Privateer 2: The Darkening

The Good
The CD had many uses:

-- Throw it like a frisbee (It could also be turned into one of those Chinese throwing stars with a little modification).

-- A coaster to set your coffee cup on while playing a good game.

-- If you're strapped for cash this holiday season, the CD makes a nice, shiny tree ornament.

-- If you're lost in the wilderness, you can use it as a signal mirror... it might save your life.

The Bad
CDs thrown like frisbees or throwing stars tend to shatter on impact, but there are two of them, so you'll have a replacement.

Seriously, though, this game is really, REALLY bad. The cut-scenes, although of decent cinematic quality, are cheesier than Monterey Jack. The game has absolutely nothing to do with the Wing Commander universe (the setting for the original Privateer). Instead, it's like a leech sucking up Privateer's good reputation in order to survive.

It didn't work.

The Bottom Line
In a word: crap.

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
Great plot, large universe to play in and easy controls. I didnt like the idea of cargo ships at first but after a while it grows on you. Now i doubt that I would want to go back to the old way.

The Bad
The bad parts of this game are all well covered by the other reviews. And mostly I agree with the many problems that Privateer II has. However I do not think it is fair to totaly hate this game. Yes the designers went way off track with this title and yes they made parts of the game that were so great in the other game, terrible in this one. But for me when I started to play this game I fell in love with the story line. So what I did was treat this as a brand new title and didnt compare it to Privateer. At first I was angry that this had little to do with the orginal. But after you spend your allotment of cash (for single guys when you are married you go back to the allowence system again) you try to make do with what you got. (note: I could not return it) When the game was over I didnt think it was a great great game, but I though it had a place in my top 50 of all time. However I can totaly understand why Privateer fans hate this game with a passion. I can because I am a avid Privateer fan and when I started this game, like I said before I was ticked off.

The Bottom Line
To non privateer players give it a try just remember that the orginal is TOTALY different. To privateer fans if you cant seperate the two games dont bother.