New Hardware Rave: Freespace 2 Looks F%#*ing AMAZING!

So a couple of nights ago, I went through the familiar steps of manually adding the Freespace Source Code Project files to my GOG copy of Freespace 2. This time, however, I added all the extra high-resolution stuff from the MediaVPs (i.e. all the optional stuff) because I figured my new rig could run it (my last one totally choked when I added all the optional MediaVPs). Once it was all said and done, I ran the launcher and set up everything as ordered (as well as adding Spidey’s lighting settings) and ran the game at maximum resolution with everything set as high as possible for my first time ever. What resulted was nothing short of breathtaking.

Now I’ve played Freespace 2 several times, both the vanilla and SCP versions, but I’ve never been able to crank everything up to full until now. I was just literally BLOWN AWAY by how good everything looked, especially for a 13 year old game. Ship models looked fantastic, the backgrounds looked even more vivid, and the explosions…oh god the explosions…

When a ship exploded, the fire looked like LIQUID bubbling in space, and each piece of debris had its own bit of fire that went along with it. It made for some AMAZING spectacles of destruction. The shockwaves (using the 3D shockwaves option in the launcher) looked absolutely ASTOUNDING. I’ve been playing this game for years, and I have never seen it look this good. It could easily give modern games a run for their money.

But don’t just take my word for it, check out the screenshots below. If you’ve not installed the SCP because of the time it takes (and it does take a little bit of time to download and copy everything over), then you’ve been completely missing out. And heck, if you’ve not played Freespace 2, hopefully this will help convince you of the amazing disservice you’re doing to yourself. ;) Thanks for reading my rave, and enjoy!