Star Trek Conquest for the P.S. 2 is the best Star Trek game in YEARS Bar None. Take that Legacy.
( 1 ) Their are no Voice overs by ANYBODY in the series or movies.
( 2 ) Their are no cut scenes with any kind of videos of any actors or visuals from anybody in Star Trek.
( 3 ) Their are really no references to any kind of Star Trek Lineage at all other then the Starships and the really nice layout of the Star System where you lug it out.
( 4 ) The game is basically a Star Trek infused strategy game of Risk with the ability to command any ship in your 3 fleets in all engagements.
Ok, so what does all this mean for the game? All this added up means that the game developers were allowed to design the game WITHOUT ANY INTEFERENCE FROM PARAMOUNT! So they gave this game so much justice it's not even funny from Bethsuda. Because they didn't have to use Voiceovers they didn't need to create any kind of storyline with characters in the show or movies. So no way could they screw up what's canon and what not. *Star Trek Legacy anybody? Come on, anybody?*
What you get is something you don't see to much anymore. A down to basics enjoyable strategy game, with just enough material *Aka Starbases and Starships, even the battle map* To make you believe your really playing a FUN STAR TREK GAME!?! You can let the computer play out the battles *And usually loose you butt!* Or play on a 2D map of where your battling. Each battle you go into, they talk Star Trek about the system and the planets, ALL CANON! Their is just enough Star Trek to make fans like me very happy *Especially since they don't screw up the history!* - And enough of Strategy and game play to make others happy.
The fact that you can control your ships in battles makes you feel more in charge during battles they you would in a pure strategy game. It was a little tedious at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's really fun and a nice break from just moving your pieces from system to system.
You can control the Federation *Duh* - Klingon - Romulans - Cardasians *Better then expected, believe me.* - Breen - and Dominion. Each one comes with Admirals for the fleets that have strengths and weaknesses. On the plus, each race's battlescreen is like that species LCARS Screen from the Series. Nice touch Bethsuda.
Ok, I do admit. The graphics are not straining the P.S. 2's Graphics card one ioda. But the ships are still nicely modeled and somewhat to scale. **The Romulan D.derix is really the only one really out of proportion. And the starbases.** And the fact they actually took real locations for every place on the map was a very nice touch. The map is laid out very close to what is in the series for where everything is.
The sound for battles gets repetitive, but the music is nice with a very spacey feel. Not quite Star Trek, but it works.
Finally, the controls are simple and very easily remembered. Any time, you can press START And it will bring up the Controller Layout. ***L2 isn't even used!*** Having a easy control layout is a nice change. On the + side, once you get used to steering with the left stick and aiming with the right stick, playing the battles turns out to be pretty fun. ***I like how you control the ship, but also where your aiming. gives you just a bit more control over the situation.***
Replay value is alright. With having 6 main races to choose from each with strengths and weaknesses keeps the game fresh. If you bought the game because you like strategy, you'll keep coming back again and again. If you bought it for a shooter, you'll get board pretty quick. But I love strategy so I will be back again and again.
Hope this was helpful. Best way to describe it. You WON'T Find a better $20.00 Bran New Game Anywhere. And you really won't find a Used $20.00 Game Better unless you go way back to P.S. 2 launch titles or something. ***And you've probably already played them, come on, am I right..... I thought so.***
P.S. - Before anybody sez that I just don't like Star Trek. Let me set the record straight baby. I have over 50 Star Trek Micro Machines, 7 Johnny Lightning Star Trek Ships, the 18 inch Enterprise E off of E.Bay, The Playmates Enterprise D, Romulan D.derix, Vorcha Battle cruiser, Shuttle, and Enterprise D Bridge, the entire Star Trek the Next Generation on DVD, and over 100 Star Trek Books. YES, I am that much of a Geek. So I like Star Trek. Which is why this game was such a nice surprise.