#3
Change YoY: = My Rating: 9.8 / 10
I've always been more of a console player than a PC one, but there have always been certain games and genres that have drawn me to playing on PC. Whether it was various real-time strategy games, tactical strategy games or, as in the case of this game, space combat sims, certain genres are just inherently better on PC. At the top of my list of great PC games sits Freespace 2, one of the first games that ever made me truly notice the importance of great storytelling in video games. Not that the rest of the game is any less excellent, but there was just something about the constant feeling of uncertainty that this game instilled on you during its various missions that made me take notice. Whatever the mission briefing may have said about your tasks or goals, there was always the sense that everything could change in an instant. You just could never be sure.
Whether it was a new enemy appearing to disrupt the mission, an unexpected discovery in uncharted space, or a call to immediately return from the mission due to something happening elsewhere in the galaxy, you were always kept guessing as to what exactly might happen next. It's just a shame that the cliffhanger that the story ends in has never, and probably will never, be resolved. While the main storyline of the game was concluded, the overarching story that had begun with the first game and continued here never received a proper ending. As a result, there are several mysteries surrounding the game's antagonists, for example, which will likely remain as ones for good.
The rest of the game is just as great, from its gameplay to its music, even after nearly 25 years since its release I can easily go back and replay it. The one aspect that hasn't held up, the graphics, have been vastly improved by fan-created mods, as the game's original source code was released by the developer for everyone to use in 2002. Freespace 2 is a masterpiece, the best game of its genre I've ever played, and probably the one unresolved video game narrative I would want to see concluded more than any other.
