Wing Commander: Privateer
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Superspeed
(1996)
- Gift Pak (1995)
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Wing Commander: Privateer - CD-ROM Edition
(1994)
Description official descriptions
On the fringe of Human space, near the Kilrathi border, the industrial machine is running full-tilt to feed the war effort, and there is a lot of shipping - but also a lot of pirates, Retros (religious fanatics who want to destroy technology), military, militia, merchants, mercenaries, and privateers. In the darkness, a battle between ships has woken up something ancient, powerful, and deadly.
Wing Commander: Privateer is a space trading and combat simulation. The player assumes the role of a privateer. Start with the lowly scout, and upgrade to one of the three other superior ships: Galaxy (superior cargo space), Orion (superior protection), or Centurion (superior offense). Buy optional equipment such as armor, engines, shields, weapons, launchers for torpedoes/missiles, and more. Take on missions (multiple sources, from the cheapest mission computer, to fixers who has the toughest but most rewarding missions) and earn money for upgrades. Use spare cargo room to trade commodities to further add to the account. Missions can vary from search and destroy to Fedex (i.e. delivery) to bounty hunting, and more.
The game is set in the Wing Commander universe, but is more of a free-form game similar to Elite. While there is a central plot, the player can deviate from it somewhat and can continue playing the game after completing the main story missions.
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Credits (DOS version)
58 People (44 developers, 14 thanks) · View all
| Original Design | |
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| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 80% (based on 16 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 83 ratings with 14 reviews)
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..
DOS · by Lord Dragon (2) · 2001
Best game I've ever played, period.
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.
DOS · by Cyric (50) · 2001
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.
DOS · by Shiek of Geek (14) · 2001
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| disk 5 | John Sheehy | Dec 17, 2007 |
Trivia
Ending
When you finish the game, your character was having a conversation with the admiral... Then all of a sudden they started talking back and forth about the game and its creators!
Hidden game
There is a hidden text adventure. Information on how to access it can be found in the hint section.
Manual
Although Privateer's player's guide was quite run-of-the-mill compared to other Origin game manuals it did come with a short story. The Frontiersman: Interview With A Privateer was the account of an interview conducted to our very own Brownhair (with all names changed to protect the innocent, of course) and which told us his story to the point were he sets sail to the Gemini sector. The story also explains his relationship with the Retros and adds a more somber tone to the game, particularly to it's add-on, Righteous Fire.
Player character
According to an early Origin press release the player character (brownhair)'s name is Grayson Burrows.
System requirements
On the box of the German disk version of privateer there was as hardware minimum requirements announced a 386 DX with 25 MHz. But on the first pages of the manual suddenly they wrote that the minimum is a 386 DX with 33 MHz. From nowadays viewpoint, when clock speed is counted at hundreds, nothing important, but in 1993 this was rather annoying when you just owned a 25 MHz machine.
Awards
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #59 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
Information also contributed by Benjamin Dunham, Kasey Chang, xcorn1602 and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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Privateer entry on Old Skool PC - Classics Reunited
Nifty site with lots of info on Wing Commander: Privateer. Game details, overview of all the ships in the game, stats on everything from weapons to commodities, the NavMap, list of planets and bases, mission walkthrough, desktop themes... even some soundtrack files. Also has some links to patches and editors.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by IJan.
Additional contributors: Terok Nor, test test, Zeikman, Patrick Bregger.
Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified January 19, 2024.