Which is not a bad thing, except that one would expect the game titled Privateer 2 to be a true sequel to Privateer and maintain its freelancing spirit.
This limited freedom makes the game feel much more like a Wing Commander game than a Privateer game. Since Origin went the FMV route, where most missions are introduced and the plot unfolded via movie clips, this means the gameworld is much smaller than in Privateer, and the game much more linear. So why is The Darkening inferior to Privateer? The answer, I think, is that the game loses the carefree, go-anywhere-you-want feel of the original game. Far from it: it is fun, it has the best flight engine thus far in a Wing Commander game (until later releases like Prophecy anyway), it boasts excellent production value including an impressive cast (including Christopher Walken and John Hurt), it has an intriguing 'space opera' plot, and it offers dozens of challenging and lengthy missions.
Which is not to say the The Darkening is a bad game. Privateer 2: The Darkening is an excellent sequel to Origin's classic Wing Commander: Privateer, although Origin made the unfortunate decision to sacrifice gameplay depth in favor of slick full-motion video sequences a la Wing Commander III.