It's an elegantly simple and effective control scheme that should both be accessible to simulation neophytes and satisfy fans of traditional space sims. The mouse control lets you direct fire at opponents anywhere in sight instead of merely those in the center of the screen, while simultaneously having your ship strafe, move backward, or charge forward using keyboard controls similar to those used to effect similar commands in most action games. You can opt for either a mouse-look system that steers your ship in whichever direction you move the curser toward or a system that requires you to hold down the left mouse button in order to change your vessel's direction, and you can quickly switch between the two by tapping your keyboard's space bar. Freelancer, on the other hand, was designed with the limitations and advantages of that input device in mind, and as a result its mouse control works efficiently and actually enhances the gameplay. While other space sims have allowed the use of a mouse to emulate a joystick's functions, mouse control in such games was generally a poor alternative. Perhaps in order to appeal to a broader audience than die-hard simulation fans, the game eschews the use of a joystick altogether and instead offers a simplified mouse-and-keyboard interface. One of the most distinctive features of Freelancer is its control scheme. Freelancer has finally arrived, and while it's not the revolutionary title it initially promised to be, it delivers the exact combination of addictive and accessible gameplay that the genre has needed for a long time.
But then Roberts left the project, and gradually several of its more innovative features were scaled down or dropped altogether while its target release date was constantly postponed. In 1999, those concerns were replaced with eager anticipation when Roberts announced that his next game, Freelancer, would be one of the most ambitious space simulations yet. When Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts announced that he was leaving Origin Systems, fans of his games were concerned that he had abandoned the space simulation genre.
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