Tri-System Tribulations (April 10, 2010)

[ChrisReid]

Video blogger Spoony has posted a long review of Privateer 2. After several minutes reminiscencing about the first Privateer, he goes into a rather exhaustive (and scathing) overview of The Darkening. His comments are consistently negative, but it's actually cool to see so much of the game presented in one package like this. It's unfortunate that the trendy thing today is to find things to criticize. I'd rather go to a website that was excited about uncoving long lost gems that I overlooked in the '90s, but the review has actually brought lots of curious players into the fold and created some new fans. If you liked P2 when it was new and haven't played in a while, turning down the sound and watching this thirty-minute video should make you go looking for your discs! Check it out here. And for a full dose of Privateer 2 goodness, check out the game's tenth anniversary roundup.

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Original update published on April 10, 2010

 

[wcnut]

Well, I disagree with your assessment of the review. For starters he was very positive about the first game and spent a good amount of time describing what he liked about it, and how it was a major classic. He was also very positive about the Wing Commander series as a whole.

His complaints with the P2's game mechanics are all entirely valid. A) It is a very unstable game and crashes a lot! B) the AI is a joke and C) Way-points really are a hassle, border line broken. Those are, I'm sorry to say, facts not so much opinion. And I found very disappointing for such a promising game as well. Had they spent another month working out all the bugs I'm sure it would have been a great game. But they rushed it out and that's what happens.

All this stuff he points out in about the first half of the review. The second half he devotes entirely to what P2 did right, which was the excellent FMV and enthralling story line. As well as spotlight the big actors the game had. So i don't know, but I think your being a little harsh against what all I can see as fair critique. Besides when it comes to long lost forgotten games. Any news is good news!


Besides, I agree entirely that, with all the time, effort, money, and skill done on the FMV sequences, It really deserved a less bug-ridden game.

 

[NinjaLA]

its funny.. I don't remember the game being all that unstable at all. and the enemies popping in is only tiresome until you realize they stop if you just kill them quick and jump before the next wave can arrive.

 

[cff]

Lucky you. P2 was the only Origin game for me to have regular crashes. Actually it was the only Origin game besides WC1 (sometimes when ramming enemies and when pausing the game for 6+ hour) that EVER crashed on me. P2 might only have been about as unstable as other titles, but for WC standards it was god aweful in that respect. At least for me (yes, that includes the patched version).

 

[Grimmwolf_GB]

His review was quite accurate. The movies were pretty cool, I only played this game, because I loved Privateer 1 and because the movies rocked. The rest was pretty bad. No cargo on the own ship, useless trading, pointless fights, boring comms with enemies, and so on. It was a very bad sequel to a very excellent game. I replayed the original Privateer about 5-6 times (incl. the expansion), but I never managed to play through the second Privateer again, it was just too boring. So I watched the movies outside the game, since they were the only reason to play it anyway.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I'm just glad some goofy internet personality is finally taking Privateer 2 down a notch.

Wait, no, you're all idiots.

 

[wcnut]

Can't take down what was already down. Again the little extra attention that this gives the WC community can't be bad, and can always point people to titles that were actually excellent games such as Privateer 1

 

[Dyret]

Spoony is annoying and his sidebar wanted to sell me magical manliness-pills and Russian hookers.

Do not want.

 

[LeHah]

Can't take down what was already down.

Lets observe the type of person you're agreeing with.

He has a Warriors, Johnny Mnemonic and Highlander poster.

And he's wearing a trendy Law And Order shirt with Batman on it.

If you agree with this person, you are part of the cancer we're trying to remove.

 

[Dundradal]

Lets observe the type of person you're agreeing with.

He has a Warriors, Johnny Mnemonic and Highlander poster.

And he's wearing a trendy Law And Order shirt with Batman on it.

If you agree with this person, you are part of the cancer we're trying to remove.

As much as this makes me want to rip out my own eyes and feed them to rich overprivileged children for snacks, I have to agree with LeHah here.

 

[ChrisReid]

Well, I disagree with your assessment of the review. For starters he was very positive about the first game and spent a good amount of time describing what he liked about it, and how it was a major classic. He was also very positive about the Wing Commander series as a whole.

I said that he spent the first few minutes talking about what he liked, and then he explains that he does that entirely as a setup to bash Privateer 2.

His complaints with the P2's game mechanics are all entirely valid. A) It is a very unstable game and crashes a lot! B) the AI is a joke and C) Way-points really are a hassle, border line broken. Those are, I'm sorry to say, facts not so much opinion.

Privateer 2 almost never crashed for me. I understand that it did for some people, and they released a patch for it, but it wasn't any more or less buggy for me than any other WC game. The AI is certainly better than the AI in Armada, and I have fun dogfighting in both of those games. Jumping out of waypoints was hard at first, but then you just get better and kill people faster. The "facts" don't apply to everyone.

All this stuff he points out in about the first half of the review. The second half he devotes entirely to what P2 did right, which was the excellent FMV and enthralling story line. As well as spotlight the big actors the game had. So i don't know, but I think your being a little harsh against what all I can see as fair critique. Besides when it comes to long lost forgotten games. Any news is good news!

And I said as much in my post. When I'm going to be harsh and share my contempt for those guys, you'll know it. "It's unfortunate that the trendy thing today is to find things to criticize" is my only slight against him in the whole update. You think that's harsh? Really? My post was nothing but restraint and tolerance. I run an upbeat front page that focuses on the positive side of things in an internet entirely overflowing with douchebags that make a living off being snide, snarky assholes. I was making a real point when I said "I'd rather go to a website that was excited about uncoving long lost gems that I overlooked in the '90s." When we founded the CIC, that's what the internet was. Everyone made an excited fan page about the things they liked. It's terrible today how rare those places are and how they've been replaced by millions of podcasting blogger nerds pretending to be rock stars because they can find things to deride. The tagline for that website is "Because bad movies and games deserve to be hurt back" for christ's sake... It's not clever - tearing something down is the cheap easy way to attract eyeballs.

 

[LeHah]

It's not clever - tearing something down is the cheap easy way to attract eyeballs.

A friend of mine astutely pointed out that the people who hated The Phantom Menace when it came out (which really seems to be the start of this stupid internet trend) seem to be the same people who think Avatar is some kind of second coming.

 

[Deacan]

...standing still for half an hour and no one hits me...

Just a simple question: how long did spooney spent on the game - if you are only playing a few battles with a skill level of green or rockie or so its no wonder that no one harms you!

The first fights and kills are just for target practice, not for a duty on the insane-level...

I really like spooney, any time he teams up with doug walker (the guy with the galsses / nostaligia critic) is very funny... but this review is in my eyes just a quick shot on a game he (perhaps) did not play very long or often...

ps: kills on my bill: 955, standing still with one enemie and I last for only 15 seconds...

 

[ChrisReid]

I was wondering when you would see this.