Wing Commander: Privateer

The Good
The open-ended game with a plot that you can choose to follow, plenty of combat, plenty of trade commodities, plenty of weapon upgrades, multiple ships to choose from, random contracts

The Bad
A bit TOO repetitive at times, not enough "special missions" or surprises, no multiplayer (this would have been the ULTIMATE massive online RPG!), money easy to come by once you have enough capital

The Bottom Line
Privateer is Wing Commander's interpretation of Elite, the open-ended space combat/trading game.

Start with a small scout, the Tarsus, carry commodities from port to port to build up your capital, buy low and sell high. Upgrade your ship with better equipment, weapons, engines, and shields, even replace your ship with a better one! Make your way around the sector and discover adventure you never imagined... Choose multiple career paths... Be trader, smuggler, pirate, bounty hunter, or mercenary... The choice is yours! Take on contracts from multiple sources. Go to multiple types of planets (some systems have more than one) each with different amount of certain commodities for sale and want to buy. Once you get into the plot, enjoy certain special missions.

The graphics engine is an improved version of WC2 bitmap 3D engine with higher resolution and better displays and is quite adequate, providing good frame rates while having enough details. Sound is your typical excellent for Wing Commander series. The in-between mission briefing is your Origin "talking head" briefing similar to Strike Commander's interface, complete with "fixers".

The game was probably the most fun of all the WC games to play due to the open-ended nature of the universe. You can truly decide your destiny in this game, something that wasn't possible since.

The Good
Despite some people writing this game off as an elite clone, Privateer is groundbreaking for its atmosphere and pace alone. The storyline is good enough (I finished and was amply satisfied), but it is the open-ended nature that is so perfectly scaled. The game is initially difficult for the novice, but once it is mastered it proves the perfect fusion of rewardingly tough enemies and player-favouring odds.

The Wing Commander universe isn't exactly the same in this game as in the rest of the series, but rather you occupy the newly chartered "Gemini sector". However, the presence of Confederate and Kilrathi forces, actively opposing one another, is reassuring enough for the WC veteran. There are also hundreds of planets and stations throughout the sector, varying from the agricultural farm worlds to asteroid-occupying mining bases, luxury pleasure planets to hidden (really, they aren't identified on the nav map) pirate installations, and even a few unique, especially cool places like the sector capital, New Constantinople.

Visually and audio-wise, the game is amazing for its time. The musical score holds a particularly special place in my heart, and it suits the grim Gemini sector to a tee.

The Bad
The game isn't perfect. Considering its age and quality, most of the little problems are forgivable in my opinion. These include the generic nature of planets and bases, the pointlessness of some features (like barmen, although they're great for atmosphere) and the unbalanced weaponry (go for Tachyon cannons every time).

However, one area that I guess is seriously skewed are the different lines of employment you can pursue, and the pilotable ships that reflect them. The game boasts your ability to be either a merc, merchant or pirate, and that's fair enough. But profitability is balanced, and for a merchant to achieve a fortune equivalent to what a merc might, it could take five times as long. Some might think that's fair - choose a quiet life, make a small buck, but the fact is a merchant is still having to fight off masses of pirates, retros and (if you're foolish enough to trade within the frontier systems) Kilrathi. A pirate on the other hand, has far more chance of making dough if they decide to pursue a life of smuggling, but there are far more militia and Confed in settled Gemini space than pirates, plus you'll still be facing the retros (and possibly Kilrathi depending on how many 'good guys' you've wasted).

Reflecting the merc/merchant problem are the available ships. The games offered four pilotable ships - three that can be bought and the one you begin with. Yet there is no competition between them... you will want the Centurion if you're to have any chance of success. Sure, if you're a merchant you can go for the Galaxy (don't even think about sticking with the starter Tarsus ship), but it's weak and relatively unarmed and just not dog-fighting material (which you'll have to do whatever you are). And the Orion's fun, but certainly not a serious choice. You'll probably own it at one point, but only because it's cheap.

