Space/Flight Combat Recommendations

[an874]

I was playing the space combat level in Halo Reach, and I was wondering if there were other good games I could try that are just that sort of game-play. Can anyone recommend good games that are based around flight or space combat outside of HAWX or Ace Combat? I know I've severely narrowed down a list that's already pretty small but any ideas you have would be of interest.

 

[klipton]

Freespace 2

 

[Lawyer105]

There's a bunch of really old games that meet the criteria, but it's a dying genre unfortunately. The best space combat I've ever had was in Star Wars: Galaxies. Always wanted to fly a Tie Fighter!

 

[SimuLord]

Battlecruiser 3000 is worth playing just to see what happens when a developer's ego gets in the way of game development. Hell of a cautionary tale, and its pure wretchedness will make you appreciate the good games that much more.

 

[The Madman]

Freespace 2

This, pretty much the best space sim ever made if that's what you're looking for. Cheaply available and with a plethora of mods which bring the games visuals into the modern age. Hard to believe the games over ten years old now.

 

[octafish]

Freespace 2

I saw this topic with 6 posts and I knew at least one of them would say Freespace 2. Thanks for not letting me down guys.

Starlancer is pretty good if you don't expect much from your wingmen. Freespace 2 is of course available at GOG and can run on Linux or Windows.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

Unfortunately, most of the Space Combat games are on the PC, but if you're looking for one on the consoles then I would try out Project Sylpheed. Yes, the plot and acting is a little wacky and very anime like, but the game play is very enjoyable. There's a nice upgrading system that lets you more and more weapons for use in the campaign too. There's nothing quite as satisfying as launching 20 or 30 missiles at once and watching them track down half a dozen enemies. Well, except for maybe blowing a huge carrier out of the sky with a torpedo.

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

try freelancer, large world, gripping combat and a decent story all in one package, another space combat game title definately worth playing is descent, its 6 degrees of movement mechanic will spoil you for quite a bit

flight sim wise, if you want something not arcade-ish (like ace combat or hawx) then look no further than Lock On: Modern Air Combat, its like microsoft flight simulator but with F-15's, A-10's and Su-27's (be forewarned you WILL need a decent joystick for it, theres also a spinoff title that focused entirely on flying the Ka-50, and is insanely challenging)

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

For old games you're going to want to look at the X-Wing/TIE-Fighter series, the latest of which (X-Wing vs TIE Fighter) was brought out in the late 90s. On a similar note, the space combat sections in Star Wars Battefront 2 are exactly like the space combat in Reach - so much so that my first thought when playing Long Night of Solace was "Bloody hell, this is just like SW:BF2!". I believe even the controls are the same.