HELP! Trying to remember an old PC games name

exodus743

Hey everyone I am trying to remember an old pc games name so I can play it and it is driving me nuts. I was playing it in the late 90s with a friend. It was a space game in which you controlled a star ship and flew around a huge universe just randomly going to planets and other space stations you could trade with and buy new weapons shields ect. You would fight lots of different random ships and could even take over the other ships once you damaged them enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hevach

Freelancer? I think X: Beyond the Frontier was 2000 or 2001, but has some similarities.
Edit: Freelancer wasn't 90's on further consideration. Google tells me X was 1999 with various special editions in 2000 and 2001. Wing Commander: Privateer was very similar, that was 1993.

Aioua

Can you describe the interface? Was it mostly menus with like a galaxy map, the inside of your ships cockpit, 2D, 3D?

exodus743

No inside of the ship just outside looking down on the ship kind of like a command and conquer view angle. not really galaxy maps you flew around to different solar systems I think you might have been able to go to warp to get to another solar system by map view though. It would have been in the 95-01 era most likely

exodus743

Its neither Freelancer or X: Beyond the Frontier but thanks for the quick response!

wonderpug

exodus743 wrote: »

No inside of the ship just outside looking down on the ship kind of like a command and conquer view angle.

Escape Velocity?

Screenshot:

exodus743

Escape Velocity was correct! now that I have started playing it . It really is not as great as I can remember can someone recommend a newer game that runs along similar aspects of Escape Velocity just better graphics?

Hevach

I don't know of any more recent ones with the top down view. All the ones I listed (and two sequels to X) have the same basic premises with varying ranges of combat/trade balance, but with various 1st person and chase views. X3 is the most recent game of the type I'm aware of getting good reviews. Been a long time since I played it, but it does have a system where you can command multiple ships and give them various AI programs, like automatically going off by themselves and trading or escorting yourself or your automated freighters. Some people put enough time into it to build galaxy crushing empires, but my personal attempts to control even a single star system proved to be extravagant wastes of resources.

The Ender

I can recommend X3. Beware of the bugginess, though, and watch some YouTube tutorials instead of using the in-game tutorials, because the in-game tutorials are horrific.

Freelancer is supposed to be almost without peer in the whole 'explore space, do whatever the fuck you want, upgrade your space mans' genre, but I've never played it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCCWCOsSBn4

This is a pretty great Getting Started series for X3. It should give you an idea if it's up your alley or not.

EDIT:

A better series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p73C60btBi8

Nova_C

I could never really play X3. Gave it a go, but, well, just couldn't.

Freelancer is aging, in fact, it's in senior citizen territory now, but I still haven't run across a space sim since that came close for sheer engagement. A couple parts of it were infuriating (Chris Roberts and his goddamn pirates!), but it was a stellar game with a hell of a finale for the story.

MegaMek

For a more recent game with the top-down angle, Space Pirates and Zombies (SPAZ) might be a good fit. It's pretty fun, and it's on Steam for like $10 I think.

wonderpug

SPAZ is a good idea. Also look into Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, FTL (Faster than Light), Space Rangers 2, Drox Operative, and Starfarer (in development)

Space Rangers 2 is probably the closest to what you're looking for. I highly recommend it. Just disable the optional real-time-strategy ground missions, which I found lacking.

Sir Carcass

wonderpug wrote: »

SPAZ is a good idea. Also look into Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, FTL (Faster than Light), Space Rangers 2, Drox Operative, and Starfarer (in development)

Space Rangers 2 is probably the closest to what you're looking for. I highly recommend it. Just disable the optional real-time-strategy ground missions, which I found lacking.

And get the Reboot version.

wonderpug

What does the reboot add?