Your top 10 Star Trek games?

[JD]

I only played a little bit of STO, but I've read quite a bit about it and the one thing that kind of bugs me is that practically every mysterious thing from the shows is connected to the Iconians. A few things would have been OK, but it sounds like it just got ridiculous after a while.
One of the things I like so much about Elite Force II is the fact that it is a completely original story, with new aliens and planets.

 

[Ghost]

It also does something I don't like; it takes vague and mysterious concepts from Star Trek, that should probably remain mysterious, and makes them into generic enemies, as if all ancient civilizations are inevitably a race of conquering demons. I'm glad this isn't canon. I would urge people to play classics like Judgement Rites or A Final Unity or Generations or Klingon Honor Guard.

When the designers decided to bring back the Preservers/The Progenitor species from the TNG episode "The Chase" and in particular the Iconians, something they had been talking about in various interviews even before Star Trek Online came out I could not help but feel that that plot sounded really like something from Stargate SG-1.
And when the season came online in which Starfleet/the Klingon Empire had to fight the Iconians who were now returning to reclaim Iconia and conquer the Alpha and Beta Quadrant it was pretty much executed in a way fitting that series too. Or how the conflict was eventually resolved through an elaborate time travel plot.

I also did not like how the aliens from the TNG episode "Schisms" and the aliens from ENT "Silent Enemy" were retconned as being servitor species that serve the Iconians in various roles. (or how Online writers wrote how the Sphere Builders were originally from the known universe)

By wanting to connect everything it makes the Star Trek Universe feel really small.
Mind you, I would not object if it would be revealed that the Borg Collective was accidentally created by the Preservers/Progenitors if written well.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Any and all Trek games through the 90s were a golden time of Trek gaming, even the poor ones were miles better than what is being pushed as ST gaming today.

 

[JD]

I just want one great current gen console game. I'd put STO at just OK to good.

 

[INACTIVERedDwarf]

When the designers decided to bring back the Preservers/The Progenitor species from the TNG episode "The Chase" and in particular the Iconians, something they had been talking about in various interviews even before Star Trek Online came out I could not help but feel that that plot sounded really like something from Stargate SG-1.
And when the season came online in which Starfleet/the Klingon Empire had to fight the Iconians who were now returning to reclaim Iconia and conquer the Alpha and Beta Quadrant it was pretty much executed in a way fitting that series too. Or how the conflict was eventually resolved through an elaborate time travel plot.

I also did not like how the aliens from the TNG episode "Schisms" and the aliens from ENT "Silent Enemy" were retconned as being servitor species that serve the Iconians in various roles. (or how Online writers wrote how the Sphere Builders were originally from the known universe)

By wanting to connect everything it makes the Star Trek Universe feel really small.
Mind you, I would not object if it would be revealed that the Borg Collective was accidentally created by the Preservers/Progenitors if written well.

I agree; excellently put. It's poor writing when every little loose thread is wrapped into one plot. It makes the universe feel small like you say. I'm so glad it isn't canon, but for a lot of people it will be 'head canon'.

Any and all Trek games through the 90s were a golden time of Trek gaming, even the poor ones were miles better than what is being pushed as ST gaming today.

They definitely were. Klingon Honor Guard felt like you were living inside the Star Trek setting and finding new things out about it. The recent Star Trek shooter from the 2010s was just.... generic. Star Wars also had far better games in the 90s than post-2000s. Things like TIE Fighter and Dark Forces were really faithful portrayals of life in the Star Wars setting. Since then, space sims have become little more than arcade shooters, where before they let you feel you were an X-Wing pilot.

I just want one great current gen console game. I'd put STO at just OK to good.

Same here. It wouldn't be too hard to adapt DSC's Klingon War into a first person shooter. Have missions like sabotaging Klingon shipyards, defending a Federation colony, infiltrating a Klingon outpost, etc. It's amazing how few good games are made for Star Trek, Star Wars and even Warhammer 40,000 these days, considering their unbelievable depth and interest as settings (not to mention their enduring popularity).

I think perhaps the problem is companies used to be run by nerds in the early days of gaming, so games like EGA Trek and Judgement Rites and Starfleet Academy and A Final Unity and Klingon Honor Guard used to be ridiculously faithful, because the people programming them were familiar with Trek. But now the industry is more diverse, with not every exec being a nerd, and publishers don't want to simulate a realistic experience in the Star Trek setting anymore, they want to churn out low risk games that have almost nothing to do with Trek, or jump on the multiplayer/loot bandwagon.

