Privateer 2: The Darkening

The Good
This game has a very good and involving story. Once started you just have to finish the game to know what'll happen. If you don't like the story or have finished the main-plot, you can just fly on and on, it never stops, that was the original strength of Privateer 1 and is the main reason why you'll never get bored with this game.

The Bad
The original version had a lot of terrible bugs. To make it even worse, even the savegame system was buggy, so once it went wrong, there was a big chance that even your savegames couldn't help you. There's a bug fix available, so that shouldn't be a problem any more, however, the game is completely unplayable on a Pentium II or higher, the spacefight is just way to fast.

The Bottom Line
If you like space shooters, this is a must have. If you don't like them, this might be the game that changes your opinion.

The Good
The opening sequence in this game is 20 minutes of what could have been a fantastic film. The effects, acting and overall 'feel' of the game were so well integrated into the actual gameplay that I really got lost in this one. The reviews for it were so-so, (I think because it was such a departure from the original Privateer), and the criticisms were handed out, I think, by players who didn't persevere and play out the entire game. The gameplay was incredibly open and the graphics were fantastically beautiful for it's time.

Did I mention the acting? Origin must have had a few bucks to throw around and made some great decisions in the casting. When other game developers were getting Uncle Fred or their girlfriends to do the acting in their products, this group knew that they needed to create a believable universe for this game to succeed...and to do that they used some of the best in the business. (Not just the game business...but in ACTING PERIOD).

Anyway, this game and Wing Commander IV heralded the end of the FMV "craze" in computer games and that was probably a good thing.

Still, it shines as a very sound game with some breathtaking moments.

The Bad
Bugs. Yep, it had more bugs than your average underside of a rock. And it was HUGE!

The Bottom Line
I would just show them the first 20 minute intro film and they would be hooked.

The Good
The story is quite fascinating. It is also developed in an interesting way. The acting is not bad for a computer game, although it cannot be compared to real movies. Most of the motivation is caused by wanting to get money for new ships and equipment.

The Bad
The game design is not as good as in Privateer 1. There you were first in a solar system where nothing really bad could happen to you. In Privateer 2 you are in the same area all the time. That means that at the beginning you have to deal with the same amount of pirates as later and at the beginnig they are unbeatable. So you have to save your game everytime you leave a planet and hope you do not encounter any enemies. Another option would be invulnerability but it should be possible to play the game without it. In this game it is not. Always coming to the same planets all through the game also gets a bit boring. The space combat is also quite tiring sometimes. As you can only jump to the next NAV-point when there are no enemies around, you have to kill them all first. But if it takes you too long, more and more of them will arrive and attack you. I sometimes came in a situation I could not escape, because there was an unlimited number of pirates and it was not a mission but just an ordinary flight. I had one of the best ships and killed about 100 of them without being severely wounded, but after fighting this battle more than an hour I was just frustrated and I had to restore the game. And this happened to me several times!

The Bottom Line
The concept has been stolen from Elite and a story was added. It is a game from Origin's Interactive Movie period.