The Escape Velocity games seem to well regarded.

Going to be interesting to see what Roberts is upto, I don't think it will be a Wing commander game as he has said that he dose not have the rights to the IP as EA has them, not sure if he still has the freelancer one?.

Escape Velocity is a game I have always been meaning to try, perhaps I will one of these days. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//nyam.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':nyam:' />

As for what Chris Roberts is upto, time will tell. One thing to think about though, Didn't Freelancer II have a working engine but the game itself was never finished? know there was Tech Demo vids on You Tube.....

Perhaps Chris is finally going to bring the game back to life? I do hope so! <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//nyam.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':nyam:' />

I have never played Escape Velocity either and usually its just been because of price, I do see that there is a huge amount of mods for that game. Maybe eventually we might see it on GOG. I hope the next roberts game is a 3D game, because why not? The graphics than can be created today is really amazing and would love to see what the devs could come up with.

It might seem like $30 is a lot for a decade old 2D space sim, but actually you get 3 games in the bundle, so to say. You can easily turn EVN into EV and EVO and these are really great games.

I agree with you that the next game by Chris Roberts should be a 3D game, what I meant is that back in the 90's EV and EVO managed to get some things right, things that were missing in some of the major space sim titles of the last decade. EV and EVO brought dynamic economy without turning it into the basis of the game (as X series seem to do), dynamic universe where your actions can bring about small things, like turning an uninhabited planet into a galactic ski resort, or can have major impact on the balance of power in the galaxy. It would be great to see things like this again, and this new game Chris Roberts works on is definitely a reason to hope for this to happen. In any case, EV and EVO are still great games to play. And ten bucks for each EV game is just right.

I only ever played Escape Velocity Nova, and it ranks among the top of the Space Sim genre. The atmosphere was second to none. Which is funny, considering all the missions where just text. Really great game. I joined the Wild Geese in one game, the Federation in another, and most recently the Polaris. The combat is pretty fun, and the trading is more then managable. Overall a criminally overlooked gem.

These were the games that really got me into space sims and even now I occasionally fire up EVN (its been over 10 years since I owned a mac so I can only play the first two games through the plug-ins for Nova). In many ways none of the 3d Space Sims released  before or since then have satisfied me as well as those old classics, the way you can fly around the large universe ignoring the plot (multiple plots in later games)trying to earn credits by trading or by pirating or pirate hunting, buy one of a wide variety of ships suited to different tasks (for example there were fast trading ships like the courier or clipper able to make hyperspace jumps in a shorter time, which could make money on small amounts of valuble cargo and urgent delivery missions, or large freighters which were usually poorly armed and slow, fighters, mid range corvettes or huge cruisers with fighter complements and tons of armaments which cost the earth or required you to reach a high rank in the faction who built them) and then you customise them by adding the outfits you want (after scouring the galaxy trying to find them in some cases, or completing special missions to get a prototype device of some sort) trying to balance the mass limit of your ship, brilliant stuff.

IronHound, I think its because the missions were mostly just text that they could put such character and variety in them, how many space sims let you transport a group of yuppie would be hunters on a big game hunt on an alien world, join in and earn a special title, or let you play roadie to an international rock band who turn out to be lip syncing androids, and that's before you even look at the mods.