Privateer 2: The Darkening

Last updated
Privateer 2: The Darkening
Privateer 2 cover.jpg
European cover art
Developer(s) EA Manchester
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Producer(s) Erin D. Roberts
Artist(s) Adam Medhurst
Composer(s) James Hannigan
Ray Shulman
Series Wing Commander
Platform(s) MS-DOS
Release
  • EU: December 13, 1996 [1]
  • NA: December 28, 1996 [1]
Genre(s) Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s) Single-player

Privateer 2: The Darkening is a space flight simulation game that was released in 1996 for MS-DOS and published by Electronic Arts under the Origin Systems brand. [2] It is a sequel to Wing Commander: Privateer .

Contents

The game features live-action video scenes, scripted by Diane Duane and directed by Steve Hilliker, which are discovered as the plot progresses. The cast included Clive Owen, Mathilda May, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Brian Blessed and Amanda Pays. Dani Behr voiced the onboard computer, also named Dani. The game also featured David Warner, and Jürgen Prochnow, who later played Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn and Commander Paul Gerald, respectively, in the Wing Commander feature film. The filming took place at Pinewood Studios in England.

After the game's release, some members of the development team at EA Manchester went on to found Warthog Games, developer of the space simulator Starlancer . GOG.com released an emulated version of Privateer 2 for Microsoft Windows in 2013. [3]

Synopsis

The game is set in a remote region of the Wing Commander universe in the Tri-System Confederation, a three system government that has an almost three thousand-year history of its own parallel to the Terran Confederation history. In the game's opening, the cargo ship Canera is attacked during landing and crashes into Mendra City on planet Crius in the year 2790 of the Tri-System calendar (the calendar appears to be longer than a Terran year with months that are about 40 days each). One survivor, Ser Lev Arris (Clive Owen), a man in a fugue state with no memory of who he is and no record of his existence prior to two weeks before the crash, awakens from his cryo-sleep and must take on the life of a privateer in the Tri-System, rediscovering his past along the way. [4]

Development

The game had a development budget of $5 million. [5]

Reception

A Next Generation critic said Privateer 2 "has rejuvenated the genre". While criticizing the game for its reliance on live-action video segments to advance the plot, like the mainline Wing Commander series, the reviewer said it at least gives players the option of ignoring the story. They also praised the graphics, frame rate, flight mechanics, support for most flight sticks and throttles, and upgradeable ships, though they noted several glitches and the lack of Windows 95 support. [7] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot was more vehement about these two issues, saying they make the game feel like a rushed product. He also criticized it as being a Wing Commander game in name only, with no apparent connection to the rest of the series. However, he concluded "if you can accept its multiple shortcomings, you will find that Privateer 2 is actually a fairly solid game", citing the flight mechanics, graphics, plot, acting, and massive length. [6] Privateer 2 was a runner-up for Computer Game Entertainment's 1996 "Best Action Game" prize, which ultimately went to Duke Nukem 3D . The editors wrote: "Not quite as freewheeling as the original, Privateer 2 is still a fluid, immersive and enjoyable game experience". [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>StarCraft</i> (video game) 1998 real-time strategy game

StarCraft is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. The first installment of the video game series of the same name, it was released in 1998. A Classic Mac OS version was released in 1999, and a Nintendo 64 port co-developed with Mass Media and published by Nintendo was released in 2000.

<i>Wing Commander</i> (franchise) Video game series

Wing Commander is a media franchise consisting of space combat simulation video games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a collectible card game, a series of novels, and action figures. The franchise originated in 1990 with the release of video game Wing Commander.

<i>Descent II</i> 1996 video game

Descent II is a 1996 first-person shooter game developed by Parallax Software and first published for DOS by Interplay Productions. A version for the PlayStation was released under the title Descent Maximum. It is the second installment in the Descent video game series and the sequel to Descent. The player controls a spaceship from the pilot's perspective and must navigate extrasolar underground mines to locate and destroy their reactors and escape being caught in their self-destructions, while engaging and surviving infected robots, which will attempt to destroy the ship. Unlike other first-person shooters, its six-degrees-of-freedom scheme allows the player to move and rotate in any three-dimensional space and direction.

<i>Crusader: No Remorse</i> 1995 video game

Crusader: No Remorse is an action game developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts. It was first released in 1995 for MS-DOS, with the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn ports following in 1997. Set in a dystopian future 22nd century, the game centers on The Captain, a special ops officer and supersoldier, who defects from the tyrannical world government, the World Economic Consortium (WEC), and joins the Resistance rebels.

<i>Strike Commander</i> 1993 video game

Strike Commander is a combat flight simulation video game designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems for the PC DOS in 1993. Its 3D graphics-engine used both gouraud shading and texture-mapping on both aircraft-models and terrain, an impressive feat at the time. Significant plot elements were presented through in-game cut-scene animations, a hallmark storytelling vehicle from Chris Robert's previous Wing Commander games. Strike Commander has been called "Privateer on Earth", due to the mercenary role-playing in the game.

<i>Vega Strike</i> 2005 video game

Vega Strike is a first-person space trading and combat simulator, developed for Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and OS X systems. Many of the core game mechanics of Vega Strike are indirectly inspired by Elite. Other games, such as Wing Commander: Privateer, influenced the original developer.

