Clearly one of the best space sims of all time. A true competitor to the throne of best space sim of all times.
I've reached my 30s and still remember the old days of Wing Commander, which I played from I to V with all special missions. I had never until now found anything close to the WC series when it comes to creating a rich and involving plot with perfect gameplay. Freespace overcomes WC by inhering all the good elements while getting rid of the annoyances.
When Descent Freespace launched in 1998 I didn't pay attention to the launch because I though it was a sequel to the original Descent, which is not my kind of game. Only recently, 8 years afterwards, I've come to realize that Descent Freespace was actually a highly praised space sim.
I then played Freespace 1 (The Great War), which is great by itself, but I really played it in order to follow the plot that leads into Freespace 2. Freespace 1 is very nice and still highly recommended but Freespace 2 is the one that really shines. Whereas 1 looks rather outdated by today's graphics standards, 2 looks reasonably updated even today. The game shines in all relevant aspects of the genre, including a rich, deep and consistent storyline with a great plot, fantastic voice acting, great ship and weapon designs, near scientific ship and weapon descriptions, articulate dialogs, and of course, excellent graphics, sound effects, physics and overall gameplay. Missions are particularly well conceived and perfectly adeheres to the main plot.
Of special remark are the capital ships action throughout the missions, which makes simply standing by and watching the scene evolve a particular enjoyment in its own.
Highly recommended for anyone that appreciates the genre or anyone that appreciates a game built to perfection with excellency in every detail.