Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War
A space combat sim featuring large capital ships and competent AI wingmen.
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War, released in Europe as Conflict: FreeSpace – The Great War, is a 1998 space combat simulation for IBM PC compatibles developed by Volition and published by Interplay Productions. It was ported to the Amiga in 2001 by Hyperion Entertainment as FreeSpace: The Great War. The game places the player as a human pilot fighting in starfighters against human and alien foes in space environments, with a single-player campaign centered on a 24th-century war interrupted by a genocidal alien race.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Volition; Hyperion Entertainment (Amiga version)
- Publisher
- Interplay Productions; Haage & Partner (Amiga version)
- Designer
- Adam Pletcher
- Composer
- Dan Wentz
- Genre
- Space combat simulator
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, Amiga
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The game offers two modes: a single-player campaign and multiplayer matches. Its main menu is designed as the interior of a ship's quarterdeck, with doors leading to options such as starting a new game, configuring settings, reviewing craft and story elements, and replaying completed missions. Players control their craft via joystick or keyboard, optionally with a mouse, and primarily view the environment from a first-person cockpit perspective. Additional third-person viewpoints are available, but the head-up display (HUD) is only visible from the primary view and can be customized with different colors. The control scheme is flexible enough that some categorize the game as a flight simulator, though its flight model is simple and incorporates elements of Newtonian physics, such as precise collision physics. The HUD provides information on the craft's shields, energy for primary weapons and afterburners (both recharge over time), sub-system management, and weapon selection. It also shows damage to the player's craft and sub-systems (the latter repair over time unless destroyed), targeted allied and hostile craft details in the lower-left corner (including condition, sub-system status, speed, and distance), a missile warning system, and an in-game radar tracking nearby craft (green for allies, red for enemies, blue for those entering or leaving). In single-player missions, the HUD displays the condition of wingmen via a circle that darkens on critical damage and becomes an outline when a wingman departs or is killed, along with an escort list tracking notable vessels and their hull integrity.
Plot
The game is set in the 24th century, where humanity has achieved interstellar travel through subspace jump nodes functioning like wormholes, enabling colonization of new worlds. Humanity, called Terrans, formed the Galactic Terran Alliance (GTA) as their central government and military, and became engaged in a war over systems and resources against the Vasudans of the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire (PVE). When the story begins, this war has lasted fourteen years, and a third species, the Shivans, makes an unprovoked attack on the Terran system of Ross 128. The player, a new Terran pilot in the GTA, initially fights the PVE before the conflict shifts to the Shivans' assaults. Vasudans are carbon-based bipeds, taller than humans, with a durable biological system and skeletal appearance. Shivans appear insect-like, with multiple legs and eyes, capable of walking on walls and ceilings. A fourth race, the Ancients, is referenced but not shown; they lived thousands of years ago and held an empire in the systems now controlled by Vasudans and Terrans before being driven to extinction by the Shivans. Each race's ships have distinctive appearances and are named after aspects of Earth's history, religious text, and mythologies: Terran craft are plain and practical, named after figures in Greek, Norse, and religious mythology; Vasudan craft are artistic with sleek lines, named after ancient Egyptian myths and locations; Shivan ships are pointy and asymmetrical in black and red, named after fictional reptilian species, demons, and religious figures.
Development
FreeSpace was the debut project of Volition after the studio split from Parallax Software, a breakup that also created Outrage Entertainment. Despite its title, the game has no connection to the Descent series' storyline and borrows none of its concepts; only a few lines of Descent's code were reused for specific functions. The "Descent" prefix was attached solely to sidestep trademark conflicts with Mijenix Corporation, which owned the name "FreeSpace" for a disk compression tool. Within the game, Volition originally used "FreeSpace" to refer to what would later be called subspace. Adam Pletcher conceived the game by gathering every feature from space simulators that his team enjoyed. The flight model drew heavily from TIE Fighter and Wing Commander, as well as the tactics of World War II dogfights. The narrative and setting were shaped by themes from Star Wars, Space: Above and Beyond, and Ender's Game. Large-scale, chaotic fleet engagements typical of science fiction anime became a hallmark of the experience. Development started with five people and eventually expanded to seventeen. The code was written from scratch, with most modules tightly interconnected, which raised the project's complexity. Mike Kulas, who had worked on multiple versions of Flight Simulator and Descent, applied his expertise to the artificial intelligence. Difficulty levels ramp up by improving enemy AI behavior rather than boosting damage or hit points. Physics were designed with some realism: a hit on a specific part of a starfighter causes it to spin accordingly, unlike simpler sphere-based collision that just pushes the craft. Budget and time constraints forced the removal of many planned cutscenes and storylines, including a campaign branch where the Terran-Vasudan alliance retreats and scenes depicting racial tension within the alliance. A promised multiplayer deathmatch mode was also cut. The expansion Silent Threat faced similar cuts for the same reasons.
Reception
PC Data reported that Descent: FreeSpace earned nearly $4 million and sold around 100,000 copies in the United States by October 1999. Next Generation reviewed the PC version, rating it four stars out of five, stating that despite minor lapses it is a keeper and takes the space-combat simulation genre one step further, though it is too similar to other space sims in controls to be revolutionary. The game received generally good reviews after launch, with PC Gamer UK placing it 20th in its 1999 Top 100 Awards. Reviewers were split on several aspects. Many praised the graphics, with some approving of how well an in-game asteroid stood out against softly glowing nebulae, galaxies, and stars, while others felt the 3D effects were not spectacular compared to the software rendered version, commenting that rendered nebulae were unconvincing and ship models lacked detail with blurry textures. All reviewers unanimously agreed that the explosion effects, including small details of capital ships breaking up, were the most impressive they had seen at the time. Other splits involved comparisons to Wing Commander: Prophecy and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter; some felt the game combined elements of both with better qualities and a strong story, while others thought it offered little original ideas, lacked depth in story, and suggested the player could have had a greater role in the outcome, with some describing it as a very sweet looking arcade title with considerable detachment. Despite splits, many felt the AI was well designed, with wingmen performing orders without issues and enemy vessels acting in concert. One reviewer was dismayed that the screen size was fixed and could not be changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What platforms is Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War available on?
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War was released for Microsoft Windows and Amiga.
Who composed the music for Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War?
The music for Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War was composed by Dan Wentz.
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