I wrote this as an article for a local Trek magazine. If there is a game missing here, it's not because I didn't play it or think about it, it's just that my tastes vary from other players. Feedback welcome!
With Star Trek: Online on the horizon, and countless Trek games on my shelves, I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the more notable releases (or at least a great excuse to play them again!). Here are ten enjoyable games to bear the Trek name.
10 - Starfleet Command (Interplay, 1999, TOS, Strategy) Based on the tabletop game Star Fleet Battles, this was an in-depth strategic space combat game, with the player controlling a small fleet to achieve varied objectives. It was very difficult for newcomers to get into, but spawned a large cult following, with many fan mods released. There were also three sequels.
9 - Armada (Activision, 2000, TNG, Strategy) A Starcraft-style (though with more open and varied environments) real-time space strategy with five campaigns (including the Borg), this is reportedly behind only 25th Anniversary in sales. The distinct variety of ships, voice-overs from Stewart, Dorn and co, long campaign and variety of mods make this one of the better games.
8 - Generations (Microprose, 1997, TNG, Adventure) Something of a sequel to A Final Unity, though this game features a single away-team member in first-person perspective rather than four in third-person. Ship combat has improved, there are scenes from the film and even Malcolm McDowell appears. Some of the missions are very frustrating, partly due to the murky graphics, though you can fail a few without losing the game.
7 - Birth of the Federation (Microprose, 1999, TNG, Strategy) At long last, an empire-building Trek game! With five distinct playable races, 30 minor races to befriend or fight, diplomacy (albeit mostly broken), ship combat, research and espionage, it's a deep and enjoyable experience despite being riddled with bugs (not aided by the subsequent collapse of Microprose). Extensive fan patches and mods (including one which adds The Dominion) are available, and the game is still popular today.
6 - Elite Force (Activision, 2000, Voy, Shooter) A fun game using the Quake engine, this is considered one of the few Trek games with mainstream appeal. With a complete cast (Jeri Ryan was added in via a patch), various objectives, extensive character interaction, aliens including Borg (who adapt to weapons) and extensive multiplayer, this was a clear success. Rarely for Trek Games, it had an expansion and sequel.
5 - The Fallen (Simon & Schuster, 2000, DS9, Shooter) An Unreal engine game, The Fallen is set amid the Millennium novel trilogy. It is graphically impressive, though some missions are quite long and frustrating. Unfortunately, Sisko and O'Brien are not voiced by their actors, which is particularly noticeable as Sisko is one of three playable characters. DS9 only featured two games, this and the awful Harbinger, so it's fortunate this was at least decent. A substantial fan-made expansion is available.
4 - A Final Unity (Spectrum HoloByte, 1995, TNG, Adventure) With full voices from the TNG cast, a choice of crew for away missions and impressive graphics for the time (including video-quality cutscenes), TNG's first game was arguably its best. It is agonisingly slow at times, combat is tough and the puzzles can be obtuse (playing alien pipes to make bits of a path appear over a chasm without a cheatbook is not fun), but it expanded on Interplay's first brilliant games (see #1 & #2) using the technology of the day to its fullest.
3 - Klingon Academy (Interplay, 2000, TOS, Space Combat) The game that Starfleet Academy should have been. This feels much more like Star Trek, with the ships actually handling more like starships rather than fighters. Excellent graphics, various elements of space to use to your strategic advantage and an enhanced interface are good, but nothing compared to the brilliant FMV scenes of Christopher Plummer and David Warner running wild as their Klingon characters. It comes on a massive six discs, but can be played as a movie as well as a game. Unfortunately, not only was it buggy, Interplay axed the development team straight after release, which meant technical support was very limited. There are plenty of mods available, though.
2 - 25th Anniversary (Interplay, 1992, TOS, Adventure)Featuring full-colour graphics, the voices of the entire cast and a combination of space combat and adventure, it was the first Trek game to achieve commercial success. It was split into episodes, and though only Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a redshirt could form landing parties, all the main crew were there. From retaking a captured ship to dealing with Harry Mudd to deactivating a nuclear base threatening a world, the stories are fantastic and filled with brilliant dialogue and character interaction. It's very easy to be drawn away from the main plot to, for instance, hear the character's reactions as they are given laughing gas. The scoring system ensures some replayability, and it's always fun to save and try one path, then reload and try a different one.
1 - Judgment Rites (Interplay, 1993, TOS, Adventure)The sequel again brought the cast together, this time with all major characters taking part in away missions (though still four at a time). William Campbell reprises his role as Trelane in one memorable episode, amid a theme of the crew being tested by God-like beings. With a few refinements and a story arc, it is even better than its predecessor. Sadly, a 1999 sequel, which was substantially completed, was cancelled due to Interplay's troubles.
With so many Trek games, there are unfortunately some which do not work out. Here are six that are best avoided.
