So I moved on in my mind-movie to the Privuteer/Strike Commander scenario. the bitmapped ships and planets of the Wing Commander series had never worked for me, not even back in the innocent days of 1989 (or whenever it was). Had Origin used the original Wing Commander graphics engine? Or the new Strike Commander one? I played through an imaginary movie of the possibilities, and instantly realised that I hoped Origin hadn't gone for the former after all. But then again it had come out after Strike Commander. What was Privateer'going to look like, once you were in a fight? After all, it was sort of a sequel to the Wing Commander games. But then I wondered about these all-important controls, which led, of course, to thoughts of the combat sequences themselves. It looked as if the strategy elements of the game structure were going to be much nearer Strike Commander than Wing Commander or Wing Commander 2: in other words it looked as if there was actually going to be some freedom of choice involved - it wasn't going to simply be a film which allowed you to occasionally take the controls. the instructions from the novella), I soon felt a mild tingle of excitement. Separating the wheat from the chaff (i.e. She muttered something under her breath but I was already in a world of my own, thumbing through the Privateer documentation. I told her that no, she couldn't have my seat, and added that she ought to have bought less shopping. 'Could I possibly have your scat?' asked an old crippled woman who was struggling with three heavy Tesco carrier bags. In which Duncan engages in some torturous introspection on a crowded tube train, heading south on the Northern Line. Okay, hand the jiffy bag over - I'll take it home and try the game out in safety. In fact you might even love it, and then you'll be too embarrassed to come back into the office and admit it. Paul: True, true, but I don't see what are you worried about - after all who's to say you won't like this game? isn't that a cross between Wing Commander and Strike Commanded?ĭunc: Well, I wouldn't say that either of those games are exactly my favourite? and then you can head off to war.ĭunc (MacDonald, Excited reviewer): Wow! What is it? StarLord? Elite 2?ĭunc: Er.
Paul (Lakin, Editor): How do you feel about doing four pages on this space combat and trading game? You get to fly around hundreds of solar systems, visit planets and space stations, interact verbally with other characters, trade goods ranging from base metals to narcotics and generally upgrade your original cargo ship until it's a ninjascopic fighting platform.
In which a jiffy bag containing six Privateer disks and three add-on speech disks 'fall into Duncan's lap'.