I agree people are selling Freelancer short. Imo it was a great game, I havent played a space game yet with a better immersion factor. All the radio docking talk, random inspections, etc. really made the area around you seem alive.
As for combat being easy, I think its funny that almost every example is from people who got the best ships and guns then call it easy. Its not as easy if you dont know what to buy and dont read every guide to min max everything to make it easy. Freelancer has the most intense combat in any space game I've played. I'm not talking this lame point and click stuff that most space sims are, I'm talking dogfights in space where your going to have people on your tail, put your brakes on then be on their tail trying to get them in your cursor, then your both cutting left and right, it just feels more like a dogfight in a ship.
Also the graphics were great. I'm running X3 right now on a brand new computer because my old one couldnt run it playable with its Ti500 video card. Even then my brand new $2000 computer with 7800GT cant even run X3 without it being a bit choppy also. I read all this hype about X3's graphics, I start playing it and I swear the visuals arent better than Freelancers, definitely overexxagerated. I'm amazed that Freelancer was so smooth on my old computer from about 3 years ago and its visuals are arguably better than X3's.
One last thing is mouse and keyboard for Freelancer was simple, if you ever played any PC fps before it should've been natural. I think the only ones that could've possibly had a problem with the controls probably have a problem with PC controls altogether.
I LOVED Freelancer, my biggest complaint however was it is pretty shallow after you've played it long enough. The trading, combat, and general scope of how much you can accomplish is very limited for this type of game. I like being able to accumulate or build on a mass scale in open ended games, and Freelancer just limits you because it doesnt have the depth it could. I wish they did an expansion to Freelancer since it could've turned space games more mainstream, as of now their all niche, and carried by a repetetive sim formula that the purists try to preach as a must for all space games
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
The mods may offer different skins and content to a degree, I think an expansion could've offered a better storyline, more unique anamolies to the universe, scripts, etc. The mods for Freelancer just dont give it the depth I wish and think it could have.
If you've never played Freelancer i'd strongly reccomend it.