 

[JD]

What you said about a Disco era game actually gave me an idea, a Call of Duty style FPS set during the Dominion War. They could even do multiple player characters like in the COD games, but make them a Starfleet Officer, a Klingong, and a Romulan.
I really wish GOG would add more Trek game, I would love to try Borg, Klingon, and Klingon Honor Guard.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I'm not sure if I've played 10 Trek games, but off the top of my head:

1. STAR TREK 25th ANNIVERSARY
I still have the floppy disk version of this, which of course, had no voice acting on it.
The episodic nature of this game was, and I believe still is , unique to it (and its sequel), and really captured the feeling of the show. The dialog was very well-written. I had a ton of fun playing this on a 286, VGA machine long ago.

2. ARMADA
actually, this game might have had an episodic thing going on as well. While ultimately the name of the game describes every winning strategy - how you get there is a real challenge. It had a lot of great voice acting and cut scenes that made this a memorable experience. Armada II is much harder to find, and not as good as the first one.

3. HIDDEN EVIL
I am sad to find this game is just not going to work in Win 10. If you like the adventure game genre, if you like isometric graphics with light action - this game is a hidden gem. Don't believe the poor reviews, except for some of the endgame's corridors, I remember this being a really fun TNG era , mostly classic-style adventure game. It's worth having a dual boot to Win 98 , if that's what it takes to make it work.

4. BRIDGE COMMANDER
This game was *hard* to find for less than $70 when I managed to grab a disk + manual for $7 on ebay. It was a real joy to play through it a few times. Back then I had a 21" CRT. Good times. May need to revisit this one, if I can get it to run....

5. REBEL UNIVERSE
This was my first Trek computer game. Despite its shortcomings , I remember really getting into this one. Atari ST was where it was at for this game, and DOS CGA was rough to look at. All I remember is it had a "just one more mission..." quality to it.

6. EGA TREK
A shareware gem from BITD. I didn't play the hell out of this, but it deserves an honorable mention. The basic mechanics of EGA Trek were ship management, exploration, and combat. A solid formula often lost in full commercial titles.

7. A FINAL UNITY
I found this one much later as well, and got it running under XP at the time. Another really solid Trek adventure game. Every bit as good as the Interplay 25th/JR. It's too bad there wasn't one or two more in a series of these games. Then again, the TNG actors are still all with us....

8. STAR TREK LEGACY
Yeah, yeah, I know. I KNOW. Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with this game. It was broken on release. I put it away, and patiently waited for the patches. What we ended up with was at the time some really nice ship graphics, a simple space combat sim, pretty backgrounds, high difficulty, and actually a very good story and fairly good voice acting across the board. Some of the Captains were sorely under-utilized. It could have been so much more than it was.
If you've heard bad hype about this game, the secret is to use an XBox controller. Don't be a mouse/keyboard snob, this game was designed for the controller. Sit back and enjoy. And try not to be bothered by the beach ball planets.

9. STAR TREK ONLINE
I watched and waited in great anticipation, I'm sure along with many of you, for this game to come out. I bought it soon after release. While it could never live up to its hype, if you can find a few people on voice chat to enjoy this with, it's a memorable experience. Even solo, it can be a lot of fun. I reached a burnout point on this game, and haven't been able to get back into it, but then I don't really get into computer games like that anymore. All Good Things....

10. STAR WARS: X-WING ALLIANCE
just kidding

 

[NCC-73515]

Generations will always be one of my absolute favorites! The cute turtles on Bersus III, the giant fish, walking underwater as Data (foreshadowing INS), thorn-shooting plants like in TOS, the planet-sized Antilios lifeform that you had to crawl through as Beverly, healing it from the inside... for the first time, you could walk through an entire D12-BoP, they had a cool and extensive Romulan base, those cute maintenance drones you had to reprogram on Arvada II, more insight into the Chodak on Epsion II (they have good shrooms and bad shrooms), bathing Kirk in "perfect temperature" hot spring pools, and finally walking around aboard the Enterprise itself for the first time in a game! My brother and I tried to beat the missions for years, and we always failed most of them (no saving during missions!), and always ended up not making the necessary jumps as Kirk. As nice as it was, it was also very very frustrating. But after probably 50 attempts, I finally beat each mission and we finally got to be on the Enterprise as Picard. Damn I miss this game. Picked it up again some 10 years later and still remembered everything, and now beat all missions quickly. This one really should be remastered, since the graphics were already dated when it came out (objects and characters were mostly 2D sprites). But the environments, sounds, humor, and unique ideas were amazing.

 

[starbuck]

Well i say for me
1 25th Anniversary
2 judgement rites
3 starfeet command
4 bridge commander
5 elite force
6 star fleet academy
7 klingon academy
8 star trek armada
9 klingon honor guard
10 a final unity

 

[ichab]

Armada, Starfleet Command, and Birth of the Federation are my favorites.

