thematic differences in the ship designs between the races, the textures and clarity of the backdrops, and even the realism of the explosions, though FiringSquad pointed out explosions from torpedo strikes were lower in quality. The nebulae feature was also praised for its rendered atmosphere, which reviewers described as tense and paranoia-inducing as they keep expecting enemy ships to appear out of the gases in a deadly ambush. Even though a couple of reviewers wrote that the nebulae made them dizzy, they still liked the feature. Combatsim even claimed FreeSpace 2 was unrivaled among its space combat peers in the graphics department. The graphical standards were such that when XGP reviewed the Anniversary Edition in 2004, Wehbi found the graphics to stand up quite well to the recent games then. GameSpot felt FreeSpaces story was "both deeper and darker" than either the Wing Commander and X-Wing series, establishing invincible foes who never lost their stature despite the player learning of plausible ways to defeat them. Game Revolution felt the story was "first rate" for being able to "build several different conflicts into an unforgettable climax", nicely presented by the emphasis of story telling by means of in-game events. While Eurogamer supported the story as intriguing, it also marked down its rating of the game for the way the story was told. The reviewer felt the "just a cog in the machine" story-telling approach left him apathetic towards the non-player characters and missions in the game. FiringSquad, however, said it created a "very believable military atmosphere", which helped to show how things revolve around big events, instead of just around a single person. Combatsim.com offered another angle; Reynolds said the gameplay elements of FreeSpace 2 are "light years beyond the competition" and more than offsets the loss of being personally immersed in the game's universe. FreeSpace 2s key attraction is its dogfights. CNN.com said the close-ranged dogfights make for engrossing, and exciting skirmishes. FiringSquad described it as a "total thrill" to be among 20 fighters flying in between opposing capital ships with beams, missiles, and flak all around and warnings going off, as they try to seek out and destroy their opposite numbers, a view which GameSpot agreed with. The game's AI was judged adequate to provide for such fights, being cunning enough to trick others to crash into the walls of narrow openings, and good enough to detect and warn