians, Chinese, Arabs). Only about 25 missions, but huge ones.

X-wing Alliance is the last in the Xwing series, and has the best graphics. Lots of fun fighter missions, though there are some in a freighter that are pretty annoying.

If you want to get older than that, we get down to:
Freespace (IIRC the full title is Descent: Freespace)
Xwing vs. TIE Fighter/Balance of Power
TIE 95
Xwing 95

Freespace is, obviously, the first in the Freespace series. Graphics aren't as good as in the second, but the plot and game are still quite fun.

XvT and its expansion BoP are ok, but not really good. They lack much single player and do away with atmosphere.

Xwing and TIE 95 are part of a collectors' edition, and have their graphics updated to XvT standards (that's not saying much, seeing as the whole thing was built for Windows 95). They are functional in Win XP with a bit of messing around. TIE Fighter has possibly the single greatest plot in a space sim ever, while Xwing is quite good in its own right. Xwing starts pre-Yavin, and continues to just before Hoth. TIE Fighter starts just after Hoth and continues to just after Endor, though you aren't at the second death star.

[bobgrant]

Well, I have a lot of fond memories of Wing Commander, but technology has probably passed it by. Surprisingly Freelancer was a pretty good game with a huge universe. You could probably pick it up fairly cheap.

[Lemon]

Yes, I mean a Space flight sim.

I am also turned off by not being able to control your ship in Freelancer.

Freespace 2 sounds good. Should I buy the first one before I play the 2nd?

[schultz]

I know they are old, but TIE Fighter and X-Wing are two awesome games! I would recommend them for pretty much the same reasons as masteraleph.

[vrao81]

X-wing and Tie Fighter rock! Two of my all time favorite games. I also really like the Wing Commander series (particular WC3). Also the Independence War games deserve mention.

[Kamakazie]

Freespace 2 is the best space fighter game EVER.

EDIT: Just noticed your post, dont worry about having played the first game, you can just start off with the second one.

[Delphi00]

another vote for freespace2

[RangerBFK]

negative, that would be TIE Fighter

[talldude]

I say get both Freespace and Freespace 2. I thought that both were excellent. The combat is intense, you got missiles flying every which where and it really is a challenge just to survive in some of the missions.

[Delphi00]

finished freespace 1 twice ...nice ending!

First time I saw those huge capital ships...wow *jaw drops*

[talldude]

Originally posted by Delphi00
finished freespace 1 twice ...nice ending!

First time I saw those huge capital ships...wow *jaw drops*

Uhhuh...that was SCARY.


Spoiler WARNING


You can make yourself pretty much invincible though by putting all your power into shÃ*elds

[Azuth]

Definitely X2: The Threat. Beautifull modern graphics and deep open ended gameplay. This is no action shooter. Its more like the Deus Ex of Space Sims. Maybe one part Railroad Tycoon III(another great game), one part Master of Orion, and one part Freelancer or Privateer.

[Recon]

Xwing..

or maybe some of the earlier wing commander games

[ImaNihilist]

FreeSpace. Brings back fond memories. There is a game series, and genre really, I wish would come back to life.