Privateer 2: The Darkening

I still have the CD for this game sitting in easy reach, as it's one of those games I keep coming back to. I love playing it, even for all it's weird quirks, but honestly I've never finished it. I don't know why. Every time I play it, however, I truly enjoy the experience. That alone rates 4 stars.

This is one of the very best space sims and Elite inspired games of all time. The acting is well above the quality of voice acting in games of the time, which should not be surprising given the actors in it. I found the gameplay to be much better than Privateer, much smoother and AI more sophisticated. The taunts so much better. The cinematography and style put into the video and various interfaces blows Privateer's interiors and interfaces out of the water. I only wish cockpits had not been removed. Wing Commander cannot compare to the freedom of the Privateer games, and while The Darkening did not provide the same sandbox size as Privateer 1, but it did provide a great deal of freedom and the high quality acting and story, and improved gameplay were worth the tradeoff in universe size that this required.

This was really the first game where I felt immersed in the experience. I loved the freedom to trade, take on missions and shoot stuff up, all against the backdrop of a great story. Unfortunately, before I got to finish the game, a catastrophic hard disk failure took out my PC and I could never get this to load on my new computer. For fifteen years this game has been haunting me but at last, thanks to GOG, I've got a chance for closure. I have to admit things didn't start too well, when I first fired it up I found myself straining to make out the murky FMV and when I launched into space for the first time (using the mouse for control) it just felt horrible. I started to think I was really remembering this with rose colored glasses. However, as soon as I'd had a quick browse through the comprehensive documentation and dug out my old joystick, suddenly everything fell into place and all the old magic flooded back. True, the combat is a little simplistic but it still manages to be deeply satisfying, the same is true for the trading. And maybe that's the point, there's just enough depth to make each element enjoyable, so you can mix and match them anyway you want. Add in a great story and a stellar cast to tell it, and you soon forget about the actual quality of the footage. Love it!

This was a great game, When it first came out it blew all that had come before out of the water for graphics. Unfortunately it wasn't as good as Privateer and Righteous fire for plot and game play. The money was spent on... at the time A list actors... very strange sets that didn't work and just looked wrong even then, More so today. The trade options are very clunky and was and still is a real pain to use. Navigation is awfull. The plot can be blown through very fast, Get 250k credits trading which is easy to do. Buy a Frej mk2 forget the side missions and your all done in around 12 hours of game play or less. 20 ish with side quests. Privateer with Righteous Fire is much better, Graphics are brilliant even if they look like a cartoon, The plot is brilliant. You can have fun playing it.

Great