Best Star Trek Video Game?

[ghoyle1]

The last Star Trek game I ever played was one of those where you shoot around a 9x9 grid and zap as many Klingons as you can. Since I have some time on my hands this summer, I've decided to try to find one to play. Naturally, this is a subjective matter, but I'd like some input nonetheless.

I'll be playing on a Windows XP machine. I don't usually play video games at all, so I'm looking for something with an easy learning curve. I like TOS best, but other eras would be OK as well. I see a lot of mods for different ships and missions out there, so I'd love to play a game that supports modding. (I'd love to learn to design a ship for modding, in fact).

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Guy

[farcry]

My personal favourite is Bridge Commander. You can sit in the captains chair and direct the ship trhough the missions, (with a pretty cool storyline and CG sequences) or you can switch to outside view and be more tactical with the combat (which is great). Theres thousends of mods too, at Bridge Commander, Bridge Commander Downloads - FileFront.com. The game itself is quite rare. I got mine a few years back, but i had to go to Ebay for it. Luckily i found a mint condition one for about £10, i am not sure what the price is these days, but it is a great game, despite some bad reviews.

[Dac]

If you like some RTS, may I recommend Star Trek Armada 1 and 2, both engaging RTS' in their own right, but both have a reasonably good story to follow as well, and they are both related in terms of narrative as well, so that also helps.

The Elite force Games are also really good aswell, both solid FPS', and again, with decent stories, although maybe more so EF1 than EF2. Also, if you pick up EF1, get the expansion pack, as it adds a whole lot of functionality to it, and gets rid of the dodgy voice actors they had for 7 of 9 and a few others.

[Shadowman99]

The StarTrek:Strategic Operations Simulator. It was a sit down vector graphics arcade game from the early 80's. Of course, I may be biased since I own one

[gaius]

Yeah, Bridge Commander, both Armadas (try the Fleet Operations Mod for Armada II!) and the original Elite Force are great games. EF2 also had a decent singleplayer, but sucked in my opinion in multiplayer.

[spudmonkey]

Old but good; Star Trek 25th Anniversary

It's a point and click game with some ship-to-ship combat in it too and is officially "abandonware", so can be downloaded for free from a couple of sites such as this one

Edit: You might need DOSbox to run it

Edit 2: The sequel, Judgement Rights is also available as a free download

[NightShadow]

I really enjoyed EF1- still have it, I think, but I haven't played it in ages. The game was built using the Quake3 Arena 3D graphics engine, which was pretty slick when it came out. On a WinXP system EF1 would probably spin like a top. The voice actors are, more or less, duds- I think the voice talents of Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ are the only ones from the show to make an appearance... and, yeah, the woman who does 36 of D's voice flat out sucks.

Multiplayer is a bit of a wash in some points, mostly it's just like Q3 except that you've got the whole Trek thing goin' on and the character choices are a bit... well... bland.

Storyline is all right, but nothing thrilling. Some levels were downright boring, I must admit, but there were some which kept me glued- especially the Borg levels. In regards to the story, you pretty much get the standard Voyager fare: it's a concept that they could have gone MUCH further with but sorta petered out and left you wanting more.

There will be some glitches that you'll have to patch before you play the game. Raven Games, which did most of the programming, really rushed things with this one and the game suffered because of it.

All in all, I'd give the game 6/10.

Another good Trek game that I actually very much enjoyed was Star Trek: Borg. It's pretty old and extremely rare, but it was a blast to play when it first came out. Unlike a lot of games I've seen, Borg was a true video teleplay and rolled out just like an honest-to-God TNG episode. Seriously, its opening credits and cut scenes were just like a real TV episode. Many of the puzzles and levels were challenging and required quick thinking, which really kept me on the edge of my seat and the eye candy was simply to-die-for. Anyone who likes to drool over Trek bridge sets would probably cream their pants if they had this game and could get screencaps at will- it's VERY reference rich in that regard. Personally, I'm really sorry that I ever got rid of it. Had I known, then, that I would miss it so much, I would've kept it. If you can find a copy, get one. Seriously. Q (John deLancie) plays a prominent role in this one and the actors, even though they were relative unknowns, did a really good job.

[kingofpain26]

Im also a Big fan of the Star Trek Armada Games

I also Like Starfleet Command I and II (havent Played III yet)

[NightShadow]

Oh, and I should warn you about Star Trek: Borg.... the congenital retards who programmed the interface will most likely earn a special place in Hell for their efforts. The video and teleplay are fantastic and the puzzles themselves are relatively easy to solve, but the interface is so difficult and glitch-ridden that you will find yourself ready to go postal more than once. It's the ONLY negative aspect to an otherwise very entertaining and engaging game.

I'm not kidding. Ten minutes into the game and you'll be going, "Why in the hell did they program it like that? Who beta-tested this thing and who allowed these dimwits anywhere NEAR a computer? What moron was in charge of this interface design and can I get his address so that I can break his knee-caps?"

And to give you an idea of just how archaic this game is, it was released in 1996. Here's the PC requirements to run the game:

Windows 95 - 5MB hard disk space for the Star Trek: Borg the interactive movie, 8MB hard disk space for the Picard Dossier, 640x480 with 16 bit color support, Pentium required (90 or better recommended), 8MB RAM, 20MB uncompressed hard disk space, 16 bit audio card 100% SoundBlaster compatible, double speed CD-ROM drive or faster, VESA local bus or PCI video card.

Now... there is a glitch with the Win95 requirement. The programmers, in their infinite wisdom, decided that Win95 was the be-all/end-all of Windows environments and coded the game to work ONLY on Win95 systems (or Macs). I'll bet that when Microsoft rolled out Win98 the idiots who programmed this game just about **** themselves. Fortunately, someone with more than two brain cells to rub together managed to cobble up a patch so that the game will work on Win98 systems. Will it work on a WinXP system? I dunno. But I'd like to.

[Nadesico]

It works on XP, the patch disables the "OS check" just run in compatability mode and it worked for me. Only hassel was that at hte one point where you need to modify your father's phaser on the end of the second disc, it wont let you hit the re-modulate button when it cycles, no matter how many times or hard you click.