6 - Legacy (Bethseda, 2006, Multi, Strategy)Probably the only time you will get the voices of all five captains on the one game. This crosses the entire history of Star Trek, and you can fly ships from the NX Enterprise to Voyager. The problems include the incredibly awkward PC controls (many of which are incorrectly listed in the manual), missing features - including the removal of ship upgrades, which unbalances the game - and remarkably short play-time for a game covering such a span. It looks and sounds nice, but as a game, it's a big disappointment.
5 - Starfleet Adademy (Interplay, 1997, TOS, Space Combat) After three years of hype (including TV ads - how many PC games get that?) Starfleet Command finally arrived...and fell flat. The story was good enough for an audio release and the FMV scenes with Kirk, Chekov and Sulu (with a choice of dialogue and resulting different reactions) are worth playing through a few times. Still, it is a space combat game, and though it rips off the Wing Commander series in many ways, it falls way short of Prophecy, released in the same year. The expansion, Chekov's Lost Missions, added a few more missions and enhanced online capability.
4 - Starship Creator (Simon & Schuster, 1998, Multi, Strategy) It had a nice box. It sounded great. I paid $90 for it. I built my ship, assigned a crew from a choice of major (and some minor) characters...and sat back wondered where the "game" part was. You have plenty of freedom to build your ships from scratch with all sorts of components and can assemble your dream crew, but it'd be a lot cheaper and less restrictive to do so on a bit of paper. The game has a very limited selection of missions, with about two minutes of music looped endlessly, and nothing to do as your ship inches along the screen performing pre-programmed tasks. Add plenty of bugs, and a lack of consequences for failure, and it's not a good experience.
3 - ConQuest Online (Activision, 2000, TNG, Card) An attempt at an online trading card game, where you play a Q using characters and ships to battle another Q. The few games of this type to really work had an already established fan base (Pokemon) and/or great single-player component (Magic: The Gathering). Even Marvel and WWE online trading card games failed. A limited community and the need to buy the pieces you play with saw this die off quickly.
2 - Dominion Wars (Simon & Schuster, 2001, DS9, Strategy) There may be a decent game here, but most people struggle to get it to run. Riddled with crashes and incompatibility with almost all systems, this was a disaster. The box advertises it as coming with Starship Creator II, but this is absent from the Australian version.
1 - Conquest (Bethseda, 2007, TNG, Strategy) Remember that episode where Starfleet had to destroy the Klingon and Romulan homeworlds? Remember when Genesis Devices were lobbed at opposing fleets? No? Then you may be a bit confused by this PS2 game. Not only is it insulting to the Star Trek name, it features bad impersonations of characters like Martok, a grossly unbalanced difficulty and an incredibly simplistic and limited premise - destroy everyone else, for reasons unknown. This would be a bad fan-made game, let alone an official one released by the company behind Morrowind.
With Star Trek: Online on the horizon, and countless Trek games on my shelves, I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the more notable releases (or at least a great excuse to play them again!). Here are ten enjoyable games to bear the Trek name.
10 - Starfleet Command (Interplay, 1999, TOS, Strategy) Based on the tabletop game Star Fleet Battles, this was an in-depth strategic space combat game, with the player controlling a small fleet to achieve varied objectives. It was very difficult for newcomers to get into, but spawned a large cult following, with many fan mods released. There were also three sequels.
9 - Armada (Activision, 2000, TNG, Strategy) A Starcraft-style (though with more open and varied environments) real-time space strategy with five campaigns (including the Borg), this is reportedly behind only 25th Anniversary in sales. The distinct variety of ships, voice-overs from Stewart, Dorn and co, long campaign and variety of mods make this one of the better games.
8 - Generations (Microprose, 1997, TNG, Adventure) Something of a sequel to A Final Unity, though this game features a single away-team member in first-person perspective rather than four in third-person. Ship combat has improved, there are scenes from the film and even Malcolm McDowell appears. Some of the missions are very frustrating, partly due to the murky graphics, though you can fail a few without losing the game.
7 - Birth of the Federation (Microprose, 1999, TNG, Strategy) At long last, an empire-building Trek game! With five distinct playable races, 30 minor races to befriend or fight, diplomacy (albeit mostly broken), ship combat, research and espionage, it's a deep and enjoyable experience despite being riddled with bugs (not aided by the subsequent collapse of Microprose). Extensive fan patches and mods (including one which adds The Dominion) are available, and the game is still popular today.
6 - Elite Force (Activision, 2000, Voy, Shooter) A fun game using the Quake engine, this is considered one of the few Trek games with mainstream appeal. With a complete cast (Jeri Ryan was added in via a patch), various objectives, extensive character interaction, aliens including Borg (who adapt to weapons) and extensive multiplayer, this was a clear success. Rarely for Trek Games, it had an expansion and sequel.
5 - The Fallen (Simon & Schuster, 2000, DS9, Shooter) An Unreal engine game, The Fallen is set amid the Millennium novel trilogy. It is graphically impressive, though some missions are quite long and frustrating. Unfortunately, Sisko and O'Brien are not voiced by their actors, which is particularly noticeable as Sisko is one of three playable characters. DS9 only featured two games, this and the awful Harbinger, so it's fortunate this was at least decent. A substantial fan-made expansion is available.
