Wing Commander: Privateer

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
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
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.