Trivia / Freelancer

• Abandonware: Microsoft may've abandoned the Game, and Digital Anvil may be no more, but the game has a quite large community that has remained alive for nearly two decades, and has created countless mods of great quality.
• Executive Meddling: Many of Digital Anvil's projects were killed when they were bought by Microsoft, because MS wanted them to focus more exclusively on Freelancer. The original opening trailer was also significantly altered, removing the scene in which the Nomads blow up Sol some time after the Alliance's Colony Ships warped to Sirius.
• He Also Did:

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  • The cast is made of this. Ian Ziering as Trent, Jennifer Hale as Juni, John Rhys-Davies as Tobias, not to mention appearances from Cree Summer, George Takei, Xander Berkeley, Maurice LaMarche, Corey Burton, Jeff Bennett, Charles Shaughnessy, Tony Jay (who literally has exactly one line) and Christopher Lee, who also has a bit part at best.
  • Also applies to the designers: one of the people who did character designs is Carlos Ezquerra, one of the co-creators of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. The character designs in the finished game, particularly Trent, have his signature gritty style.
• Saved from Development Hell: Freelancer was released 4 years after being announced for the first time, with many of the hyped-up features missing. However, the resulting game was still good enough to be enjoyable.
• What Could Have Been:

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  • In addition to the stuff that was promised, which were eventually taken out, such as dynamic economies and retracting ship fins, much of Freelancer's original storyline was scrapped when Microsoft tried to speed up the game's release. Anyone who owns a copy of the Bonus DVD, bundled with the game's soundtrack CD, will have full knowledge of what the original storyline was meant to be.
  • The Starblazer, the third ship of the same civilian fighter line as the Starflier and the Startracker, was supposed to be a playable ship, but its files are incomplete, and as such, it can only be seen in docks, or as planetary traffic. The game's moddability is flexible, and as such, it can be restored with ease.
  • Also, Freelancer 2.