4 - A Final Unity (Spectrum HoloByte, 1995, TNG, Adventure) With full voices from the TNG cast, a choice of crew for away missions and impressive graphics for the time (including video-quality cutscenes), TNG's first game was arguably its best. It is agonisingly slow at times, combat is tough and the puzzles can be obtuse (playing alien pipes to make bits of a path appear over a chasm without a cheatbook is not fun), but it expanded on Interplay's first brilliant games (see #1 & #2) using the technology of the day to its fullest.
3 - Klingon Academy (Interplay, 2000, TOS, Space Combat) The game that Starfleet Academy should have been. This feels much more like Star Trek, with the ships actually handling more like starships rather than fighters. Excellent graphics, various elements of space to use to your strategic advantage and an enhanced interface are good, but nothing compared to the brilliant FMV scenes of Christopher Plummer and David Warner running wild as their Klingon characters. It comes on a massive six discs, but can be played as a movie as well as a game. Unfortunately, not only was it buggy, Interplay axed the development team straight after release, which meant technical support was very limited. There are plenty of mods available, though.
2 - 25th Anniversary (Interplay, 1992, TOS, Adventure)Featuring full-colour graphics, the voices of the entire cast and a combination of space combat and adventure, it was the first Trek game to achieve commercial success. It was split into episodes, and though only Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a redshirt could form landing parties, all the main crew were there. From retaking a captured ship to dealing with Harry Mudd to deactivating a nuclear base threatening a world, the stories are fantastic and filled with brilliant dialogue and character interaction. It's very easy to be drawn away from the main plot to, for instance, hear the character's reactions as they are given laughing gas. The scoring system ensures some replayability, and it's always fun to save and try one path, then reload and try a different one.
1 - Judgment Rites (Interplay, 1993, TOS, Adventure)The sequel again brought the cast together, this time with all major characters taking part in away missions (though still four at a time). William Campbell reprises his role as Trelane in one memorable episode, amid a theme of the crew being tested by God-like beings. With a few refinements and a story arc, it is even better than its predecessor. Sadly, a 1999 sequel, which was substantially completed, was cancelled due to Interplay's troubles.
With so many Trek games, there are unfortunately some which do not work out. Here are six that are best avoided.
6 - Legacy (Bethseda, 2006, Multi, Strategy)Probably the only time you will get the voices of all five captains on the one game. This crosses the entire history of Star Trek, and you can fly ships from the NX Enterprise to Voyager. The problems include the incredibly awkward PC controls (many of which are incorrectly listed in the manual), missing features - including the removal of ship upgrades, which unbalances the game - and remarkably short play-time for a game covering such a span. It looks and sounds nice, but as a game, it's a big disappointment.
5 - Starfleet Adademy (Interplay, 1997, TOS, Space Combat) After three years of hype (including TV ads - how many PC games get that?) Starfleet Command finally arrived...and fell flat. The story was good enough for an audio release and the FMV scenes with Kirk, Chekov and Sulu (with a choice of dialogue and resulting different reactions) are worth playing through a few times. Still, it is a space combat game, and though it rips off the Wing Commander series in many ways, it falls way short of Prophecy, released in the same year. The expansion, Chekov's Lost Missions, added a few more missions and enhanced online capability.
4 - Starship Creator (Simon & Schuster, 1998, Multi, Strategy) It had a nice box. It sounded great. I paid $90 for it. I built my ship, assigned a crew from a choice of major (and some minor) characters...and sat back wondered where the "game" part was. You have plenty of freedom to build your ships from scratch with all sorts of components and can assemble your dream crew, but it'd be a lot cheaper and less restrictive to do so on a bit of paper. The game has a very limited selection of missions, with about two minutes of music looped endlessly, and nothing to do as your ship inches along the screen performing pre-programmed tasks. Add plenty of bugs, and a lack of consequences for failure, and it's not a good experience.
3 - ConQuest Online (Activision, 2000, TNG, Card) An attempt at an online trading card game, where you play a Q using characters and ships to battle another Q. The few games of this type to really work had an already established fan base (Pokemon) and/or great single-player component (Magic: The Gathering). Even Marvel and WWE online trading card games failed. A limited community and the need to buy the pieces you play with saw this die off quickly.
2 - Dominion Wars (Simon & Schuster, 2001, DS9, Strategy) There may be a decent game here, but most people struggle to get it to run. Riddled with crashes and incompatibility with almost all systems, this was a disaster. The box advertises it as coming with Starship Creator II, but this is absent from the Australian version.
1 - Conquest (Bethseda, 2007, TNG, Strategy) Remember that episode where Starfleet had to destroy the Klingon and Romulan homeworlds? Remember when Genesis Devices were lobbed at opposing fleets? No? Then you may be a bit confused by this PS2 game. Not only is it insulting to the Star Trek name, it features bad impersonations of characters like Martok, a grossly unbalanced difficulty and an incredibly simplistic and limited premise - destroy everyone else, for reasons unknown. This would be a bad fan-made game, let alone an official one released by the company behind Morrowind.
IGN's review is brilliant.
