What game should a fan of Frontier Elite 2 play today?
October 24, 2010 2:45 AM Subscribe
Help me find an up to date replacement for Frontier Elite II.
It's a game I used to play endlessly in my youth on the Amiga, and I've recently developed an unexplained urge to play it again. Only in super-lovely graphics mode. I've had a look around and EVE seems to fit the bill, but I don't know how often I will be online. I do have access to the internet through a tethered iPhone, though with a limit of 3Gb per month and horrendous penalties for going over that. Ideally therefore the game should not require you to spend any large period of time online, if at all.
It's a game I used to play endlessly in my youth on the Amiga, and I've recently developed an unexplained urge to play it again. Only in super-lovely graphics mode. I've had a look around and EVE seems to fit the bill, but I don't know how often I will be online. I do have access to the internet through a tethered iPhone, though with a limit of 3Gb per month and horrendous penalties for going over that. Ideally therefore the game should not require you to spend any large period of time online, if at all.
There's a rather exhaustive list here.
Anecdotally, I can say that X3 is tremendously big but quite hardcore, Freelancer is lighter but quite good fun, Hardwar was excellent at the time, but may have dated, and Escape Velocity Nova is great, but is a very different style of game.
posted by Magnakai at 3:12 AM on October 24, 2010
Anecdotally, I can say that X3 is tremendously big but quite hardcore, Freelancer is lighter but quite good fun, Hardwar was excellent at the time, but may have dated, and Escape Velocity Nova is great, but is a very different style of game.
posted by Magnakai at 3:12 AM on October 24, 2010
Oh, and I don't think Eve is what you're looking for.
posted by Magnakai at 3:13 AM on October 24, 2010
posted by Magnakai at 3:13 AM on October 24, 2010
Oolite's horribly, horribly addictive, much like the original. No network access required.
The stock graphics aren't that great though, there's a YouTube movie here that'll give you a demo, or else look at the gallery shots in the link above.
However, there are tons of expansion packs (called OXPs) that add features, missions and ambience (textures and sfx). One of them is a high res. add-on called Famous Planets that might give you what you want. Demo here.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 3:52 AM on October 24, 2010
The stock graphics aren't that great though, there's a YouTube movie here that'll give you a demo, or else look at the gallery shots in the link above.
However, there are tons of expansion packs (called OXPs) that add features, missions and ambience (textures and sfx). One of them is a high res. add-on called Famous Planets that might give you what you want. Demo here.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 3:52 AM on October 24, 2010
I've been looking for a visually beautiful Elite clone for years now (I first purchased the original Elite circa '86 and fell in love). There's always Privateer, which is an awesome spiritual successor to Elite, but the visuals are still stuck in the early 90s.
As mentioned, Oolite is the open source version of Elite, but it is lacking in the stunning graphics department. Freelancer would be the closest thing - it's really great and fun, but I HATED the fact that Microsoft had no joystick support for the game (which is half the fun of playing a space sim!).
If only we could drop the Freespace 2 engine into Elite; it would be the perfect game!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:50 AM on October 24, 2010
As mentioned, Oolite is the open source version of Elite, but it is lacking in the stunning graphics department. Freelancer would be the closest thing - it's really great and fun, but I HATED the fact that Microsoft had no joystick support for the game (which is half the fun of playing a space sim!).
If only we could drop the Freespace 2 engine into Elite; it would be the perfect game!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:50 AM on October 24, 2010
There's an open-source game called Vega Strike that aims to replicate Elite-style gameplay. It's currently in that sort of semi-dormant, slipping-further-behind-current-generation-graphics-every-day mode, but it might scratch your itch.
posted by Alterscape at 8:01 AM on October 24, 2010
posted by Alterscape at 8:01 AM on October 24, 2010
(Oh, and on lack-of-preview, there's a Privateer remake or two for the Vega Strike engine which improve the visual experience immensely over the original game).
posted by Alterscape at 8:15 AM on October 24, 2010
posted by Alterscape at 8:15 AM on October 24, 2010
It's worth noting that Oolite is a remake of Elite 1. (The name means Object Oriented Elite.) The physics and gameplay of Elite 1 and Elite 2 are very different.
posted by Mwongozi at 10:52 AM on October 24, 2010
posted by Mwongozi at 10:52 AM on October 24, 2010
Not sure if it'll scratch your itch (and it may be just a bit dated) but I seem to recall having a lot of fun playing the Secret Operations games set in the Wing Commander universe. They're available for free online along with tips on how to run them on modern hardware.
posted by JaredSeth at 2:50 PM on October 24, 2010
posted by JaredSeth at 2:50 PM on October 24, 2010
Response by poster: I've come across a game called Galaxy on Fire 2 for the iPod/iPhone etc... sort of fits the bill if anyone is still looking.
posted by Biru at 3:37 AM on November 7, 2010
posted by Biru at 3:37 AM on November 7, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lollusc at 3:08 AM on October 24, 2010