Anyone played the new Microsoft game, (url="http://"http://www.microsoft.com/games/freelancer/")Freelancer?(/url)
In it, you play a guy who flies around in a very open-ended galaxy with multiple star systems, with multiple planets and stations in each one, and lots of computer AI ships flying around. There are merchant houses, freighters, pirates, Navy ships, police, etc. Some try to hunt you down and disable/destroy your ship to get your cargo, others scan you or want to trade with you.
Each planet/station has some or all of certain things: a shipyard, a ship outfitter, a commodity trader, and a bar - where you can get missions and advance the story by meeting NPCs in the bar. Ships can be upgraded, either by buying a new ship or by buying new equipment for it, including shields, thrusters, guns, turrets, torpedos, mines, flares, etc. You can't actually walk around on stations or planets - rather, it's a sort of 'click on a menu item' to go to one of the locations. There's also a news viewer, available in the bar, that tells you happenings throughout the galaxy.
There are also systems with sensor interference, asteroid belts (with asteroids you can destroy to pick up goods), etc.
Additionally, if you start attacking one 'faction', it will get pissed at you and so will its allies, giving you a 'criminal rating' with them... however its enemies will be pleased with you and improve your rating with them.
Now, where have I seen all this before?
Only real differences that I see are that Freelancer is full 3D, not top-down; no beam weapons; no taking over of other ships or bases; and the missions all fall into the 'destroy other ships/stations' category, no 'ferry passengers'.
Is this a licensed thing by Ambrosia, or is there a little bit of copyright infringement here? It's really so close as to be immediately obvious to anyone who has played EV.
-T
