I didn't like that game outside its online capabilities myself. Universe ok, story ok, ship controls super intutitive with an expertly crafted mouse driven interface (which previous Starpoint Gemini games seemed to take after, though not quite as good) but not nearly as fun gameplay as any half decent space "sim" to me. It felt very by the numbers, unexciting, just increasing damage output as you progress but having it feel the same since the enemies also got better gear but all the behaviors were the same, plus spamming hull/shield restoration items being a thing as if it's Diablo or something rather than Wing Commander. I'd rather play some B tier janky space combat game of the era like Tachyon: The Fringe over Freelancer, not to mention the true classics of the genre.
Microsoft did have a sweet as hell space game back then though, but nobody played it (and it's online PVP only so that was obviously a problem, heh).