Display MoreThe World Cup is here and the whole world has football fever! Except for the United States, which has football fever (and another much worse thing). And the only cure? Obscure Wing Commander references! Luckily, Privateer 2 has exactly what we need: a football… I mean soccer… I mean "sakkuhr"... themed mission! It's called SPORT.SAKKUHR.ROMPERS-ADMIN@CRIUS.NET and it asks Lev to rescue a football team from angry pirates after it unexpectedly lost the 'Bexian Cup'. Like a World Cup, but for Bex!
The ending is also great and appropriate given the amount of money grubbing FIFA and company seem to be engaging in: there are multiple ads in the 'mission successful' e-mail. While the losing version has some genuine poetry: "Their twisted, flash frozen bodies will float in orbit for months as a grim testament to both their own lack of skill and yours."
Privateer 2 has another major football reference: two of the Papogod pirate fighters are named after then-contemporary star players! The Ecantona is named after Eric Cantona who was then a star forward for Manchester United. The Ashearer is from Alan Shearer, a striker for the Blackburn Rovers. Privateer 2 lead programmer noted on BlueSky that "Suffice to say messrs [Nick] Elms and [Phil] Meller were Manchester United fans!"
