Privateer 2: The Darkening

The Good
This was actually quite good - a campy space opera crossed with 'Elite', although for more of that see the next section. Starring the deadpan Clive Owen, the FMV sequences seemed to understand that they were rubbish, and were therefore amusing in a cheesy way - and anything that has Mathilda May in it can't be all bad. The game itself is a simplified space trading game, with attractive, non-3D accelerated graphics produced by Argonaut's 'bRender' system. It's fun for a while, the presentation works with the game instead of against it, and although you'll skip through the FMV the second time you see it, it's not bad at all.

The Bad
That said, it's a bit too restrictive to be a proper space trader. There are only a few planets to visit, not much to do, and skipping back and forth becomes quite tedious after a while. Some of the space battles are almost-unfairly hard to start with, although once you realise that you can hire giant, armoured transporters it becomes a lot easier. Apart from that, it's not particularly offensive.

The Bottom Line
A decent modern arcadey space-trader, not particularly special but not awful either.