The fad kind of died after the flop of Freespace 2. The graphics, engine, and voice acting (actors like Ronny Cox) were great, but there was no character involvement or highly devloped story arc. It was like Wing Commander minus what made Wing Commander great (Blair, Hunter, Iceman, Halcyon, Eisen, Paulsen, Hawk, Wilford, Tolwyn, etc...), the characters.
Also, where the sound FX was good in most games, the overall score in many, Freelancer included, was a bit dry. I think the music really adds to the level of intensity of any entertainment product.
The old series of Star Trek, a crappy produced, low budget 60s TV show, but with action packed music. WC3 and 4 are also good examples of products with exciting sound tracks.