If you find this in a bargain bin and you have a lot of free time, get this title.
Anyway, the game is basically a story of alien artifacts, government corruption and the best part: blowing stuff up. And let's be honest here, that's why you want to play this game, not because of the story.
And it's unfortunate because this story kind of gets in the way of some pretty fun gameplay. There's some open ended quality to it in that you can decide what side to... well, side with. But after the 5th time you've gone to a bar to solicit a job, you become annoyed with the stilted conversation, the repetitive motion of the characters and you realize that by the 50th let alone 100th time of having to go through the same thing, it's gonna be mighty irritating.
And that's putting it kindly.
Nonetheless, once you get some upgrades on your ship and square off against a few rounds of pirates, you get a feel for what makes this game succeed. The space battles are frantic, fun and honestly pit your skill against a formidible opponent instead of having stand up targets that are an afterthought.
What Freelancer needs more than anything else is this: a sequel. Online, persistant and with a smoother interface. More jobs, more villans, more of a true galaxy feel. While there's some simple commerce in this game, there needs to be a more complex model of making money as well as what you can purchase (imagine being able to purchase a fleet of automated ships that you can assume command of when they're under attack or being able to buy stocks, comoddities, bonds or even to be able to buy housing, luxuries and other status items).
There's a lot of potential here in Freelancer and while it's not entirely realized in this game, it's a pretty good start.