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- Star Trek: Armada
Star Trek: Armada
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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A real time strategy game set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe, revolving around a 4-way battle between the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and Borg, sounds like a dream come true for Star Trek fans. Activision attempts to make this dream a reality with Star Trek: Armada.
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First of all, Star Trek: Armada is practically unplayable out of the box. Activision knew as much, because along with the review copy, they sent a letter explaining that the boxed game does not support GeForce, Matrox G200, TNT2, and Riva 128 video cards, and included a patch to fix the problem. In fact, the game refused to run correctly on a GeForce system, even after installing the patch.
Technical issues aside, Armada sports some interesting new features along with the usual RTS game mechanics. While most players will be familiar with harvesting resources (dilithium, in this case), constructing shipyards and research facilities, and amassing a horde of ships to hunt down and wipe out enemies, new additions such as worm holes, which teleport ships across the map, and nebulae with both positive and negative effects on ships, add a new twist to the genre. Also, crewmembers can be transported between ships to speed up repairs or take over enemy vessels.
Even with these new features, however, the game ends up being a race to build the most ships in the fastest time. While this is fun for a while, the novelty quickly wears off. The Search and Destroy command is a good idea, allowing your fighters to scour the map for stray enemies, but a single ship doesn't last long in battle, and there doesn't seem to be a way to send an entire squadron on a search and destroy mission. Also, some questionable AI will cause ships to sometimes ignore nearby battles, even when being fired upon.
Of course, the Star Trek universe has never looked better. Planets and stars float beneath the 3D playing field, sparks fly off ships as they fly through nebulae, and buildings explode in glorious technicolor. Likewise, the voices and sound effects, taken directly from the show, add to the atmosphere of the Star Trek universe, although the repetitive voices quickly become annoying. A cinematic window shows battles and events in real time 3D and though it's fun to watch, it adds little to the gaming experience.
In the end Star Trek: Armada is a sometimes fun, sometimes tedious RTS with some new ideas, but not enough to satisfy diehard gamers. Star Trek fans will probably get a thrill from battling in the Alpha Quadrant, but serious RTS fans will want to hold out for a more unique gaming experience.
