star trek armada review

Star Trek: Armada

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 75% (based on 27 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 23 ratings with 3 reviews)

Really, really good for a Star Trek game.

The Good Unlike the land-based (and often unplayable) New Worlds , Armada is centered around fleet-based combat. Its 2D playing field resembles the excellent Starfleet Command , but lacks the strategic micromangement of that title. Although most RTSs are structured so each race has their own scenario, in Armada you'll play through all the races as the story unfolds. Although this is both a plus and a minus, the ability to see the story from the Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Borg perspectives is a great feature.

Each race has four levels to themselves and then the final four levels allow control over several races. Most of the levels involve building defensive structures around your construction buildings while amassing an Armada to destroy the enemy, but some have unique objectives such as jumping from wormhole to wormhole in an effort to escape the Borg or infiltrating a prison to rescue a scientist.

The maps are largely well designed. Five different nebulas exist and have unique effects (like different colored kryptonite). Some nebulas shield your ships from enemy sensors, some deplete your shields and others restore damaged ship functions. There are also planets which exist beneath the 2D playing field, Dilithium Moons, and asteroid belts.

Sound effects were good, but I felt that music strayed too far from the familiar orchestral themes. Believability is sustained by Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby who supply the voices for the characters they created.

Graphicly, this game reflects its age, but the opening movie is one of the most exciting ones I've seen. Ship models look great and weapon effects are impressive.

The game features a wide number of buildings and units and retains unique racial abilities such as assimilation or cloaking. There are also many special weapons available and unique to each races. One of the cooler ones (although it was used against me) is the Borg nanite infection which causes a scrambled interface for several sections. The Bad Although Armada is a great Star Trek game, it has serious shortcomings as an RTS. Enemy AI is particularly poor. When making raids on your base, the enemy doesn't pick off defensive structures, instead they fly into the heart of your base and are decimated. The enemy is also very bad at securing their own base. They never use an overkill technique of layering defensive batteries and typically do not rebuild destroyed structures.

While numerous units are available through a very logical and well explained technology tree, I never found it useful to balance my fleet. Once I was able to build the biggest ships, I relied on those solely. I was also unimpressed with the special weapons, save for the Romulan Shield Drain and Borg Holding Beam.

Level design was largely good, but some of the sections with asteroid belts were obviously puzzles and mazes. Also, while 20 levels sounds like a decent amount for a game, they are all relatively easy so the game feels a bit short.

Also, elements of this game were over-scripted. There is no way (as some players might want to) to jump to the Borg missions, you have to play all the races in order. Ships vital to the story, like the Enterprise, must be protected when you are the Federation and cannot be destroyed when you are the Borg.

Finally, do we need another time-travel, Borg-threat scenario? The Bottom Line Strip away the Star Trek elements from Armada and you'd have an okay real-time strategy game with an intriguing (if overly scripted) story. Armada (as the previous review mentioned) has a lot to offer for Trek fans who've suffered through a number of horrid games.

Note: I played the 1.2 release which was very stable, had excellent pathfinding, and allowed in-mission saves. Also, I'm not sure where the problem came in, but this game took extremely long to install/uninstall.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2002

A great game for hardcore Star Trek Fans.

The Good I really liked the games story and graphics. I liked how you can play the Federation, The Klingons, The Romulans, and the Borg. The Federation levels seem like the beginners levels. Then the Klingons and Romulans were for players who been playing it for some time to get the controls just right. The Borg were fun and hard in a way. But both races are both fun too play. The Bad I didn't like the control of the game a bit too difficuilt to get down. Plus the annoying ships talk to you when you move them. There is no way to shut them off without turning the volume all the way down. The Bottom Line If I need to talk to a non-trekkie about this game I would say it's a great space game. It comes straight out of the Star Trek Universe. It begins right were the Star Trek history is right now. Everything that you saw on Star Trek is in the game , well what you saw in the TNG shows. It's a great Star Trek strategy game. But if your not a trekkie it isn't all what you might think. But if you are a hardcore trekkie this game will keep you playing until your bored with it or done with it.

Windows · by Kevbo32 (51) · 2000

A great real-time strategy game

The Good The graphics are great. Ships fire phasers, torpedoes and a slew of other weapons.

