The action in the game itself seems to be a bit slower than both X-Wing and Wing Commander, although there is no shortage of action. Something must be said about the AI in the game. Descent was heralded as having excellent AI (enemies would actually lure you down halls and into traps), and Descent: Freepsace has similar excellent artificial intelligence - not just with the bad guys, but your wing men as well. The AI of your fellow pilots is so good, I sometimes found it to be too good - nothing is more annoying than flying behind a baddies rear, about to unload a missile on them ,when several laser shots come flying in, blowing up the bad guy and stealing my kill. Enemy AI is almost as impressive. Enemies will fly around like crazy monkeys evading your laser blasts and missiles, performing complex maneuvers. They know when to run when damaged, and group in in wings to attack.
Probably the best feature of Descent: Freespace is multiplayer action, which the designers promise will have "12-player games over TCP/IP, Internet, or LAN." The possibilities of multiplayer action are endless: you can form squadrons and go on campaigns against the computer enemy, fight together, or fight against other squadrons. Personally, I can not wait for this feature.
In conclusion, when this game comes out in stores later this month, it will be mine. While the story behind will not contain real actors and live action like Wing Commander, it does contain a great engine, a mission editor, and multiplayer action, which is good enough for me.
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