Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
James Kirk fighting the Borg? Please..., January 2, 2007
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
I waited for this game to come out for months and I really, really wanted to love it. I held out until I beat the game so I could give it a fair review. Overall, it's an entertaining and fun game that's plagued with some serious problems. It looks like Bethesda spent most of their budget on getting Shatner, Brooks, Stewart etc to do the voice-overs rather than hiring good story writers and game testers.
Probably the biggest problem I have with it has nothing to do with the actual game play. The game's writers took WAY too many liberties with established Star Trek lore. I know that games aren't considered part of the Star Trek "canon" but it's irresponsible to the franchise and just plain bad writing to have James T. Kirk chasing the Borg. Some of the missions' story lines are just plain ridiculous and more often than not, when I beat a mission I was left scratching my head saying to myself "That's it? I beat it?" They had the resources, the actors and the access to some of the greatest stories in science fiction to make an awesome game -- and they squandered it.
They had access to Avery Brooks (Capt. Sisko from DS9), they had DS9 and the USS Defiant rendered and dozens of Klingon ships. They could have easily recreated part of the Dominion War. How cool would it be to run the Dominoin blockade with the Defiant? How about Kirk chasing Kahn around in his stolen USS Reliant? Take the Defiant out and chase Gul Dukat and his rogue Cardassians in his stolen Bird of Prey? Complete a mission in which you have to slingshot around the sun, go back in time and transport 2 whales into your cargo bay? How about taking the Voyager out, sneaking into a Borg swarm and stealing a transwarp coil or a new cortical implant for Seven. They had all those actors in the studio, for crying out loud. They did nothing with the story.
And the gameplay, oh the gameplay. The control are confusing and clunky. Every ships' controls react the same exact way, from the NX-01 to the Defiant: like riding a road bike in the sand. The AI is idioic too. You can group ships in your fleet together and issue group commands but you have to always check your strategic map because sometimes a ship would just go off, meandering through space on its own. The game is half strategy, half flight simulator and it doesn't do either one well. If it just picked one, the game would be better. After I got the hang of it, I figured out the trick to winning every time: group your ships into one task force and use the map to pick targets and aim. I gave up of trying to fly my ship around entirely. Once I figured that out, the game became obscenely easy - I beat the game in two days, playing only after work.
As of this writing, I've never been able to play a full game on Xbox Live. It locks up, times out or disconnects me every single time.
All in all, it's a fun game that had a lot of potential but fell way, way too short.
Pros:
- Good graphics
- Plenty of cool ships to buy
- Voice actors are cool and the sound is good
- Despite the clunky interface, it is an addicting game
- It's better than the other Bethesda ST game (Star Trek Encounters on the PS2) which is completely unplayable
Cons:
- Clunky, confusing controls
- Simple , one dimensional missions (I beat the game in two days)
- Doesn't follow established Star Trek lore
- Stupid AI
- No DS9 or Voyager missions
- It sucks as a space flight simulator and it really sucks as a strategy game
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30 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Star Trek Fan, wasn't sure if I should spend $50 on this game, December 22, 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Been following the development of the game for awhile. Am a Star Trek fan, although not HUGE rabid fan, I enjoy watching reruns of TNG and DS9.
Was trying to decide if I wanted to spend over $50 on this game. Luckily I got it for Xmas. Unluckily, it didn't measure up to my expectations.
The bottom line: The graphics are great, the ship designs are uber impressive. However, the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. The controls are rather complex, and not for beginners. Camera angles, and navigation can get confusing. Make sure you read the instruction book cover to cover.
I was hoping for a game where friends could come over, pick up the joystick, and dive right into the game. This is not possible with this game.
Unwieldly controls, and difficult learning curve made me rate this 2 stars overall. The game becomes "not fun" when you're struggling to figure out how to maneuver your ship, let alone fire at the enemies.
This game is really overpriced at $50, if you can get it for under $20, I would say it would be a good buy. Hope this helped.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tactical + action makes the game shine, April 14, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I've played just about every Star Trek game on the market (Bridge Commander, Starfleet Command series, Star Trek Armada series, Dominion Wars, Star Trek Encounters, Star Trek Tactical Assault, Klingon, DS9 the Fallen, Elite Force, etc....) and I haven't quite found one that gives me what've wanted until now. Bridge Commander + Starfleet Command were the closest. This game worked for me because it felt like I was replaying a fleet battle from the TV series- where I can enjoy the tactical elements and the spectacular 3D ship-to-ship battle graphics.
This game is at its best when it requires you to develop a strategy, such as splitting your fleet apart to tackle multiple things simultaneously, requiring you to use the tactical map and fleet controls.
E.g. I had to locate bases that were creating drones that were poisoning the sector. So I dispatch all ships to all planets to locate all the bases. Then I pair up the ships so that one pair (the battleships) goes to each station to destroy them, while the remaining pair (cruisers) seeks out and dispatches the drones. Then eventually on the final station I consolidate the entire fleet for the final assault. Keeping fleet sizes to a maximum of 4 gives the game a light-weight command and conquer flavor but yet still gives you needed control of the helm so you can execute the satisfying kills. I find myself using the tactical display alot to maintain awareness. Then i have to switch to ship view to make sure each ship is targeting the right enemy.
Here are the negatives I found:
The missions can last about 30 minutes and there are no save points in between. So if you die, you're screwed. That's not been too bad because the tactical elements let you try a different strategy the second time.
The controls appear difficult at first. It took me about an hour to get used to them. But once you've mastered the fleet controls the game takes on a far more interesting dimension than a mindless slug fest.
3-space control can get wacky, so your best bet is to target enemies and allow the computer to do most of the flying so you can just worry about firing the torpoedoes and phasers.
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