You can actually zoom in close to watch the action up-close. The sounds are incredible. You'll think that you are in a movie. Every time you click on a ship, the captain says something in appropiate response to your commands. The controls are intuitive and soon you'll find yourself mistaking the mouse and keyboard for a tactical control panel. The story is also top notch and could be straight from a movie. You get to be the Federation, Borg, Romulans and Klingons, each with their own special weapons and attributes. The Bad The AI can be poor. In a normal game, your opponents have an annoying habit of building stations in your base and building mining stations nowhere near dilithium moons (the place where you get resources). The Bottom Line An excellent game and should be purchased despite the small AI problems.

Windows · by James Kirk (150) · 2003

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Star Trek: Armada – Review

Review by sheepy99.

Reviewed: 03/14/2001 | Updated: 03/14/2001

Self-destruct sequence initiated

• Rating:   5

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Star Trek Armada III Review

I originally posted this review over on my personal blog, but since the mod mostly deals with ships of various kinds, I figured it would be worthwhile to post here as well!

So, what is STA3? Well, to start at the beginning, back in the early 2000s there were a series of Star Trek real time strategy (RTS) games published as  Star Trek Armada  and  Star Trek Armada II . However, after the bottom fell out of the Star Trek market, this series was shelved, apparently forever. That is until about 10 years later, when a dedicated team of volunteers started work on a mod project. Put simply,  STA3 it is a “total conversion mod” for the PC strategy game  Sins of a Solar Empire.  That means that while STA3 shares the same basic interface, engine, and gameplay of SoaSE, all of the ships, races, symbols, sounds, etc. have been lovingly converted to a Star Trek theme. There has been some truly impressive work done by the team of folks that have put STA3 together; the SoaSE framework is barely recognizable under all the Trek glory, at least visually!

The Factions

When I first started playing this mod, the available races were the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and Borg. The most recent update, which hit over the winter, added the Cardassian/Dominion alliance to the mix. This now brings the total up to an impressive 5 factions, 6 if you include the fact that the Cardassians can either be played as a pure faction or as the Dominion War alliance. Pretty much every single ship that ever appeared in Star Trek on the big or small screen (with the exception of the recent Abramsverse movies) is included in the game, along with a fair number of the more famous non-cannon ships. About the only exception to this is that there are no  Refit Constitution -class or   Oberth -class ships in the game, presumably because the Refit Constitution never appeared in the TNG/DS9 timeframe the game is set in, and the Oberth has been replaced by the  Nova class . However, even with the Federation faction (which always had the most screen time and had the most different cannon ship designs) there simply weren’t enough ship classes to fully flesh out the fleet, to say nothing of all the alien factions that tended to not get as much attention in the shows and movies. As a result, there are also a number of ships in STA3 that were created from whole-cloth. These designs are generally well-done, and seem to fit  into the overall fabric very well.

Sound & Graphics

As you can see from the screen shots, the quality of the ship models is impressive. Believe it or not, this screen shot wasn’t even taken with the settings cranked all the way up, as I took it on my laptop. Since I’m playing the Feds, you can also see how the interface has the distinctive LCARS look; each faction has a look that also matches their established symbology systems from the shows. The game looks just as good in motion, with all kinds of neat weapons effects, and even the trademark warp “blink” when ships move from system to system. Overall, this game looks stunning!

It sounds even better. The music is sources from previous “abandon ware” Star Trek games, including the first two Armada games, and so it is not recognizable to someone who hasn’t played those games in the past. That being said, the music fits the Trek setting very well, and is very atmospheric. All the sound effects, from weapons fire noises to the trademark Red Alert klaxon, all sound like they were pulled straight from the show. In summary, the sound direction really supports the feeling that this is, indeed, a Star Trek game. The final aural nod is that samples of Sisko’s, Picard’s, and Janeway’s voices are used when those captains are summoned to your aid. Joy!