<i>Star Wars: X-Wing</i> (video game) 1993 video game

Star Wars: X-Wing is a space simulation video game, the first of the X-Wing combat flight simulation games series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance. The narrative precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

<i>Syndicate Wars</i> 1996 video game

Syndicate Wars is an isometric real-time tactical and strategic game, developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for DOS in 1996 and for the PlayStation in 1997. It is the second video game title in the Syndicate series, retaining the core gameplay and perspective of the original Syndicate, but with a setting 95 years further into the future.

<i>Wing Commander</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Wing Commander is the first game in Chris Roberts' space flight simulation Wing Commander franchise by Origin Systems. The game was first released for MS-DOS on September 26, 1990, and was later ported to the Amiga, CD32 (256-color), Sega CD and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and re-released for the PC as Wing Commander I in 1994. An enhanced remake Super Wing Commander was made for the 3DO in 1994, and later ported to the Macintosh.

<i>Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi</i> 1991 computer game; 2nd installment of Wing Commander series

Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi is the first sequel in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems.

<i>Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger</i> 1994 video game

Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger is the third main game in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulation video game series, developed and released by Origin Systems in December 1994. It was a departure from previous games in the series in that it uses extensive live action full-motion video to add an interactive movie-style presentation to the space combat gameplay, emphasized by its advertising slogan, "Don't watch the game, play the movie!". The game's more than two hours of video featured a number of prominent movie stars including Mark Hamill as Colonel Christopher "Maverick" Blair, Malcolm McDowell as Admiral Tolwyn, John Rhys-Davies as James "Paladin" Taggart and Thrakhath nar Kiranka, and Tom Wilson as Todd "Maniac" Marshall.

<i>Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom</i> 1996 video game

Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is the fourth main game in the Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator video game series, produced by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts for the PC in 1996 and the Sony PlayStation in 1997.

<i>Wing Commander: Prophecy</i> 1997 video game

Wing Commander: Prophecy is the fifth installment in the Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator franchise of computer games. The game was released in 1997 for Windows, produced by Origin Systems and distributed by Electronic Arts. In 2003, a Game Boy Advance conversion with added multiplayer was produced by Italy-based Raylight Studios and distributed by Destination Software.

<i>Wing Commander: Armada</i> 1994 video game

Wing Commander: Armada is a computer game set in the universe of Chris Roberts' Wing Commander franchise. Created by Origin Systems and distributed by Electronic Arts in 1994, Armada was the first official game of the Wing Commander series to feature multiplayer mode. This game was released shortly before Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger and features a new graphics engine, capable of rendering fully 3D ship models, which is more powerful than the sprite-based engine used in Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi.

<i>Time Commando</i> 1996 video game

Time Commando is an action-adventure video game developed by Adeline Software and published by Electronic Arts in Europe, Activision in America, and Virgin Interactive Entertainment and Acclaim Entertainment (Saturn) in Japan.

<i>Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall</i> 1995 video game

Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall is a 1995 action-adventure role-playing video game by Strategic Simulations, Inc. It was re-released in 2013 on GOG.com.

<i>Wing Commander: Privateer</i> 1993 video game

Wing Commander: Privateer is an adventure space trading and combat simulator computer video game which was released by Origin Systems in September 1993. Privateer and its storyline is part of the Wing Commander series. The player takes the role of Grayson Burrows, a "privateer" who travels through the Gemini Sector, one of many sectors in the Wing Commander universe. Unlike Wing Commander, the player is no longer a navy pilot, but a freelancer who can choose to be a pirate, a merchant, a mercenary or any of the above in some combination. The player may follow the built-in plot, but is free to adventure on his own, even after the plot has been completed.

<i>Star Wars: TIE Fighter</i> 1994 video game

Star Wars: TIE Fighter is a 1994 Star Wars space flight simulator and space combat video game, a sequel in the Star Wars: X-Wing series. It places the player in the role of an Imperial starfighter pilot during events that occur between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.

<i>Inferno</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Inferno is a space combat simulator video game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software in 1994 for the PC. It is a sequel to the 1992 game Epic.

References

  1. 1 2 "Online Gaming Review". 1997-02-27. Archived from the original on 1997-02-27. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  2. ↑ "Privateer 2". www.origin.ea.com. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30.
  3. ↑ "Release: Privateer 2: The Darkening". GOG.com . CD Projekt. September 19, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Privateer 2: The Darkening - Series Background - Wing Commander CIC". www.wcnews.com. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  5. ↑ "Privateer 2: The Darkening". PC Review . December 1996. p. 41. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Kasavin, Greg (February 6, 1997). "Privateer 2: The Darkening Review". GameSpot . Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  7. 1 2 "In the Black". Next Generation . No. 29. Imagine Media. May 1997. p. 154.
  8. ↑ Olafson, Peter. "Privateer 2: The Darkening". PC Games . Archived from the original on July 11, 1997.
  9. ↑ Staff (July 1997). "The Computer Game Entertainment Awards 1996". Computer Game Entertainment (1): 54–58.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.