Heh, Freelancer (the sequel to Starlancer) by Microsoft is like the dumb down and very fixed feeling of Wing Commander: Privateer. I played it and felt disappointed even if it had nice graphics.
Privateer was about doing anything you want practically... Buy any arrangement of armament and sensory. There were 3 different ships that you could buy. There was many zones with asteroids to go through and you could technically fly off in one direction for an infinte time. It was and still is the best free range Flight Sim game.
The best thing was there was a machine (kinda looks like an ATM) where you could pick up basic missions from which 6 were randomly made for you. You could keep playing small missions for as long as you wanted to play the game since the game didn't end when you finished the main story line.
... If you got tired of this you could always make a living out of running products from one world to another and try to fight off pirates and sneak contraband past police.
Now this was a great game. It also sported voicing for all the characters that they had you talk to (Bartenders (male and female versions), special characters, yourself, ship dealer) Also there were some specialized worlds that were like Enterainment worlds and well it just is all about exploring. The basis of a good game
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