The structure of the game was much more open-ended. In the interest of earning money to soupe up your ship (or rather, to buy a better one as soon as you could), you could elect to take on all kinds of different assignments, from transport to routine patrols to surgical strikes. You'd earn your keep if you succeeded, but part of it you'd invariably spend on repairs. Eventually, you'd pick up a more lucrative assignment, and this would eventually lead into a plot surrounding an enigmatic alien intelligence. Along the way, you'd face the Kilrathi, and if you got on the bad side of the law, you might find yourself up against Confed pilots as well. Privateer, with emphasis both on space combat and on economics and role-playing, added a further element of depth to the Wing Commander series, even as it expanded the universe to show the seamier side of things running parallel to Confed's war effort.

Privateer shipped with a supplemental speech accessory pack. Origin later published the add-on Righteous Fire, in which the hero had to get to the bottom of a fanatical conspiracy, if only to recover his ship's stolen alien weapon. Righteous Fire also added powerful new technologies, which made it a must for privateers not satisfied that their ship was the best in the galaxy.

See the original Computer Gaming World review

Next: Wing Commander Armada