After being betrayed by seemingly innocuous friends of the vampiric circle, I was encased in my own coffin and dumped in the middle of the ocean causing me to fall into a deep state of torpor. But thanks to the aid of the ever intrepid Polly, we managed to lure a Japanese tourist shop to our rescue, of whom naturally we left for dead with with booty to boot (hence my recent "acquisition" of a PS3).
So, Jags, is the ranking: Freelancer, Space Rangers and then Darkstar One?
I would say that ranking is just about right among the Arcadian Space Sims (as in you're flying along and you can "break" as if you had tires gripping the road as hard as Paris Hilton is holding out for the opportunity for house arrest; also, space navigation is actually feasible through the cunning use of way-points; further, ships move nice and easily and as frequently has Hades sadly attempts to flirt with Darque; lastly, trading is simply yet additively implemented and basically consists of buying low and selling high).
However, out of the games from recent times, the rankings would probably be X3, X2, and Eve-Online out of the Newtonian Space Sims (as in you're flying really fast and cut power to the engines but continue to spiral along like an unwanted Jorian on a spamming spree; also, space navigation consists of aimlessly wandering through space with the glimmer of hope of encountering something to shoot at, however, upon the realization that there really will never ever be anything to shoot at, you start shooting at random pieces of rock (AKA "mining") and pretend that something special will rather fortuitously pop out; further, ships move about as fast as a knocked-up Rosie O'Donnell and react much slower when subjected to hostile fire; and lastly, even an economics degree from Harvard School of Business WILL NOT guarantee you fiscal success, as you watch your credits slowly dwindle before your very eyes into the depths of space where only Chuck Norris can hear you scream).
So ... is X3 better than Freelancer?