Privateer 2: The Darkening

The first time I heard of this game the title was only 'The Darkening' and the preview of it interested me. When it got the Privateer label I thought it would be even better, but I was confused because the preview described a game that took place in a different universe than that of the Wing Commander series, which is where the first game is set.

Regardless, this game has an interesting and stylish flight engine which I thought was really cool--except the fact that you can't hyper-jump when enemies are around, forcing you to fight them (very annoying). Not to mention some of the cool landing cutscenes and interesting computer interfaces in port.

However, the video scenes are pretty bad and have poorly mixed audio--half the time I couldn't understand what anyone was saying.

Privateer 2 broken down into it's movie parts could, with better audio, have been a cult classic if it was made into a full movie. Visually, pure genius. The characters; vibrant and charismatic each in their own unique avenue of personal expression. The comedy and style of the movie combined with amazing acting, direction, cinematography as well as the natural interaction between the characters and the portrayed technology was genius...nothing less. The high quality of actors really showed their stripes; Jurgen Prochnow, Christopher Walkin, Clive Owen, David Warner, John Hurt...just to name a few of some of the most professionally respected actors in the world. If someone actually rescues that footage and makes a full movie out of this, not only would I watch that movie in the theater, I'd buy the video as well...and you would find it in the 'cult classic' area of your local video store. So I'd give the movie portion of this production a 9.5 out of 10...it would have been a perfect 10 except the audio is a little sloppy.

The game portion of this production has a couple of really good points and a couple of really bad points. I like the idea of a lot of different styles of ships to choose from...each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Of course the more expensive the ship, generally speaking, the better it is likely going to be. The interface was incredible...very visually creative and appealing. The enemy pilots looked like they were cut and pasted together from old 'National Geographic' magazines ... really sloppy. They always said the same thing, which, after hearing it for the 300th time gets a little stale. The flight engine makes it look and feel like you are going quite slow, regardless of how fast it says you are going and can freely bounce off of most ships without any difficulties. It feels more like 3D bumper cars with guns than what I imagine space combat to be like.

It almost seems like this production was put together like a patchwork quilt made up of silk and burlap.

The movie parts of this game were incredible. I only wish you could view them separately to the game, as it sadly no longer works on modern systems (WinXP etc.) ... the original release was full of bugs and I never actually got more than half way through it, as the darn thing kept crashing ... but I would love to find out what happens later on in the game / movie.

Clive Owen was, as usual, awesome. The cinematics blew my mind when I first played this ... I actually still have a boxed copy waiting for the day when I can dig out an old system and play it again. Maybe one that can play it all the way through without crashing continuously!! :) Ahhh the good ol' days...

just because it has christopher walken and john hurt ? no. the game is space based, but has you interacting in a story in which your actions define the outcome. after the initial intro to the game (which is excellent) you play for some time, getting a ship, learning some trade routes, fighting some skirmishes. then the real fun begins. you have to make choices. you have to choose your employers, and your missions. for example, you can choose to stay the righteous path, rescuing pilots; or you can plunder their wreckage. You are then presented with choices in which your character enters a scene, and you can choose to be belligerent, or accomodating. obtuse, or engaging. hostile, or neutral. saying the wrong thing can get you killed on the spot! really, this game was far, far ahead of its time. it will not even run well on today's fast cpus, so a cpu slowing utility will be needed - along with a lot of patience to keep restarting the game after it crashes. you're forewarned, just because it was brilliant does not mean it was flawlessly executed. much frustration resulted the initial release and the subsequent failure to patch the engine up to standard. crashes were the norm, much work was lost. i never finished it. but i still think about it. i still think it was and will be the game by which others will know not to strive for - because the bar it set was too high. so most if not all will be painfully beneath it. you might find it as abandonware. lucky you. hopefully it's been fixed. if it has...

privateer 2 is a dang good game, and definitely a worthy addition to any wing commander or space sim fan's collection. However, it is a bit too easy, and sometimes the dogfights can get a little boring.

Then again, after you have finished the main game you can continue playing on as long as you like. There are some fine actors involved and although some of the video is quite long and annoying, there are some great effects.

It isn't another wing commander game, but it is nonetheless fun and similar in many ways. So if you see it on the discount shelf of your local video game shop, snap it up and you should be pleasantly surprised.