I have fond memories of this game and even tried it on the Dreamcast as well seems right for GOG.

While it was not on the level of the other greats in the genre, this game was still alot of space combat fun and decent ship design and cheesy live action shots.

Yeah, I have fond memories of that one. Frankly I didn't appreciate the Wing Commander games until I got Starlancer, which totally blew my mind. I think I got stuck in the last mission and quit. Would love to get it again through GOG but with the game's publisher being Microsoft chances are slim, at least for now.

Also I didn't know there was a Dreamcast version.

Also I may be an exception but I enjoyed Starlancer much much more than Freelancer.

was that that low budget modern take on privateer or something by the same developer? If so: Played the demo, loved it, bought the game, something got in between and I never installed it. Should look for it in my game room, should be there ;)

im not convinced it was low budget, im pretty sure it was AAA for its time, by chris roberts and digital anvil/warthog

Edit, and yes, it was awesome, i vividly and lovingly remember it was reviewed in a pc mag at the time (pc gamer i think) that i used to get, along with gunship! and i was like "im getting both those!" and i did, there was also alot of talk of freelancer at the time too, as they were linked i think, but then that game changed over time.

i think its safe to say, that if you look at star citizen, that those two games were a very early incarnation of what he hopes that game to be, and he has always seemed to have a vision for the game.

i loved it, very much a space opera feel to it, remeniscent of the wing comm games (for obvious reasons), i cant run it on my machine now though :(

yeah just checked youtube and i was talking about freelancer and that one probably wasn't low budget either ;)

Nah, Starlancer was a completely plot-driven thing like the main Wing Commander series and I'm pretty sure it wasn't low budget. Its kinda sequel Freelancer may be the game you're referring to - that one was indeed a spiritual successor to Privateer. And yes, Chris Roberts, the daddy of the Wing Commander series, was also responsible for both these games as far as I know.

Edit: Ninja'd... in space!

Yeah the Dreamcast version ran pretty well just a few framerate issues if I remember correctly thanks for the reply.

The Wing Commander series was also great loved the Fourth game and its story arc that delved into politics and military might.
Oh forgot Microsoft published the game yeah it might take a while then.

"The Ion cannon is targetting us, get out of its range!"

Oh, how I hated this mission. It's the only one I was never able to fully complete on hard difficulty. You are not alone. I really loved Starlancer and only found Freelancer OK at best. Because the missions were much better, much more interesting, it was story-driven, the outcome of missions mattered (or at least looked like it matters) and dogfight was ten times better than in Freelancer.

I always preferred Freelancer though I played it a lot more than Starlancer so maybe I never gave the latter a fair shot.

I have both in my cupboard! Used to love the co-op Starlancer played it through so many times. So much fun. Loved freelancer too.

I still have the CD sitting on my shelf, unsure if it still works. One of my favorite space sim games. Along with the X-Series and IL-2 Sturmovik, they are the reason I spent money on a flight stick. I didn't have a PC back in the Wing Commander days.

Yeah, that's a thing that actually always irritated me about both Privateer and Freelancer, how games completely revolving around "freedom" can actually be perfectly linear while even the completely plot-driven "linear" games they were spinoffs of were extremely dynamic. It blows my mind. Yeah, no doubt. But frankly even Starlancer had worse dogfights than the Wing Commander and X-Wing/Tie-Fighter games IMHO. I may be wrong but IIRC the only challenging situations in Starlancer were assaults on capital ships or something. I don't recall getting frustrated from fighting... fighters, while already in the first Wing Commander game a squadron of heavy fighters, especially accompanied by an ace, would often tear me apart.

For great flying games locked away in MS's vaults see also: "Crimson Skies" (although that one also has a bunch of technical niggles with getting it to run on modern systems, admittedly)

Oh yeah, that one was fantastic. I actually enjoyed it far more than most space combat sims. Last time I played it my PC still had a gameport. Must have been like twelve years ago.

Fun fact about Starlancer, btw: in the German version ALL characters speak with a ridiculous fake accent. While in most games "your guys" talk without any accent (whether they are Americans of Brits) the people doing the localization of Starlancer thought that it would be clever to make all the good guys talk with a completely ridiculous American accent. Never before or ever since have I felt so alienated in a game, especially among my allies.

Although, IIRC there was also some evil German aces in Starlancer but I think even those ones talked in a funny way in the German version.