Finally, the games is a bit difficult for the uninitiated. However, after getting to grips with it (I'd hazard a guess at anything from half an hour to two hours), you'll be exploring the Gemini sector in eager anticipation of your next mission or encountered. A word of warning though - the story steps up the difficulty quite significantly and I wouldn't approach the first "fixer" in Detroit until you own at least a heavily outfitted Orion.

The Bottom Line
Basically, despite the negatives, Privateer's great. Don't be put off by the lack of ships, the amount of freedom available is still staggering and simply cannot be countered. The storyline is fun, if not a little linear, but be warned that it is tough and that you should be prepared for some massive battles. But if you like the genre, or simply fancy something a little less object-orientated, then this game is one that I can recommended whole-heartedly. It's definitely up there in my top five all time favourite PC games.

The Good
The freedom to do what I want, when I want, the way I want, and for as long as I want to! If I want to be a pirate... I can. If I want to be a merchant... I can. If I want to be a mercenary... I can. And so on. The only thing I don't understand is why they haven't re-made this game with better graphics and why Privateer II was such a step backward. If they has stuck with this same game and just improved the graphics... they would have had a sure-fire winner.

The Bad
The graphics are very old. I think they call it a 2.5D game engine instead of a 3D flight engine like most modern games of it's genre. If you can look past this though... it has unlimited enjoyable game play.

The Bottom Line
Space Sim that puts you in the role of fortune seeker. Though there is a core story, you are free to take the life of a merchant, mercenary, smuggler, pirate, military employee and more.

The Good
It's fun to be a mercenary on the frontier of Terran space! You have the freedom to play this game whatever way that you like, whether you want to go pirate and attack helpless merchants, or perhaps you want to be a noble and peaceful merchant... it's up to you. You start in a dinky little ship without very good shields or firepower, so you get a great feeling of accomplishment when you finally get your new ship.
It's a blast to insult your enemies while killing them, too, and I do this every chance that I get.
Another plus is the huge variety of items that you can transport... everything from grain to slaves, provided you find the right base.

The Bad
There are a couple of things that could have been better... 1st, this game can get very, very hard. Also, if you ever use one of the cheat options during one of the game missions, you fail it and screw up the game. (So have backup copies of your game!) The last thing is that I wish there had been more ships available. It takes a long time before you can afford a ship, and then you might as well save your money for the Centurion... the best ship in the game if you want to beat it.

The Bottom Line
This is one of my favorite games in my collection.... and someday I'm going to beat it! But until then, it's still fun to play... and I think that's why this game is so well liked.

The Good
The best thing that could happen to Wing Commander was to take the concept behind Elite, Starflight, and other space traders and merge them with it's trademark action-oriented gameplay to create what stands today as probably one of the best space-shooters ever conceived.

Taking place in a far-off section of space bordering Kilrathi space, you take the role of a space jock out to make a living. Of course, in the border worlds of Gemini Sector there's only one way to make a living for someone like you, and that's as a space pilot/mercenary/trader, in other words: a privateer.

The trick is that as a private entrepreneur, it is in you who all the responsability lays, so you not only have to go out and shoot the hell out of everything, but you also have to balance your checkbook, take care of repairs, upgrade your equipment, decide on what missions to take, etc. etc. Not a novel concept historically speaking, but certainly brand new on the WC universe. No longer you are tied to a military carrier and listen to a CO brief you on your next mission without worrying for such things as ordenance, ships, etc. You now have the freedom to go anywhere you want in space from New Detroit, to that shady pleasure station, to a peaceful agricultural planet tradding commodities and taking randomly generated missions as well as special assignments from fixers and guilds that go from bounty hunting, cargo transport, escort, raids, etc... What to do with the bounty? You can upgrade your ship to include better weapons, smarter radars, repair bots, jump drives, tractor beams, etc. etc. or if your piece of junk just doesn't cut it no more, buy a different ship more suited to your needs or just blow it all on cargo to reap even bigger profits! To spice up the action there's a main plot which is actually very well paced out and takes you around the galaxy as you try to uncover the mistery behind a misterious alien artifact that you get stuck with and a misterious fighter seemingly bent on your destruction, but you can but the plot on hold anytime and just fly around at your leisure. The space is appropiatelly populated, with pirate ships hidden on dangerous shipping lanes, military carriers on the lookout for criminals or illegal cargo such as drugs, or pleasure bots, border systems filled with Kilrathis, cargo freighters and privateers constantly flying around and religious zealots stirring trouble anywhere you go, and each of these factions can be friend or foe depending on your actions.