 

[Qonundrum]

#1 Elite Force (Voyager, via PC)
#2 Klingon Academy (TOS/movie, via PC)
#3 star Trek TNG (TNG, pinball game or on Android pinball simulator)
#4 Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator (TOS, via Arcade, Atari home port)
#5 Star Trek TNG (TNG, via NES console)
#6 Star Trek TOS (TOS, via NES console)
#7 Star Trek Armada (TNG, via PC)
#8 Star Trek Legacy (TNG, via PC)

(tie)
#9 Birth of the Federation (TNG, via PC)
#10 Starfleet Academy (TNG, via PC)


I've revisited the first four the most often, and while Elite Force always had me giggle with fitting the omnipowerful Borg into a playable and beatable game, it nevertheless was enthralling and really kept true to Trek principles.

I did and still adore occasionally playing the Klingon Academy game, in part for its tie-in and bringing back Warner and Plummer (squee!), but also because it's just fun to find a Federation ship and blow em up. It was long overdue to get a game where the Federation could be the perceived as the baddies (even though they're not!) Even back in the day I wished the graphics were better, but they were more than sufficient.

The TNG pinball game is just cool.

The 1980 coin-op game was pretty much the first, which I never got to play back in its heyday for but is a precursor to the more modern games where you're warping to starbases or zapping enemy ships. Just the bare bones action stuff without interludes or side missions or anything. Bringing in Nomad every 5th round was a stroke of brilliance, yet it always seems to survive and come back. The home console ports pretty much had the basics down pat, even if they weren't the nice vector graphics with voice synthesis the arcade had.

#5 downward just weren't all that great but the NES games were embryonic in terms of showing the potential of gaming with a wider scope and scale and were arguably as ambitious as they were (unfortunately) grating.)

 

[AresB]

I have lots of good memories from many of the games mentioned here, 25th Anniversary, Klingon Honor Guard, Elite Force, DS9: The Fallen, FASA rpg etc, but I haven't seen anyone mention my favorite yet: Star Trek: Ascendancy.
A lovely tabletop game where 3+ empires, each with their characteristic strengths and weaknesses, eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate in a network of worlds that's randomly created during play. You win by either conquering all homeworlds or by raising your cultural level to top stage.
I just wish I had the opportunity to play with a group of dedicated trekkies, the play time is so long that family tends to get distracted halfway. Luckily, with the Borg expansion, it can be played solo too.

 

[iarann]

Interesting to see so many mention EGA Trek but no one pointing out that it's actually a derivative of the Star Trek text game written in BASIC in the early 1970s and extremely popular back in the day where if you wanted to play a video game you had to type it out of a magazine or book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(1971_video_game)

 

[unimatrix7]

I don't think I've played 10 Star Trek games.

I loved Starfleet Command 3. But getting it working these days requires a virgin sacrifice and a full moon.

 

[Mr_Sloan]

Top 10 Star Trek Games? Make that top 5 Multiplayer and Top 5 singleplayer

Singleplayer (even without Trek-Lizence)
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Mass Effect 1
3. Star Trek: A Final Unity
4. Star Trek: Judgment Rites
5. Star Control: Origins

Mulitplayer:
1. Star Trek the Customizable Card Game First Edition (now Online on Trekcc.org)
2. Star Trek Birth of the Federation
3. Star Trek Armada 1+2, especially with Mods that cure out-of-synch errors.
4. Star Trek Bridge Commander (for casual matches)
5. Artemis Simulator (not yet played, tell me, if it is really good!)

and of course:
Star Trek Live Action Role Play

 

[jtm55]

Hi All
Unfortunately, I've only played StarFleet Academy & Bridge Commander

 

[Dominus]

Starfleet Academy, Elite Force 1 & 2, A Final Unity, Armada, Klingon Academy, Harbinger, Star Trek (on Amiga, no Idea what the real name was)

 

[NCC-73515]

I read Harbinger was a disappointment (never got it to work on Windows)

 

[Dominus]

I read Harbinger was a disappointment (never got it to work on Windows)

Yes, you are right. As far as I can remember, it was the worst of all the Star Trek games I played - at least in that era.
But I played it sometime late 90s and never finished it, probably because I didn´t like as much as the others

So probably it shouldn´t be on the list at all...

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I'm not sure I've played ten Star Trek games, as I don't enjoy computer games, and many games seem battle based, which doesn't feel like it captures the spirit of Star Trek to me.

I did absolutely love the original Star Trek Customizable Card Game from Decipher, though. I played that for many years. I liked that it captured the feel of Star Trek well - managing ships and crews, attempting missions, dealing with dilemmas, combining skills from different people to work together and overcome obstacles. And you could play a battle strategy is you wanted to, but it wasn't the sole point of the game.
By the time it ended, the scope of material from the series and movies that it covered was impressive.