Freelancer is great. It's a combination of classic style open-ended gameplay with great graphics and modern game stuff. It's a rare gem. The good old Elite/Privateer gameplay is back.
It's a space combat game, and not too much of a "sim" in most people's books. But I think that it's not all that simplistic. You can assign weapons groups and stuff... There's a good deal of strategy you can use. It's like an Onion. If you are a basic player, the game is accessible, and if you are a veteran, you can use the more complex stuff.
That's good game design. Over-complicated games are not good games, just because of that. Being complicated is not a good feature for a game. MOO2 is very, complex and, yet, reasonably simple to play.
As for realism, Freelancer is reasonably realistic when it comes to space travel. You can go pretty much anywhere a system, you don’t really depend on pre-determined jumps or nav-points.
Besides, even I-War has sound in space. What space combat game is truly realistic?