Technically speaking the game is awesome, with graphics even better than on WC2, and spectacular sounds and effects, which coupled with Origin's trademark production values and quality art make the game a fantastic experience. The interface also benefits from the WC legacy, with the classic "hotspot" animated backgrounds that serve as menus and the classic WC control scheme that makes for an engrossing, yet extremely fast paced and entertaining action sequences.

The Bad
It could be pretty hard at the beggining. I remember struggling for ages to destroy a stupid Talon with nothing but a laser when I couldn't even afford an afterburner.... It certainly is worth to get past the beggining, but introductory missions would have really helped this game out.

Also while the amount of features, equipment and whatnot is excellent, not so is the amount of original missions, neither of flyable ships. You just have the starting junker, a mercenary-oriented fighter, a cargo-oriented freighter, and the "plain vanilla" one...

The Bottom Line
Takes an already exciting gameplay premise honed to perfection and adds more gameplay depth and features while mantaining the balance between breackneck action and space exploration. That's genius in my book. As far as I am concerned it's one of my top 4 games ever, sure. Those "top XX" lists are always quirky and depend as much on personal experiences as well as on objective acomplishments, but while Privateer may not have been the first, it certainly was the one that managed to combine all the gameplay depth without bogging down the game to board-like standards and keeping all the whiz-bang flair intact in the midst of space trading and exploration.

Try picking up Elite nowadays and you'll throw it out the window in no time, despite it's more engrossing and open-ended gameplay, Privateer on the other hand remains a class act with all of it's gameplay bonanza intact and accessible, it is to Elite what Half-Life is to Wolfenstein 3D. With it's possibilities endless yet well defined and not obscure: you can get on the Kilrathi's good side and be hunted by Confed fighters, you can become a bounty hunter that rivals Boba Fett, you can keep an eye on news flashes and run cargo shipments for a living, transport food and medical supplies while avoiding pirates or run from the law as you take Brilliance and slaves to distant space stations. That spells masterpiece for me. And Heck! this game has one of my favorite videogame moments ever!: Tractoring an ejected opponent in, and then selling him off as a slave!! :)) Or if you feel merciless just ram him and watch him splatter all over the cockpit!! Yeah... that's for getting in my way Retro scum!... ah...All in a day's work in the life of a privateer...

The Good
Ability to play any way you wanted (merc, pirate, merchant, unpaid militia, or even friend of the Kilrathi). If you want, you can change, too.

It has elements of all types of games from action, adventure, sim, RPG, sci-fi, and strategy.

Graphics are superb. Sound creates an atmosphere and adds to the game. Clues are even given by changes in the sound.

Gameplay is balanced, and the entire game can go on without the actual story line ever being touched (although the story does offer some really nice perks).

Upgrades, different planets, trading, and merchant and mercenary guilds. The guilds really add something extra to the game, doling out credits for successful completion.

A little bit of a twist in communications. You can use your communicator to send ship to ship messages in an attempt to change a hostile ship to friendly, or vice versa.

With a linear story line you can stop the story, go get a better ship, and pick right back up where you left off.

The Bad
Privateer 2. It made a lot of good improvements in the game, but overall just didn't click.

