This game is complete and total fan service, but that isn't really a bad thing in this case.
User Rating: 7.5 | Star Trek: Armada PC
Star Trek Armada is one in a long line of franchise licensed games that takes a successful game design -RTS in this case- and wraps a successful license around it. While success plus success would seem to be a match made in heaven, this is not always the way it turns out. Luckily for fans of Paramounts long running Star Trek series, Armada does a decent job of making the formula work. There is certainly nothing new here however and if you have grown weary of the RTS style of gameplay, Armada will do little to change your mind. However if you are not tired of RTS gameplay and happen to think Star Trek is awesome, well, welcome home. Your game has arrived. Set somewhere after Star Trek: Insurrection, and before Star Trek: Nemesis, this game weaves a somewhat generic tale of yet another attempt by the Borg to take over the Alpha Quadrant. Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and several other actors from the show do the voice overs for the games characters which lends an air of realism to the "drama". The plot line takes you through four factions to tell it's story, starting you off as the Federation. Completion of that chapter unlocks the Klingons, who will unlock the Romulans, who will unlock the Borg. Each is comprised of about 6 missions that range from huge open playing fields where harvesting and base building if needed, to smaller maps that allow you only a few units and require you blaze a trail without any bases. Graphically, this game is not the strongest. But RTS games were never heavily reliant on cutting edge graphics anyway. But what is there is still pretty good. All the ships look like the on-screen counterparts and there is a good variety of different classes and styles. Some of which offer special attacks that can drain shields, infect and kill the crew leaving the ship afloat and ripe for taking over, or just knock out engines for a limited time. Each faction also has one special ship that requires you to build a special installation to research it's four special attacks. These can add some interesting tactics, even if they do unbalance the game somewhat. All the weapon effects look nice and while they aren't exactly perfect when compared to the shows effects, they do a good enough job. The sound design of the game is pretty standard fair. Phaser and photon torpedo sound effects are straight out of the series and the voice acting, as mentioned, is great. The score is about what you expect from this type of game and is easily forgettable. Overall, Star Trek: Armada is total fan service. It offers nothing new to the genre, but it will still be fun for those who like this style of gameplay and have a love of the source material. If you meet those criteria, then by all means get this game and enjoy.
