A good basic arcade style Star Trek ship-to-ship combat game that spans each era of the Trek universe.
One area I more or less agree with the GS review is regarding the controls. It seems like an inordinately complex level of control was attempted to be squeezed from the relatively limited real estate of the PS2s controller. The need to move higher or lower through the elliptical plane that represents space is a great idea (since it would be odd to believe all ships in space would remain on the exact same elliptical), but the execution is somewhat cumbersome, again due to the limited number of controls presented. Using the shoulder buttons for an incremental/decremental attitude adjustment while maneuvering your ship with the left thumbstick, all the while simultaneously targeting ships with the right thumbstick presents a bit of a challenge.
All that being said, I did appreciate the additional complexity of allowing power management for each of the ship’s primary systems (e.g. weapons, shields, engines). When you enter a battle (particularly in the skirmish modes) knowing you're going to be outgunned, it was a nice, albeit very simple, tactical touch to boost my shields to withstand the pummeling onslaught I would be taking. Conversely, if I knew I had to take out a rather large heavily shielded/armored opponent (like a Romulan Warbird), I could boost more power to my weapons in an attempt to finish the battle more expediently. Control options such as these added more complexity then I would have expected from a simple arcade style shooter.
The Episode mode is not bad, but in my opinion it's really there to unlock each of the Federation starships (plus corresponding enemy ships from the specific era) to be used in the Skirmish Onslaught mode. Each Episode mission will have you running through extended trials of each of the ship's functions (e.g. switching to torpedoes/phasers, using a tractor beam to move ships, beaming away parties, etc.). This can get somewhat tiresome as the game's real potential and strength is in straight-up slugging it out against enemies. So, where is the most fun to be had with this game (in my opinion of course)?; Onslaught mode. Here you start with a ship corresponding to the last era you completed in the Episode mode (e.g. if you're still playing the Enterprise era, you will only have the NX class Enterprise, but if you're in the original series, you'll have the NCC-1701(A) class Enterprise). You're enemies will also start with Enterprise era foes (Xindi) with each wave of enemy ships increasing in numbers and type (smaller ships at first, then larger capital ships). This will continue until you reach the next era (Klingons) at which point a combination of earlier enemies plus later era enemies will begin to appear. This continues essentially until you die by running out of respawns.
During these skirmishes is where the fun begins. Targeting/locking on to an enemy ship and firing a crimson sustained phaser burst is an awesome site to behold. Locking on to several targets and seeing multiple tendrils of phased death streak out from your ship to strike your enemy never gets old for me. Likewise, firing a volley of photon torpedoes and watching their deceptively benign twinkle arcing through space to collide with an enemy ship is quite satisfying (the torpedoes look just like those from the movies as compared to the simple missile design of the Enterprise era or "white glob mass" from the original series). These skirmishes are essentially what I always liked about the large scale battles from the TV series and movies; multiple ships fighting, the carnage of ships exploding, and the general cacophonous nature of these fights (I only wish you could have multiple Federation ships as well, but I believe that option will be included in Star Trek Legacy). Both the Skirmish modes and Episode campaigns contain various power-ups that can be used during a fight. Cloak will allow your ship to be rendered invisible for a time (or until you fire on a target), Infinite Phasers/Torpedoes will allow a finite duration of unrestricted volleys with the appropriate weapon, and Power will restore a level of your shields and ship damage so you can continue the fight. All of these options seem appropriately applicable to an arcade styled shooter like Encounters.
The bottom line; if you like Star Trek and really wanted to have a simple yet satisfying arcade style shooter where you could slug it out with various Federation ships against the gambit of Trek enemies, this game should be right up your alley. The controls can be problematic, and no one likes to be forced to endure the monotony of flying through rings (yes, there is a tutorial section during the Enterprise Episode mode where you are forced to fly through rings, while being timed no less). The fact that you can't save when you want and MUST view every cut-scene before you can begin is also tedious. These short comings aside, the game is rather enjoyable in Onslaught mode for quick Star Trek combat fixes.