Getting picky, here are some things that could have been better: more ships, more races to encounter, even larger universe, ability to actually make a large difference in the universe, time-line triggered events (like have new weapons be discovered as you progress throughout the game - as it was in P2).

P2 had a lot of improvements, but it totally lost the balance and flow of the game. It was basically just a movie turned into a CD-ROM game.

The Bottom Line
It is NOT another Wing Commander game. Sure, it has some parallels to the WC series, but it's totally different. It's just a well-designed game that actually works! It has a good deal of replay value as you can pick different ships, and you can always try to do something really strange like be a Kilrathi ally. It's really hard to find a game where you can ally with the enemy.

The Good
Just about everything. The gameplay mechanics were completely unique and gave an experience which has still yet to be replicated (unfortunately even with the sequel) of free roaming havok (though I've not personally played some of the space-based MMORPGs yet).

Kill enough merchants without killing pirates? Become a pirate. Pirates don't shoot you but the militia want you for dinner.

Kill enough (I believe its pirates) without touching bounty hunters... bounty hunters don't touch you.

Kill a merchant ship -- take his cargo and sell it.

The game requires an update for handhelds -- it has a fairly light load mechanically and you can play it just for 10 minute intervals if needed -- but gradually work towards ditching your Taurus for a Centurion with Mark5 sheilds kicking Kilirathi back to the top right quadrant.

The Bad
Very unforgiving if you accidentally hit the wrong person. You also can't really run it on modern machines. It desperately needs to be brought to consoles.

The Bottom Line
An addictive space sim which allows jumping from system to system. While you can simply autopilot from nav point to nav point -- its also possible to fly manual straight through the action.

Again, its free roaming and quick to put down nature makes it a perfect game for handhelds. Here's looking at you Sony and Nintendo!

The Good
The two things I loved the most was the ability to break away from the plot to explore around and run random missions, and upgrading/buying your ship. It was always nice to make a bunch for bounty hunter runs or a little pirating to gain some extra credits without sacrificing the plot; you could pick it up where you left off. Also, being able to buy better equipment, weapons, and such for your ship gave a lot of incentive for making those extra runs. It also made flying a "hunk of junk" a little more interesting in the beginning.

The Bad
There were a few silly missions you had to complete for the plot to continue. The most annoying one was the dash you made from the alien ship to a confed base with the egg chasing you through the various asteroid fields. It was obviously doable, but annoying all the same to be running full speed through asteroid field through asteroid field.

The Bottom Line
It's an excellent diversion from the Wing Commander game without leaving the universe. You can follow the plot or go off and be a merchant, pirate, and/or bounty hunter......or do any combination thereof whenever you wanted to. You still have the Kilrathi to contend with from time to time while you are working your way through the plot. I felt it was a very refreshing perspective of the WC universe.

The Good
This game is very much like a space-combat RPG. You have no limits as to where you can go, no limits to what you can do, and you can intereact with virtually every little detail. The ports are immersive, and the gameplay is fun. Smuggling, pirating, hunting, blatant anti-social tendencies, you name it, you can do it.

The Bad
While fun, space combat was so-so. This was obviously not one of the best space combat engines provided by Origin. To top it off, the ships one can fly, although great in their own right, are far too limited (number: 4 out of a good 15 ships in the game).

The Bottom Line
A definite must see and must get.

The Good
You control the flow of the game. WHAT A CONCEPT! I loved the missions and versility in the game. The storyline behind the game was brilliant. But one of my favorite parts of the game was the cities. I just loved the artwork and the detail of all the cities (i.e. New Detroit). I loved how you could be a merk or a trader. The guild concept was wonderfull and brought a great feel to the game. When I think about how I liked the game I remember how this was one of the few games that really made me feel that I was there. The sound was wonderfull, and specal touches were added to make the overall feel of the game better. You could tell a lot of love and attention was placed on this title. ----- If you have read some of my reviews you will know that one of my favorite things about games is how well they bring all their parts together. From sound to graphics It has to form a free flowing fun game. This is one of the best examples of how a design can be brought to a peak of perfection. Privateer is truly one of the best games ever made.

