![]() Midway through a conversation with a character, for instance, the cutscene will stop and provide two options to the player - do you trust this new recruit, or do you think he’s hiding something? Do you accept the hotshot’s challenge, or do you take the moral high ground? While these branching conversations seem to have little consequence early on in the game, they can later contribute to one of a few different endings. Released in 1993, Wing Commander: Privateer drops players into the shoes of a freelancing spacer trying to fly, fight and trade their way through a harsh universe full of hostile forces and violent aliens that you befriend or blow out of the sky.The main area where the gameplay truly shines is when it synergizes with the story: branching conversations, multiple mission storylines, and numerous endings are really what give Wing Commander III its kick. I don’t like Wing Commander: Privateer as much as I did Wing Commander 2. When you get right down to it, there’s just too much nostalgic bias on my part for me to see any other entry in the franchise as anything but subpar when compared to that classic of my childhood. Even so, as I leave Wing Commander: Privateer behind me, I can’t help but feel that there are some genuine deficits that kept me from enjoying it as much as years of echoed acclaim had led me to believe I would.Ī big part of it was definitely the story, which is far less a part of the game than I would have liked. While some have certainly criticized the Wing Commander games for being a tad overly focused on plot at times, I’m one of the people who has enjoyed that arguable imbalance. Privateer, comparatively, does have a story, but you can play for hours without even stumbling on its beginnings. And even after it started, I had to say that I found it to be far less interesting than what I was used to from the rest of the franchise. Maybe it’s just me, but the search for an alien drone was less engaging than the drama of an interstellar war with a hostile race of Tony the Tigers. Unfortunately, my disinterest in the story had the effect of exposing just how dependent I am on the narrative of Wing Commander to be able to enjoy it.Īs silly as it probably sounds, the role and mindset that a game places me in is probably one of the biggest factors that determines if I like it. Even when I was no older than five or six I had a distinct disinterest in most things to do with Super Mario, but couldn’t get enough of The Legend of Zelda. What was the difference? One stars a goofy plumber who punches bricks while the other gives you a sword and sends you on dungeon-delving quest to save the world.įor all their flaws, the mainline Wing Commander games hooked me by dropping me into the shoes of a hero that I found innately interesting. In Wing Commander 1 you’re the rookie trying to prove themselves. In Wing Commander 2 you’re a disgraced pilot trying to prove their innocence in the midst of a war that is going poorly. Playing as that person and in those roles motivated me. It made me want to kick more ass and see what came next. Playing as some guy trying to make a buck while searching for a random space object, just didn’t do it for me. ![]() Not that I can’t enjoy a game for gameplay’s sake, mind you. The problem is that without a story to help make up for some of its lesser features, I couldn’t help but be bothered by Privateer in ways I might have otherwise cared less about. ![]() The controls, for instance, are very much on the clunky end of the scale. Granted, I’ve always played the Wing Commander games with a keyboard which, from what I’ve heard, is the worst way to do it. That said, it’s what I’ve always been most comfortable with and the gameplay’s general stiffness just troubled me more than it has in my past experiences with the franchise. Likewise, the game’s repetition (Take mission. Repeat.) It felt much more grindy to me this time around, as did the game’s moments of frustration. #WING COMMANDER PRIVATEER GAMEPLAY FULL#.
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