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Star Trek: Starfleet Command
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Graphics & Sound:
The graphics in Star Trek: Starfleet Command were actually pretty good. I could tell no difference between D3D and 3DFX, they both work equally well. There were not a whole lot of tight zooms, so the detail didn't have to be that great, but the overall picture was pretty to look at. All you Trekkies out there will be able to identify the ships just by looking at them. The shields, phasers, and torpedoes looked movie quality. The depth of colors in deep space puts you out where no one has gone before. The background music and sounds effects also puts you boldly out into space. I could not find anything with the look of the game to complain about. By the way, 'to boldly go where no one has gone before' - didn't they split the infinitive? How did that get past the editors?
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Gameplay:
One word for you, BUGGY! Once again, Interplay has released a game that should not be sold as a finished product. We're paying $50 to beta test! Okay, off the soapbox. That aside, the game's not that bad. That is, if you like to do second order partial differential equations in your head while asking Scotty for more power. I'm afraid they didn't give this game everything she's got cap'n. The game is actually adapted from an old board game (I remember playing it in the early 80's). Great game, but hard as hell. Well, they took the game and further complicated it by adding all the Star Trek malarkey. This game is straight space combat. No unit generation, no collecting minerals (besides, money doesn't exist in this century), just one ship against another. It's a turn based real time sim. Huh? That's right, phasers take X amount of turns to recharge, maneuvers take Y amount of turns to execute, and so forth and so on. Only, there are no turns. Each action is preformed in turns; only there are no turns. Is a turn 1 second, 1 minute, 1 hour? They never say. That is quite awkward. As captain of your ship, you take control of everything: helm, engineering, tactical, medical, scientific... After a while, it becomes a lot to keep up with. The actual game part of it is just one mission after another. It gets old fast. There are plenty of options though. Six races to choose from, almost every ship in the universe, and incompetent crews are all yours to select. The multiplayer aspect is okay though. Blow up your buddy before he blows you up; simple enough. Lets talk about bugs. First of all, you can see cloaked ships. Why cloak? And as I recall, Picard often orders a full reverse. Not in this game. It's helm ahead and no reverse. And last time I checked, space was 3D. Well, sticking to the board game theme, all combat is done in 2D. I found this even more annoying then when my phasers refused to fire for no reason at all. This game still needs a lot of work.
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Difficulty:
It's hard to gauge the difficulty of this game. Other than just having a lot to remember at one time, the AI seems to have random difficulty. One time I would be blasted to neutrinos, then, when I tried the exact same mission the exact same way, it would be a cakewalk. The flying is also quite difficult. There is no reverse, and the hard turns take Z amount of 'turns' to do. By the time you turn, he's already flanked you. There is a lot to keep up with, and the AI seems to be randomly smart. I would call this game difficult on the grounds of inconsistency and mental strain.
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Game Mechanics:
Simple point and click mechanics makes this game bearable. At least that was done right. Every order you need to give, every thing you need to do is just a click away. Flying, shooting, repairing, even transporting is all done with a click. There are hot keys to help you out, but everything you need is on the screen. Good graphics, simple game mechanics, and bad game design makes this a good game to pick up - from the bargain rack.
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-Storm, GameVortex Communications AKA Jeremy Kelso |
Minimum System Requirements:
P166 (with 3D hardware acceleration)/P200 (without 3D hardware acceleration), Win95/98, 32MB Ram, 200MB free HDe space, 4X CD, DirectX 6, DirectX 6 certified sound/video card. |
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Test System:
P2 450, Win98 SE, 128MB RAM, Diamond Viper V770 Ultra w/32MB RAM, 2 Voodoo 2's SLI, 5x24 DVD-ROM, Monster Sound MX300 |
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