Star Trek: Starfleet Command 2 - Empires at War

by Interplay

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004TSX7
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 13, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,192 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Ever since Starfleet Command's release, Star Trek fans have been anxiously awaiting a sequel with the same blend of strategy, real-time action, and respect for its source material. At last Starfleet Command II: Empires at War is upon us, and although it doesn't quite live up to all the promises, it's still a worthy sequel. There are more races to explore, more technological gadgets to experiment with, and the game's stunning universe is rendered with an improved 3-D engine. Unfortunately, the campaigns for each race are boring and repetitive, and the promised online universe for massive multiplayer battles was not ready when the game was released.

Starfleet Command II, like its excellent predecessor, is ultimately a game of balance. The ships you command are massively powerful, but that power can't be everywhere at once. Doubling your rear shields means reducing your defensive power elsewhere or shunting power away from the ship's weapons. Transporting marines to disable an enemy vessel's vital components or physically take it over requires lowering a shield section, leaving you completely vulnerable for a few precious seconds. Every tactic at your disposal involves compromise.

Realism is taken up a notch by the plodding, massive ships you command. Everything from turning to charging weapons takes time, forcing players to think several minutes ahead of their ship when plotting strategies. The ships look, sound, and behave as they should, and plumbing their various strengths and weaknesses can take weeks of study and practice.

The end result is a game that actually makes you feel like the captain of a large starship, to the point where the line between strategy game and all-out simulator is blurred. If the generic campaigns were improved and the massive multiplayer component ever works properly this could become the best Star Trek game ever. As it stands, it's still worth the money for its challenging skirmish modes and stunning audio-visual fidelity. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Lots of thought required, but the real-time action also keeps players on their toes
• Generally remains faithful to the board game it's based on while capitalizing on the computer's strengths
• The audio sounds like it was taken directly from a Star Trek movie, ships are rendered in amazing detail, and explosion effects are fantastic

Cons:

• Persistent online universe wasn't available at launch, but should eventually make this game even better
• Severely weak campaigns
• Still plays out on a flat, two-dimensional plane instead of three dimensional space

Amazon.com Product Description

Star Trek fans and strategy gamers loved the mighty starship combat in the original Starfleet Command. Interplay listened to gamers' cries for a sequel and made the all-new Starfleet Command II: Empires at War look better, play better, and overall even more impressive than the original. The single-player campaign is now called Metaverse, which comes from the term metagame, meaning game within a game. Each campaign has about 60 individual missions that feature greater context, flexibility, and impact on the fate of your empire. Metaverse is available for online play. There are two new races in addition to the original six: the savage Mirak Star League and the Interstellar Concordium, which aims to enforce peace at any cost. New ships are available, including escort vessels, patrol craft, and fighters, bringing the total variants to more than 1,000. A hex-based quadrant system now regulates movement, increasing the map resolution and the number of sectors. A new fleet interface makes for easy target monitoring and allows fleets to operate as a single unit or for individual ships to move autonomously.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bigger, deeper, more involving than the original, December 14, 2000

By 

J. Cowling (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek: Starfleet Command 2 - Empires at War (CD-ROM)

First, a warning: there is already a patch for the game to fix several problems known with the game at the time it shipped...

But, hey, it's an Interplay game; I've come to expect high quality from them -- but high quality that occasionally needs a strip of duct tape.

SFC II adds two new races: first, the Mirak, based on the Kzinti from Larry Niven's novels and stories and later adapted in the Star Trek cartoon -- explaining how they got into the Star Fleet Battles boardgame that SFC is based on; it's all a rich tapestry. ;)

Second, the Interstellar Concordium (ISC). These guys were my favourite race in the boardgame, and they don't disappoint in SFC II. Their ships are larger than comparable ships of the same class from other races, and they have unique weapons, like rear-firing torpedoes and their Plasmatic Pulsar Device. The PPD is a very accurate, long-range weapon that does damage to multiple shields in multiple bursts.

Every race now gets fighters and/or fast patrol ships (small gunboats, smaller than frigates but bigger than fighters). Now the Hydrans don't get all the fun. The wide assortment of ships (more than 1,000 of them) is astounding, and no two fleets ever need to be the same.

Game balance has been improved; no longer are missile boats the game-killers they were in the pre-patch SFC -- however, the Mirak specialize in missiles, and are certainly the exception to this rule. Run away from them.

Perhaps the most exciting improvement to the game is Dynaverse II, the new campaign system. While offering a fun single-player experience, where it really shines is in the online semi-persistent world, where hundreds or thousands of players can potentially build up their fleets to conquer their enemies. While the game has only been available for a few days as of this writing, I've had some experience playing online and it's a lot of fun. Once the player base grows (and it will -- SFC II went gold before release) I expect the online game to be the only way to go. And, of course, SFC II supports standard multiplayer one-off games, if you don't have the inclination to play a campaign.

The graphics are even better than the first in the series, with space effects, nebulas and planets displayed in eye-popping detail. Weapon effects are glorious, and the sound is first-rate.

The training missions aren't as frustrating as in the first game, and help to ease the massive learning curve for this extremely deep game.

