FreeSpace 2 - Big Box PC Game

FreeSpace 2 is a space combat simulation developed by Volition and set thirty-two years after the events of Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War. The year is 2367, and the Terran and Vasudan species have forged an uneasy peace in the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance following their joint war against the terrifying and unknowable alien Shivans. But the Alliance is fracturing: a rogue Terran admiral named Aken Bosch has declared civil war against the Vasudans and formed the Neo-Terran Front, whose rebellion is on the verge of winning. Players step into the cockpit of an unnamed GTVA pilot assigned across multiple fighter squadrons — including the elite 70th Blue Lions — navigating a war that is about to become catastrophically more complicated when a Shivan scouting fleet reappears, and then something far larger and more terrifying emerges behind it. The story unfolds through mission briefings, in-mission events, and pre-rendered cinematic cutscenes with outstanding voice acting, and mission outcomes can alter the plot's direction.

FreeSpace 2 builds on the already acclaimed original in every dimension. Players pilot fighters and bombers across dozens of missions with objectives ranging from escort and defense to deep-strike and recon, configuring their loadout of primary and secondary weapons and managing shields and engine power in real time. The defining leap over the original is scale: capital ships have grown to genuinely gargantuan proportions — dwarfing anything seen in the genre at the time — and they are not set dressing. Equipped with devastating beam cannons that rip ships apart and anti-fighter batteries that fill the space around them with flak, they are fully active participants in every large-scale battle. Several missions take place inside a dense, atmospheric nebula that limits sensor range and radar, creating a paranoid, fog-of-war tension entirely unique to the game. Multiplayer supports up to 12 players via LAN or internet for co-op, team, and free-for-all dogfight modes, and the bundled FRED2 mission editor provides virtually unlimited replayability through custom campaigns.

Developed by Volition and published by Interplay, FreeSpace 2 shipped on September 30, 1999 — one month ahead of schedule — to universal critical acclaim, winning multiple Game of the Year awards and being nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music at the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. GameSpot named it one of the Greatest Games of All Time. Computer and Video Games called it the best dogfighting in any space combat game ever made. It was included in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Despite its accolades, FreeSpace 2 was a commercial failure — Interplay halted Volition's expansion plans and the series went silent. In 2002, Volition released the game's source code, which gave rise to the remarkable FreeSpace Open (FS2Open) community project — still actively maintained today — that has kept the game playable on modern systems with vastly improved graphics. The original big box release is a prized collector's piece representing the commercial peak of the space combat simulation genre.

Language: English
Rating: T (Teen)
Platform: PC (Windows CD-ROM)
Genre: Space Combat Simulation
Players: 1–12 players (single-player campaign / LAN and internet multiplayer)
Developer: Volition
Publisher: Interplay
Release Year: 1999 (September 30, 1999)

Big Box PC release. This is a vintage CD-ROM release. For modern systems, the FreeSpace Open (FS2Open) community project provides a free, actively maintained port with improved graphics and full mod support. Please research compatibility before purchasing.