Today we had the pleasure of speaking with Jim Boone of Volition Inc on their upcoming title Freespace 2, the sequal to Descent: Freespace.

Ryan Wissman: Let's start with Freespace 1. On a scale of 1-10 how successful do you think it was?

Jim Boone: I would say we had a solid 9. I think there were a number of things that we did extremely well with FreeSpace 1 that I am very proud of. However, I can honestly say that we could have done a better job with story, missions, and multiplay. As a result we have aggressively focused on these areas with FreeSpace 2.

*the review was done by Jim Boone.

RW: What would you contribute to that success?

LB: I think that it was a combination of gameplay and graphics that made FreeSpace 1 such a great game. Our gameplay had a very frantic, fast paced nature to it that made it a lot of fun to play. You really felt like you were part of a large war that was taking place, a cog in the overall war machine. You certainly make a difference in the overall story but it was never just about you. You were a part of an overall campaign which really helped immerse the player into the game. FreeSpace 1 was also an unbelievably beautiful game to look at.

I think we were able to really raise the bar in terms of graphics. There were many times I would play the game and be amazed at some of the scenes I would witness. I'm just glad we have been able to outdo ourselves with FreeSpace 2. Overall we had a very strong vision for what we wanted FreeSpace 1 to be, and I think Volition did a fantastic job of sticking with that vision.

RW: Have you gotten any inspiration for anything from Starwars? Tell me, have you seen the new movie yet? (don't give anything about it away!)

LB: I think it's safe to say that you can't make space sim, heck I'd even go so far as to say "game", without being inspired by Star Wars. What can you say about it, it's the best. As for the new movie, I did see it along with the other masses on opening day. I figured I waited long enough to see the Phantom Menace, no need to wait a day longer.

4) Now, on to Freespace II the game we are all interested in. Is the same group of people who worked on Freespace I working on Freespace II?

It is the same developer on FreeSpace 2, that developer being Volition. There are a number of people on the team that worked on FreeSpace 1 but there are also some new people on the project as well. Volition has a couple of other projects in the works so they've shifted people around to fill those needs as well as hiring additional people. I think this has turned out to be the best case scenario for FreeSpace 2. We have some of the core people that did FreeSpace 1, so they have been able to maintain the same flavor from the first one. However, with the addition of some of the new people to the team we were able to get some fresh ideas and perspectives which has really helped the entire development process.

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