Wing Commander: Privateer
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Superspeed
(1996)
- Gift Pak (1995)
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Wing Commander: Privateer - CD-ROM Edition
(1994)
Description official descriptions
On the fringe of Human space, near the Kilrathi border, the industrial machine is running full-tilt to feed the war effort, and there is a lot of shipping - but also a lot of pirates, Retros (religious fanatics who want to destroy technology), military, militia, merchants, mercenaries, and privateers. In the darkness, a battle between ships has woken up something ancient, powerful, and deadly.
Wing Commander: Privateer is a space trading and combat simulation. The player assumes the role of a privateer. Start with the lowly scout, and upgrade to one of the three other superior ships: Galaxy (superior cargo space), Orion (superior protection), or Centurion (superior offense). Buy optional equipment such as armor, engines, shields, weapons, launchers for torpedoes/missiles, and more. Take on missions (multiple sources, from the cheapest mission computer, to fixers who has the toughest but most rewarding missions) and earn money for upgrades. Use spare cargo room to trade commodities to further add to the account. Missions can vary from search and destroy to Fedex (i.e. delivery) to bounty hunting, and more.
The game is set in the Wing Commander universe, but is more of a free-form game similar to Elite. While there is a central plot, the player can deviate from it somewhat and can continue playing the game after completing the main story missions.
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Credits (DOS version)
58 People (44 developers, 14 thanks) · View all
| Original Design | |
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| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 80% (based on 16 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 83 ratings with 14 reviews)
The Good
I like the way that you did not have to stay within the story line, you can go off and just have fun with the game, and when you got into the story line it was very nice and fun to see what you would come up to next..
The only prob. that I had with the game was at the end, I realy could not make it no matter what I did, so as for the ending I do not know what happens.
Overall I wish that they would make games like this a lot more Privateer2 was not even close to privteer in my book, but it was ok in the long run..
The Bad
The bloody ending, could not get through it, even in god mode I could not..
that is all that I found that I did not like about the game..
The only prob that I have with it at this time is that I can not get it to run with my win.98se, I cannot get the dos config right.. I am not a programer...
The Bottom Line
Over all I have been playing a lot of games all the way back from the old com.64 to the ne stuff, and I have found that This game is one of the top 5 games that I would like to play more then most, even some of the new stuff like Half-Life..
DOS · by Lord Dragon (2) · 2001
One of the most orginial, fun games of all time.
The Good
You control the flow of the game. WHAT A CONCEPT! I loved the missions and versility in the game. The storyline behind the game was brilliant. But one of my favorite parts of the game was the cities. I just loved the artwork and the detail of all the cities (i.e. New Detroit). I loved how you could be a merk or a trader. The guild concept was wonderfull and brought a great feel to the game. When I think about how I liked the game I remember how this was one of the few games that really made me feel that I was there. The sound was wonderfull, and specal touches were added to make the overall feel of the game better. You could tell a lot of love and attention was placed on this title. ----- If you have read some of my reviews you will know that one of my favorite things about games is how well they bring all their parts together. From sound to graphics It has to form a free flowing fun game. This is one of the best examples of how a design can be brought to a peak of perfection. Privateer is truly one of the best games ever made.
The Bad
Not enough fighters to choose from. The "end boss" was too difficult. Overall not very darn much.
The Bottom Line
Just about as near perfection as you can get in my book.
DOS · by William Shawn McDonie (1131) · 2001
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
DOS · by Chad Henshaw (27) · 2001
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| disk 5 | John Sheehy | Dec 17, 2007 |
Trivia
Ending
When you finish the game, your character was having a conversation with the admiral... Then all of a sudden they started talking back and forth about the game and its creators!
Hidden game
There is a hidden text adventure. Information on how to access it can be found in the hint section.
Manual
Although Privateer's player's guide was quite run-of-the-mill compared to other Origin game manuals it did come with a short story. The Frontiersman: Interview With A Privateer was the account of an interview conducted to our very own Brownhair (with all names changed to protect the innocent, of course) and which told us his story to the point were he sets sail to the Gemini sector. The story also explains his relationship with the Retros and adds a more somber tone to the game, particularly to it's add-on, Righteous Fire.
Player character
According to an early Origin press release the player character (brownhair)'s name is Grayson Burrows.
System requirements
On the box of the German disk version of privateer there was as hardware minimum requirements announced a 386 DX with 25 MHz. But on the first pages of the manual suddenly they wrote that the minimum is a 386 DX with 33 MHz. From nowadays viewpoint, when clock speed is counted at hundreds, nothing important, but in 1993 this was rather annoying when you just owned a 25 MHz machine.
Awards
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #59 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
Information also contributed by Benjamin Dunham, Kasey Chang, xcorn1602 and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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Privateer entry on Old Skool PC - Classics Reunited
Nifty site with lots of info on Wing Commander: Privateer. Game details, overview of all the ships in the game, stats on everything from weapons to commodities, the NavMap, list of planets and bases, mission walkthrough, desktop themes... even some soundtrack files. Also has some links to patches and editors.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by IJan.
Additional contributors: Terok Nor, test test, Zeikman, Patrick Bregger.
Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified January 19, 2024.