yeah, freelancer is something I still play. They just released a new mod pack like a month or two ago that completely made the game worth playing over again, like 100 new weapons, new ships, etc. and the graphics are on par with a lot of space sims today...the game can be rather linear until you finish the story line, but then you can do whatever you please. I say after you finish the storyline because you can't really go everywhere until you do that.
I never played freespace 2 though, people are recommending this though, i'm actually gonna go read some reviews right now