If there's any weakness to the game it is that the ships themselves still look artificial compared to the concept art, and this prevents me from giving SFC II a 5/5 score.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TREKKIE's DREAM GAME!, February 21, 2002

By 

The Capitol (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek: Starfleet Command 2 - Empires at War (CD-ROM)

This game is great. Obviously the game has worn off in excitement since first buying it...but the first time you play it is undescribable. The first time you get it loaded and start playing you feel like you're a captain. As a trekkie, that was all I had ever wanted. And controlling every detail about the ship is just amazing. I'm serious, EVERY DETAIL. Probing, electronic warfare, weapon control/firing, shields, shuttlecrafts, special features using your warp engines such as high energy turns, usage of mines, transporters, ship speed, systems repair...ok the list goes on. This game is simply amazing.

Now people have told me about bugs...I've never had any problems...EVER. The game should never be minimized or interrupted because you will come back to a messed up screen, which can't always be fixed. But that's the only "problem" I have. The "patch" is really easy to get considering you just go in your start menu under the game and select Update. It will instantly find the udpate and download. With a fast connection this will only take a few minutes. All bugs previous to this are gone. (If there were any, I've always updated first.

The game:
The single player game was very cool at first. I never really got into the single player on this game after being dissappointed by continuous repetition of missions on the original Starfleet Command game. And it always seemed as if the missions were to easy or absolutely impossible. However, this game has many more missions, features etc. Besides the campaign you can set up a "skirmish" for short little single missions with the AI. I bought this game almost exclusively for online play. I play with Gamespy Arcade, the only place to play online known to me....It's great battling against other human beings. Your chances are realistic after you get good. This game is about skill, and also knowledge of the other ships and the weapons they have. If you're into Star Trek and realistic battle simulations you can not go wrong.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad Outweighs the Good for the Casual Gamer, August 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek: Starfleet Command 2 - Empires at War (CD-ROM)

Please note from the outset I am approaching this as a casual gamer who was drawn to this game because of my positive experiences with the previous edition. Bottom line: Empires at War offers distinct improvements over the first edition, and glaring problems.

First, what was kept: The basic operation of the controls remains the same. There are little quirks that have changed a couple of things, but nothing glaring. Ships remain similar in appearance and function.

Second, the improvements. Regenerative shields: if your shields get knocked out, they will regenerate, more accurately reflecting activities of repair crews on the starships. Of course, you have either go to keep your good shields facing the enemy, or keep your distance from an engagement. Of course, your opponent has the same advantage/disadvantage, but it is preferable to the permanently dead shield. Also, if you destroy a ship, unlike in the first game if you sit on top of or close to an opponent when you destroy them you can also be destroyed. Another improvement: Accurate photon torpedoes over a distance. In the previous version, unless you fired point-blank, you often saw half or more of your photon torpedo spread disappear into space. In this version, they are actually an effective weapon over distance, with an appreciably high hit-to-miss ratio. Third - missile defense: Missiles are less effective overall, removing to advantage of the heavy missile cruisers from the previous game. They also come in varied speeds, another good thing. Space Monsters: much more varied - often lethal. They are a great x-factor, and wonderful teachers of caution in an engagement. I ran into one that literally destroyed my ship with a plasma volley in the first exchange. Fleet combat - In skirmish mode, I experimented with fleet maneuvering, and found it a distinct improvement over the prior edition. Ships operate with a number of options in terms of control, and seem more responsive to orders - though not all functions seemed to work as they should. Also, visually, the scenarios are much nicer than the old version.

Third, the problems. Where to start? Overall, the gameplay, while in many ways improved (regenerative shields, better torpedoes, greater equity in terms of reduction of the missile effect) is overshadowed by the complexity of gameplay, and overall difficulty presented by the game's progression. One example - Prestige points. While in the first game you had to pay for what you got in terms of supplies and new ships, you could do so in a fashion that assured a steady rise in points that translated into better, stronger ships. In this version, because of the average greater length of battles and commensurate exhaustion of supplies and added repair costs, it is difficult to build significant value. Also, ships lose their value quickly for trade in, and I find I cannot trade a ship in for a new one without first buying the second ship, thereby reducing the prestige points necessary for purchase. Additionally, there is no crew section, where you have officers accruing value that is valuable in trades and/or ship combat effectiveness. Finally, the cost of supplies, as I mentioned, is prohibitive, especially in terms of missiles. Lastly, if you buy something and then decide you don't want it, you can return it but you will not receive the spent value back. This is a glaring weakness in the game, given the increased value of the Capitol ships like Battleships and dreadnoughts.

The interfaces, while serviceable, are a step backward in terms of functionality and clarity. While I like having a greater selection of ships (even though it seems nigh impossible to accrue the Prestige Points needed to acquire them), I feel there could have been modified version of the old interface. Still, I admit that right clicking on the ship type to get the schematics is almost as good and provides a quick method of determining value of the ship.

Replay is no longer offered. Instead, you're dead and you get to go back to the beginning. Now if you are a serious gamer, I suppose this is no big deal. But for the casual gamer, this is a serious drawback. Also, saves are controlled more by the AI than by the gamer, taking away the feature of being able to branch off in a separate direction and experiment with ships in scenarios.

In the end, I won't say don't buy this game. But be warned, in spite of appearances, and some functional improvements, it is not as good, and more important, not as fun.