Rating: Summary: Hand-to-had combat to galactic strategy Review: When you're tired of the first-person-shooter (Elite Force), start the galactic strategy game (Armada). They're all good fun. I bought it for 3 friends and I for on-line play. Good value. I grew up with Star Trek, although I'm not a big fan of Star Trek: Voyager. Anyway, it all works together well.
Rating: Summary: Somewhat of a dissappointment Review: I have played all three versions of Starfleet Command and I must say, I was a little let down when I finally got around to playing this version. Some of my particular beefs are:1) Not enough races - Why aren't races like the Cardassians, the Breen and of course, the Dominion not part of the package? Perhaps that will come in a subsequent release. 2) Lame DEFIANT - I was VERY dissappointed with the manner in which the USS Defiant was portrayed. It is one of the weakest ships around with no aft firing weapons when that is CLEARLY a feature that it has. Also, the phasers are not the "pulse phaser" style that I expected to see. Would it have been so difficult to code that up? 3) Somewhat buggy - As always, ACTIVISION releases a product with known issues and we all have to wait patiently for patches. This version can on occassion freeze your system to the point of it requiring a reboot. Their website offers a "fix" in the way of adjusting your settings, but that doesn't aleviate the problem, despite what they say. My two cents.
Rating: Summary: Can be a bit tedious Review: I've played SFC1, Dominion War and Armada. If I were to rank these games in order of which I enjoyed the most I would say: 1. DW, 2. SFC3, 3. SFC1, 4. Armada SFC3 is, as the other reviewers pointed out, a great simplification of SFC1. I don't have much patience for all the detail in SFC1 any more so I find the simplification in SFC3 welcome. This and the excellent tutorials will make it very easy to get into the game. I especially like the fact that FINALLY I can command the Next Gen ships, and that during the mission your crew has a voice. This increases the sense that you are commanding a ship. However while I enjoyed playing SFC3 initially I can definitely see this game getting tedious pretty fast- and a lot of it is due to its over simplification. The battles are much much more drawn out than the other games I've played- and they are not drawn out in interesting ways. It's like watching 2 exhausted fighters weakly slapping each other in the face hoping that one of their slaps will eventually knock their opponent unconscious. A campaign that would have lasted 10 minutes in SFC1 lasted over half an hour while I circled 3 enemy freighters trying to align my phaser arcs with openings in their shields. Eventually it was my shuttle crafts that destroyed all 3 of the freighters- sad! Still, after not having played SFC1 for 3 years I did enjoy SFC3 despite its tedium. I will probably try and play this with my Microsoft voicepad controller to see if using voice commands make it more fun. Maybe I can set the self destruct command as: "From hell's heart I stab at thee!"
Rating: Summary: Starfleet Command 3-Simplified and More Fun. Review: Ahhh yes, finely, the long awaited Starfleet Command 3 has arrived. For those of you unfamiliar with it's previous incarnations the Starfleet Command series is based loosely on a board game known as Starfleet Battles. The first game was, to be frank, a clunky transition straight from the bored, grid and all. It was great! The next incarnation improved on the actual play but mad the System more complicated. This version has combined the two giving it a simple interface and good game play. The game play is excellent, allowing you to target individual systems. Turns and camera angles are excellent. The main problem with the previous games, the long destines between targets has been cut down via the tactical warp(also allowing you to do the Picard maneuver). However there are still a few boring missions that could easily have been cut down. Despite this the good out ways the bad, making this one of the most fun Starfleet Commands yet. The first part of the game that is likely to concern you if you were to buy it would be the game play. If you start the game from the tutorials (which you should unless you have played the game before) the first sound you'll here is captain Picard's rich baritone voice. The sound will probably be the sound of red alert. However this is no indication of the rich soundtrack that will continue. The excellent models of starships for ach race are excellently destroyed, with nacelles falling off and hull being scorched. Each starship has a range of motions, dipping side to side when you make sharp turns. Tractor beams, phasers and torpedoes all emit light, which plays over the hulls of starships. When a ship is destroyed it explodes in classic Starfleet style. The interface for this version of Starfleet Command has been simplified. The systems for both passive scanning and shield reinforcement have been simplified to point and click, instead of being