The Bad
Not enough fighters to choose from. The "end boss" was too difficult. Overall not very darn much.

The Bottom Line
Just about as near perfection as you can get in my book.

The Good
Privateer is a Unique game when it comes to games. Rarely do we see an open ended game where the storyline, is optional! wanna go around wasting Kilrathi, or Confed Hotshots, hey, go right ahead! but, the storyline is very rewarding, revelaing lots about the WC universe you never knew.

The Bad
Well, the fact that it requires a special boot up on my machine, so, check the Tips section....

The Bottom Line
Its a Free-Form space combat game, Highly Recommended, Just, stick them infront of the Game and tell them to play, remember the keys are slightly different to WC

The Good
I like the way that you did not have to stay within the story line, you can go off and just have fun with the game, and when you got into the story line it was very nice and fun to see what you would come up to next.. The only prob. that I had with the game was at the end, I realy could not make it no matter what I did, so as for the ending I do not know what happens. Overall I wish that they would make games like this a lot more Privateer2 was not even close to privteer in my book, but it was ok in the long run..

The Bad
The bloody ending, could not get through it, even in god mode I could not.. that is all that I found that I did not like about the game.. The only prob that I have with it at this time is that I can not get it to run with my win.98se, I cannot get the dos config right.. I am not a programer...

The Bottom Line
Over all I have been playing a lot of games all the way back from the old com.64 to the ne stuff, and I have found that This game is one of the top 5 games that I would like to play more then most, even some of the new stuff like Half-Life..

The Good
The first thing that snatched me is the complete customizability of your ship. The ship that you chose to fly with towards the end of the game really managed to demonstrate to the rest of the galaxy what kind of privateer you were. And, the accessories you purchased determined how much money you were making and how good you were at making it... The second is the availability of missions. Although, the plot-advancing missions were some of the best in the game, the fact that there was always something to do in every starbase (from cargo running to bounty hunting) really enhanced the lasting appeal of this game.

The Bad
The limiting number of ships you could fly. It would have been great to fly a military surplus Broadsword, or even the Militia/Retro/Pirate craft, the talon (even if they seemed to be made of paper). If they had made all of the ships that you encountered playable, that would have given this game even more permanent value.

The Bottom Line
Think of this as a version of Wing Commander 2 - only sleeker and a lot more fun. Also, it's a lot less rigid in terms of gameplay since you do everything on your own terms. My favorite Space Combat games (for instance, Star Control 2) are always games that offer customizability and variety, and Privateer is no exception. From what I've heard of Privateer 2 (I haven't actually played it), I'm rather disappointed that not only does it have nothing to do with the original Privateer, but it also took a step backward in gameplay.

The Good
The gameplay is immersive. This is one of the few games where it's more fun to avoid the main plot and just concentrate on exploring, trading, and upgrading your ship. Getting to play blockade runner with a hold full of illegal drugs by dive-bombing a planet on full-afterburner with a half-dozen confed ships on your tail is still possibly the most fun ever offered up in a WC game. Plus the idea of being able to switch "sides" at will between several competing groups is nice - it's theoretically possible to be allied to the pirates, the Kilrathi, and Confed all at once. And the music was some of the best MIDI work they had.

The Bad
The gameplay is blatantly ripped from Elite. I'm still amazed David Brabden didn't sue Origin - every aspect of the game EXCEPT the plotline is straight out of that classic, even down to most of the specific items you can trade in. Also, it got mind-bogglingly difficult towards the end of the plotline, with missions that took more than an hour to complete and far more bad guys than was really necessary. (and the add-on mission pack took that difficulty and upped it further. I know VERY few people who managed to complete it.)

The Bottom Line
Want to play Elite 3.0? Here ya go. Skip the plotline and just explore.