Privateer 2: The Darkening

The Good
I thought the graphics were awesome, the plot was fun to watch, and the battles were great. The missions were a little tougher, but a little creativity could give you success.

The Bad
I hate the fact you have to clear a system of enemies before you could jump. It would just be annoying when you'd clear it, then another bad guy would jump in just as you would get ready to leave. In a couple of cases when this happened repeatedly, I'd find myself in a damaged ship and losing my fighting capability and it would turn into a lost cause. This was frustrating. While it's not always noble, it would be nice to have the OPTION to run away when you needed to.

The Bottom Line
Go read the Privateer script, then improve the graphics and add movie clips to describe the story-line. It's a fun game which has a few quirks.

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
For once, a full motion video game with decent actors. You've got John Hurt from Alien, Jürgen Prochnow from das Boot and even Christopher Walken. It's got a nice range of ships and weaponry (except perhaps for the Nuke'Em device which is a bit of an overkill) and an interesting plot-line.

The Bad
The game is not completely free of bugs, sometimes escort missions are virtually impossible to carry out and you run the risk of gnawing your own leg off in frustration before you manage to actually get it right. Also, the sound engineering/leveling is off the scale, it's often hard to hear what people in the game are saying because there's just too much background noise/music.

The Bottom Line
If you're into either space sims or full motion video, this game is something you should try to get hold of.