Star Trek: Starfleet
Academy
Rating: 1 2 3.5 4 5
I admit it. I like Star Trek. Those old episodes are classics! William Shatner was cool back then! And he was quite the role-model! Calm, cool, and suave. He had it all.
Now here is your chance to be the next Cpt. Kirk. In Starfleet Academy, you take on the role as a Cadet who has goals of being a SF Captain. It won't be easy, though. This game takes on a ST:TNG feel to the command aspects of your training. Kirk had it easy compared to Picard. (And Kirk was never assimilated. That has to hurt!) You have to make important and not-so-important decisions when it comes to your crew and your ship. Even in the off hours, when you are at the bar, hanging out with your crew. Your decisions help the game understand what kind of captain you are aiming to be.
The ship control is cool. You can apply more power to different areas of the ship and it's systems. If you need to up your scanning, you can do it. Or power up your phasers. You're the Captain! Do whatever you want! There is more than one ship that you get to fly too. Sometimes you can even choose what one you want to fly on the mission.
The graphics are cool too. And you don't need any special system to view 'em! I have a Pentium II 233 with the ATI Rage card. Standard system setup.
Speaking of Captain Kirk, guess who makes his appearance in the game, through video technology? That's right! James T. Kirk and Captain Sulu are here for your viewing pleasure! They continue their roles in the ST saga, but as figureheads only, basically. But I found it cool that William Shatner and George Tekkei (did I spell that right?) found the time from their busy (?) schedules to take the time to do the cinematics for this game. I enjoyed this part of the game too.
Unfortunately, I did not have a whole lot of time to review this game. I was given the game for 30 days from Interplay, but It wasn't enough time for me. It came with 5 disks! I would like to thank Interplay for letting me try this wonderful game. I recommend it to any ST fan or Space-Flight sim fans.
Live long, and prosper.
Reviewed by Gene Vogel
(Posted 9-1-99)