hidden beneath layers of useless crap. Talking of useless crap this version of Starfleet Command has gotten rid of "Electronic Counter Measures" and their counterpart "Electronic Counter Counter Measures." The systems for hit and run and boarding parties have also been simplified and are now right there on the main screen. Also the map and missions screen now has an addition, the refit button, allowing you to customizing your ship. All these features add up to a easier game to play. Their are still some systems that are just too far away, so you had better memorize the hot keys. The storyline gets a +1 right off the bat for including the Romulons, (something Star Trek Armada noticeably left out from it's story line,) but dos not relay on just that. The story involves Unity One, a star base created by the joint work of the Federation and the Klingon Empire, its constructed on the border between Federation and Klingon Space and Romulon Space which is why one of its main features is that it can detect cloaked ships, something that, as you can imagine, the Romulons are not at all pleased with. The story line continues through three races, the Klingons, the Romulons and the Federation (you can play the Borg only in multi-player). The multi-player system (which actually works in this incarnation), known as the Dynaverse, is a never ending war between the 4 races. Each battle played by you or anyone of your race, either gains or losses a territory. As you battle you increase in prestige getting you better ships, (and even possibly a star base) and better officers. Once one group gains a large majority of territory your prestige, ship, officers and map reset itself. The progress and gameplay is excellent. It could be more fun then what amounts to an interstellar deathmatch but is still excellent. In conclusion this is an excellent game with only a few errors that hopefully will be corrected with a patch. It also has a large learning curve for those not familiar with the game series, so you had better take the tutorials if this is the first SFC game you've played.
Rating: Summary: A top notch Simulator Review: Yes, this game is good...no, it's great. The graphics: awesome. The sound: unsurpassed. The gameplay: unique, inovative and fun. Though I haven't tried the voice activated option, it seems like a good idea. The game can get difficult, especially when trying to manage your ship systems where-as trying to fight a battle. Try this game, or better yet, buy it.
Rating: Summary: the best Star Trek game yet! Review: The graphics are unbelivable and the battles are very realistic. A Star Trek gamer or not you will love this game. If I walked in and saw someone battling, I would think it was a Star Trek eposiode! It is great.
Rating: Summary: Dumb Review: I own a couple of Star Trek themed games from the Starfleet command line and this game doesn't even come close. The bad lip synching is probably the most entertaining aspect of this game. The main problem is that the game is very linear: you have to end up doing what the script tells you. There is no "character development" (rank advancement, choosing your crew/ship) and the crew that you do get is very annoying. As "captain" you are pretty much just a figurehead (my dog could probably run this game) as the other characters run the show. The graphics themselves aren't bad -- if you don't mind looking at people that resemble bobble-heads. Overall there is no grit and throw down action that you would get from the Starfleet command games: which admittedly, is very much in character with the actual ST:TNG (i.e. very watered down, bland... and dumb).
Rating: Summary: Powerful and wonderful strategic space simulator: S.T.B.C. Review: " Star Trek Bridge Commander " by Activision, is the most important, powerful and wonderful strategic space simulator of history (2003).
Rating: Summary: i think its fine i mean no game is perfect Review: now i have been playing star trek games since i can remeber and have always watched the SFC series grow in games and of course the first was a classic the second was a upgrade but they never got out of captain kirks era in the games wich was fine but i always thought how cool it would be to fly the current ships and SFC3 was born its perfect because its the events leading up to the newst movie star trek:nemisis and filled up to it nicely you now can even download a activision add-on that has a mission where you fly shinzon's scriminator the warship from the movie i think its great and well worth your money in so many ways....
Rating: Summary: Might be good, but beware! Review: Somthing they do not -ever- state in the manual or the box (read both, cover - to - cover, is that you MUST have Microsoft Game Voice in order to use this. Which requires an ADDITIONAL [$$] purchase. If you have it to spare, go ahead for the thrill of commanding a starship with your voice. Otherwise, I most heartily reccomend Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires at War.
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