I ve never ever again played a better Space Sim!
Ok, your Lev Arris.. after the spaceship your in crashes on a planet, you awake in an hospital. You have no memory of your past. find out who you are! ... well seems like a boring story? Sure, doesnt sound innovative. Well theres a good reason for thinking the story is lame, but trust me, youll never guess the end.
In Privateer 2 you fly from planet to planet, following the main plot, or just trading around, trying to make your average space ship you got at the beginning to a flying fortress of destruction.
You can buy of course better ships, and than level them up with new lasers, rockets, armor, shields, and so on. To get money you have to trade resourcess you get on the planets. A Bulletin board shows you where something is needed. There are also the usual possibilities, of becoming a pirate (watch out for the police) or a headhunter(watch out for pirates)!
Ok, doesnt sound ground breaking so far. The fact that you havent as much galaxies or planet as in freelancer or other late SpaceSims, also doesnt speak for it.
Its part of the presentation that makes this game and the lame-sounding-story, realy playworth. Ok, you maybe have only a few planets you can fly to, but compared to games like freelancer or Darkstar One, these planets have character. Every planet has a unique design and n unique landing/take off scence. Also, when you are in space, in the orbit of a planet, you will recognize where in space your at. Not like in newer SpaceSims, where every bit of the Space seems randomly generated, with no chance of recognizing a planet by its surface. So having less of different, is sometimes more worth than having much of the same.
Did I mention that its all FMV´s? Because thats what makes the game great. Ok, some may say ´FMV´s break the game-flow´...´keepin cutscenes in the game engine is so much better´. Ok, i have played a lot of SpaceSims, and i have to say, that besides of the Wing Commander games (3+4) and Privateer 2, theres no SpaceSim i can remember a bit of their storys. Freelancer? What was that all about? Dont remember, must have been very uninterestin. But in this game, you will remember the story. Thanks to the FMV´s and the phenomenal cast. There are: Clive Owen (as Lev Arris), John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Juergen Prochnow ... just to mention a few. So Privateer 2 makes not only a great Space Combat Sim, but also a great Movie. Everything is well done, and doesnt look like Low budget B Movie.
The graphics, for its time, were also cool. I think it was the first game i played using a Lens Flear effect (in Space). The design of the ships, was just right. The HUD display was also a very stylish one, giving you a lot of information on your screen. In every way, newer Space Sims, now use what was first introduced in Privateer 2. In any way a lot better than the graphics of Wing Commander 4.
So overall, this game is not only excellent, its one of the best of its kind. Possible, you have much more freedome in other games, but this gives you a very well made closed universe, where you will enjoy staying and flying around. So, great Characters.. played by a great cast, great graphics .. for its time ..and also great gameplay (shooting at enemies is fun).
For me, this game will always stay in my mind as the best Space Combat Sim to date! No other Space Sim engaged me that much in the story!