Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek Bridge Commander
Review: Best Star Trek based combat flight sim ever! Storyline and plot are excellent and the games run both player and machine hard. No more flat plane combat. You fight from a full, 360 degree in all directions, universe. Hope Taldren is taking note before completing SFCIII. Can't imagine it could be this good.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Bad
Review: It is a great Idea and a good try. However, the problem is Activision tried to do it and screwed it all up. Yea it starts out ok. The Demo seems good. But once you try and get into the game, you will find that you will get nowhere, unless you can play for 3-5 hours strait. You are unable to save your game as you go along. The only saving is done when you complete a mission, and most take hours to go through. Now it's not because they are hard just lost of useless stuff to wait through. They try to bridge the Movie-Action game scenario, but end up making mud. I suggest you wait for it to hit the discount bin for $5.00 in about a month.
Rating: 
Summary: Trekkies will be well pleased, and others should take a look
Review: I have been a Trekkie for many years, and this game immediately appealed to me. I think any fan of the show dreams about taking the big chair and commanding a starship, and this game allows you to do just that. It is not perfect, but it offers a very enjoyable experience.As far as the simulation goes, this game does almost everything right. You can choose from a nice array of both UFP and alien ships in combat, and each ship has its own way of handling. A few more would have been nice, but there is enough to satisfy almost anyone. The ships handle just as they should - not as fighters, but as capital ships. This means they are relatively slow, so combat is more like a battle between two giants than a run-and-gun dogfight. While this may sound boring, it actually makes the battles very strategic and complex. The single-player mode is good for the most part. It has a good story, and some interesting situations. It is, of course, heavily focused on combat, which can get a bit boring over time. It is also very linear, though it offers a few choices once in a while. Another problem is the inability to save at will. The game autosaves between missions, but this can be a long time, and many events can take place between saves that could require loading from the beginning of a section. For the most part, though, they are well-placed and don't cause much of a problem. The multiplayer component is pretty good. It only allows manual control of the ship, which may turn off some, but overall makes sense. There are several different modes in which to play, and integration with GameSpy makes games relatively easy to find and join. You can also play over a local area network. I would probably give this game 3.5 stars, but I will round it up because of the great appeal it has to Trek fans. It offers fans a chance to sit in the captain's chair, and offers those with little or no interest in Star Trek an engaging and well-designed simulation. The single-player mode is fairly well-done, and multiplayer should give this game lasting appeal. Overall, I feel it as least worth a look for anyone interested in Star Trek or in space simulation/combat games.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Concept
Review: This game is a great concept, and with a bit more work it could have been an outstanding game. Visually it was quite stunning, the only problem I could see was that your first officer didn't "Look you in the eye." Her eye graphics always seemed to be looking elsewhere when talking to you. Minor problem I know, but something that irked me everytime I saw my number one on the screen. AI also seemed to be a problem. as two examples, Your AI tactical officer would only fire torpedoes when they were set to single fire. When you tell your Science officer to scan the system he would generally fail to pick up anything significant, except when it was scripted for you to find something, even when you have enemy ships shooting at you! My four biggest disappointments in order are: 1) No manual saves. The only time you can save is when finish a mission (and this is an autosave). If you fail the mission, "Oh well, you have to do the whole thing over, including scripted dialogues." 2) The First officer seems to be a built in snitch. If you fail to accomplish any task, even a task as insignificant and non-game affecting as saving a drifting freighter, she calls the Admiral and you get fired. No second chance, no chance to work it through without that information or get the info another way...just game over. 3) In tactical mode there isn't a "gun sight" You have no way of knowing where your phasers and torpedoes are going to fire without actually firing them. 4)The intercept command under the helm officer's menu seemed to work only sporatically. This a major problem since you need to use that command atleast twice to win the game. Despite my problems with the game, it was enjoyable. I would just buy it used if I were going to buy it again.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, mediocre execution
Review: The idea of blending the adventure and the action of Star Trek is fantastic, and Totally Games and Activision made a very good stab at it. From the beginning of the game, you feel like you're watching an actual Star Trek episode with a driven story line and recurring characters. Unfortunately, you don't feel like you're INSIDE the story... you're just an observer. For instance, you come across a Ferengi smuggler whose been making illegal trades with the Cardassians. The Ferengi captain talks to you, but it's your XO who talks back and responds for you. There really isn't any sort of a role-playing component, and you wind up feeling very much like a third wheel, just along for the ride and watching a moderately "interactive" movie, where you put into action the suggestions made by your subordinates. At no point do you actually have to solve a problem yourself... you always know exactly what you're supposed to do, because someone just "suggested" it. (On a personal note, it took me about an hour to realize that when someone was speaking to "me" as the captain and a woman's voice responded, it isn't "me" who is a woman, but the first officer speaking for you as if she were the captain and you're just to stay dumb and happy and let your subordinates act as your voice and mind.) Combat also puts you very much in the observers chair. Felix, your tac officer, basically orchestrates the whole combat. You can do it yourself, but the interface is pretty cumbersome, especially for 3D combat. As for weapons firing, if you want to do it yourself all you have to do is keep the mouse cursor within a one-inch square in the center of the screen as the target "moves" around and hold down the left mouse button. Not exactly a massive taxation of your combat abilities. So, it sounds like I'm bashing the game and I don't mean to. Despite this flaw, it is a very fun and engrossing game. It does feel like a real episode (with COMBAT) and that has been something Star Trek games to this point have been completely unable to emulate. The space and combat graphics are well