For better or worse, STA3 pretty much still plays exactly like Sins of a Solar Empire. You still collect resources, research technologies, and defeat your opponents in pretty much the same way. That’s not a bad thing; SoASE is a very addictive game that I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing over the years! However, that does mean that for experienced Sins players like me STA3 has a sameness to it that can make it feel a bit stale, as many of the strategies and tactics that worked in straight-stick SoASE also work in STA3. It also means that STA3 inherits some of the gameplay quirks and limitations from its SoASE forebear. Chief among those is that while SoASE tries hard to be a  true 4X game  (eXpand, eXplore, eXploite, and eXterminate), it falls short of the mark due to the fact that it is so combat-oriented. True, there is a Diplomatic victory and a diplomacy system in play, but the AI tends not to employ it very effectively. This isn’t too much of a problem, as blowing crap up is tons of fun (especially when it all looks so nice!), but not having a truly valid diplomatic victory option makes SoASE (and by extension STA3) feel more like a RTS and less like a true turn-based 4X game like Civilization or Masters of Orion. It also means that the canonically peace-oriented Federation often has no choice in the game but to wade in to a fight with Phasers a-blazin’, and this constitutes a minor chink in the mod’s otherwise excellent thematic feel.

This, my friends, is the Star Trek game I’ve been waiting for since I was 10 years old. It allows players to build fleets made up of practically any ship from the show that they have ever heard of and use that fleet to seek out new worlds and new civilizations. More often than not, that contact will result in a huge war, but hey, that’s a lot more fun than boring negotiations anyway! I highly recommend this game to anyone who is interested in Star Trek and/or strategy games. While the mod is free, you will need to own SoASE to play it. That’s not a huge deal, as you can find SoASE on sale for around $20 quite often on Steam.

Time to take the war to your enemies and kick them out of the Alpha Quadrant. Engage!

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Star Trek: Armada II

• First Released Nov 12, 2001 released

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GameSpot Reviews

Star Trek: Armada II Review

• Reviewed on:

It probably won't completely satisfy those who enjoyed the first Star Trek: Armada, though with that caveat aside, it can still be recommended.

Player Reviews

What gamespot users have to say about star trek: armada ii, the game in general is quite addictive, but the thing i hate about it is that the graphics could be clearer..

Single Player: Single Player is probably the hardest part of the game, as in Instant Action you can modify the game to suit your self, such as "how long it takes for ships to build" and "Unlimited Resources". You beg... Read Full Review

It's War Craft in outter space. This one is MUCH better than the first one for sure...

Ever since the RTS genre hit the scene, seems like EVERY gaming company needed to jump on the RTS bandwagon and make their own RTS for their game series. Ever since DUNE : Battle For Arakus came out, more and more games ... Read Full Review

Star Trek: Armada II is a slight a little bit better than the first but lacks easy controls like first armada.

Star Trek: Armada II is like age of empires type, game play but with more stuff and 10 times faster speeds. I played Star Trek: Armada II for at least year off and on. I mostly played instant action allot and I also went... Read Full Review

Doesn't measure up to the first one.

I bought this game fairly soon after it came out, because of I enjoyed the first, but I was severly disapointed. Gameplay- The interface works well for this game. Graphics- Good, but not exceptional. Sound- The ... Read Full Review

Great game, great feel, and just an overall well-made RTS, set in a Universe that couldn't be much more fitting.

Star Trek Armada II is really... A great game. It is unconventional, primarily in its curve, but also somewhat in it's game-play. Now, I'm no more or less a Star Trek fan than I am a Star Wars fan. But, in being a comple... Read Full Review

Star Trek Armada is a great game but it has some things that I don't like about the game

When I was installing Star Trek Armada 2 I thought it would be like the first Star Trek Armada, but I was wrong. When I played the tutorials I saw the differences that they put in the game, it haves new ships and new sta... Read Full Review

Not as good as the first, but solid.

This game is pretty fun to play, because it has two more races to play and alot of new features in this game. The graphics got worse for me though, but they added the tactical viewer that helped me out alot when I was f... Read Full Review

ST:Armada II out done by its original,

Star trek Armada was a good game to play if rather pointless and frustrated and also limited. Yet it was a good game. ST:Armada starts off about 6 months on from where you left of after the first one. However the I ... Read Full Review

Solid RTS Game. Problem: Activision. Overall game: Instant Classic!

Since I have stated this game is Instant Class, as recored by my break down, I will now explain why it is an Instant Classic. Pros.. 1) The game really understands the understanding and fell for the Star Trek Unive... Read Full Review

The Lastest Star Trek RTS

With the debut of Star Trek Armada II, the foundation was set to create a epic RTS game in the Star TreK Universe. This sequel adds 2 New Playable Races, the Cardassians and Species 8472. It also adds several needed to ... Read Full Review

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