executed (however, the bridge templates--in the age of GeForce3 and 4 graphics cards--leave something to be desired), and one you turn the sound up it's very compelling and adds significantly to the sensation. The combat model is well designed, creating an experience of a very colorful (and explosive) ballet of graceful giants. Felix's dialogue during combat is a nice addition, letting you know what's going on and how the ship is manuevering. Damage reports are straight out of the episodes, and if you're observing from the bridge (as opposed to the chase camera) torpedo impacts cause sparks to shoot out from consoles and lighting to flicker--GREAT! The mission design has a nice range from the easy to the difficult, usually due more to combat as opposed to "intellectual" challenges of solving problems. Unfortunately, you're left feeling somewhat helpless as you attempt to get through the difficult challenges b/c (again) combat is the purview of Felix and is very much an automated process. You basically wind up just going back to the battle several times until Felix "gets it right". So, we've got a game with a great concept, putting you in the captain's chair and gallavanting around the galaxy as you try to save the Federation... but unfortunately you wind up feeling like an extra on the set who just happens to be sitting in the captain's chair, as opposed to actually being the captain. It seems like in trying to blend the role-playing/adventure and the simulation genres, Totally Games wound up creating what is more of an interactive movie and less of a game. In doing so, it fails on both counts but makes such a valiant attempt that you can't help but enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: star trek armada 2
Review: This game is great. The graphics are more than I had expected and I loved them. There is so much more play time and missions than armada 1 and it makes for a wonderful gaming experience. I would recommend this game to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Oh so near
Review: If you have five bad meals and then one pretty good one then that last meal probably tastes excellent. Inductively... Bridge Commander is a good game, no doubt about it. Its also, if you are like me, the kind of Star Trek game I've been looking for. Why no one thought of it sooner is beyond me. All credit is thus due to Total Games. Bravo. But as there has been such a bad slew of Trek games I kinda think that this game's been distorted from being a good game and made into a great game. As stated its good but it ain't great yet. The good news is that it has the potential to be great and I think its possible to make it so. Some of the problems that I had which marred the game. i) The navigation, in the beginning of the game, is infuriating. The only way I got around it was by playing the Commander level. Look on the message boards: its a common complaint.
ii) It would have been nice if there was a space simulation area where you could go and experiment, and become proficient in steering with your ship, engaging in battle etc.
iii) Your ( irritating) first officer speaks on your behalf, which is infuriating in itself, but what would have been sublime is, when you come across another vessel, be given the option of steering the conversation/ course of action your way. Maybe four options: ' Do you want to a) b) c) d), or you reply i) ii) iii) iv.) Isn't diplomacy a big part of Star Trek? Imagine, for example, going on a mission and coming across a planet, in distress, but if you get involved you may break the first directive. What do you do? The possibilities are endless.
iv) The loading system, although long is acceptable. Some games take time to load. But the save system is awful. I'm not sure how to redress this but there must be a better method.
v) Back to Navigation. There's a very small map where you can see where your ship is and where surrounding objects/ ships are. Its too small. If you could enlarge it and make it more detailed it would be of great help. Some people have commented on the fact the captain is stuck on the bridge. I don't object to this. The game is, after all, Bridge Commander and shouldn't become third person like ( not until we have the technology to breach such a grand project.) I'm hoping now that they'll take advantage of what is a good game, iron out the wrinkles and they'll have a truly great game on their hands. The wrinkles though sully the game and prevent it from being a truly enjoyable experience.
Rating:
Summary: Treker
Review: I've only played a few missions, but the game is excellent. The over-all graphics, and detailed models are outstanding. Occassionally they can be somewhat translucent, but it's a small matter. I don't know what type of computer another reviewer used to play the game, but I found the game play very fast, and smooth. The menu's are very good, either with the crew or handling the ship myself. I do wish you could move around the ship, or at least the bridge, maybe in the next game that will be possible. I also like the creating my own senarios in the quick battle mode.
I find the game extremely fun, addictive, and all it claims to be. You have the Con, so enjoy the BIG CHAIR.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the fun it claims to be!
Review: As an incurable Trekker who loves all things Star Trek I purchased this game thinking it would be lots of fun to play, but found it extrememly limiting. One has to be quite computer savvy to close applications to get it to work marginally faster than snail pace. Although I have a brand new computer with a great processor, large hard drive and lots of memory and all the 'bells and whistles' I found this game 'eats' so much memory that it takes forever to get your ship across the quadrant. It certainly is a game where you can cook dinner, do the laundry and shop for groceries while your ship and crew fly the 'deep space' mission and still arrive back in time to make the important decisions about where you're going to send the crew next. The 'still' graphics are okay but the 'animation'is pitiful. The one great feature is the sound effects and the Star Trek music. After you've run through all the pre-set missions there's 'nothing new on the horizon'. I'm not into programming so that was the end of the game as I couldn't compose my own missions. I found it was a nighmare trying to 'make' my own crew by importing images and bios and finally gave up in frustration. There's no scope for upgrading your ship beyond the 'default' specifications so some missions are doomed to be failures from the start as not all 'fleet' ships are capable of successfully completing all the missions. Once the missions are complete (flown) there's only one word I can think of to describe this game ... Boring!
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Activision Product!
Review: I was worried that this game might be buggy like Dominion Wars, but I was really surprised. Activision made Elite Force last year, and I was hoping this would be that good too. The graphics are really great, and once you get the shortcut keys down the game plays pretty well too. A must buy if you're a Trek fan, and if you liked Dominion War and Armada, you'll love this game!
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