[h1]“Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny.”
~[i]Captain James T. Kirk[/i][/h1]
Like present times, 90s were a great time to be a [b]Trekkie[/b]. [b]The Next Generation[/b], which started in the late 80s, turned out to be a big hit and the new shows began to appear one after another. There was [b]Benjamin Sisko[/b] taking a stand against the [b]Dominion[/b], there was [b]Kathryn Janeway[/b] leading her crew back home... [i]Man[/i], those were the times! And, of course, there were comics, books and video games. A lot of them. Like... [i]a lot![/i] And it felt [i]awesome[/i]. I mean, there were times when we didn't even have the official games. We had people like [b]Mike Mayfield[/b] and [b]Don Daglow[/b] who used to make unauthorized products. Which, obviously, ended up being on pretty much every computer back then.
90s, on the other hand, marked the whole new era. [b]Simon & Schuster[/b]'s text-based adventures were now left behind and we were starting to get all sorts of entertainment. From legendary [b]25th Anniversary[/b] game and its sequel for personal computers ([b]NES[/b] and [b]Game Boy[/b] versions were not nearly as cool, unfortunately) to a pretty tricky mystery game, in which we were free to explore [b]Terok Nor[/b] ([b]Harbinger[/b]) and even a couple of [b]FMV[/b] games. One about [b]Klingons[/b] (that one even included dictionary, [i]Qapla'![/i]) and one about the [b]Borg[/b].
For us now, though, it's important to remember another game. I'm talking about [b]Interplay[/b]'s [b]Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Starship Bridge Simulator[/b] for [b]SNES[/b] and [b]SEGA 32X[/b]. Long story short, the game turned us into [b]Starfleet[/b] cadets and let us go through the series of simulations, in which we were supposed to participate in various space operations. We were supposed to tractor things, performing the senor sweeps, looking for peaceful solutions and even re-creating the legendary historical events like [b]Captain Kirk[/b]'s confrontation with [b]USS Reliant[/b] ([b]NCC-1864[/b]), captured by [i]KHAAAAAANNN!!![/i]
Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, the hardware limitations made the game to feel a bit rough and unpleasant here and there. Especially when it's about the [b]SNES[/b] version, but even the one for [b]SEGA 32X[/b] was far from being smooth. If you ever played [b]SNES[/b] version of [b]Chris Roberts[/b]' [b]Wing Commander[/b], you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was still a great game, but... yeah. It was one of those cases, in which [b]PC[/b] mustard race sure had a superior version. Well, technically, [b]3DO[/b] had that weird [b]Super Wing Commander[/b] thingy, but then again, we're not talking 'bout [b]WC[/b] here. Or are we? We'll return to that in a bit, but for now it's important for us to understand that, while [b]WC[/b] was ported on pretty much everything (like that certain game about dragons), [b]Bridge Simulator[/b] never had a [b]PC[/b] counterpart. It was either one console, or another. At least until [b]1997[/b], when [b]Interplay[/b] gave us this. [b]Star Trek: Starfleet Academy[/b].
And before you'll ask, [i]yes[/i], this game is pretty much a new take on good ol' [b]Bridge Simulator[/b] and it follows the same exact formula. Again, you're supposed to become a cadet and participate in those juicy simulations, while you performance there would be rated and make an impact on progression. This time, though, it's more than that. See, [b]Starfleet Academy[/b] is more than just a [b]PC[/b] version of [b]Bridge Simulator[/b]. [b]Interplay[/b] took the next step here and the direction was... pretty obvious, really. Remember when, after [b]Star Wars[/b] proved that space adventures can be really successful on the big screen, [b]Paramount[/b] decided to bring [b]Star Trek[/b] there? Something like that happened here too. Only instead of [b]Star Wars[/b] we've got... Yep, you've guessed it. We've got [b]Wing Commander[/b].
See, [b]WC[/b] was on its top at that time. [b]FMV[/b]-oriented [b]WC III[/b] and [b]IV[/b] changed the entire game with their huge budgets and famous cast (ironically, the role of [b]Maverick[/b] was played by [b]Star Wars[/b]' [b]Mark Hamill[/b]). Naturally, [b]Interplay[/b] decided that they want that too. Especially since they had access to [b]Star Trek[/b] franchise, which already had seven [b]TOS[/b] movies. It was only logical (yes, I'm [b]Vulcan[/b], live long and prosper!) for [b]Interplay[/b] to take their original concept and combine it with [b]WC[/b]. And that's exactly what they did. Did it work? Oh, yes!
Like in [b]WC[/b], our team is our everything now. We won't be able to explore the academy freely (in this case, [b]WC[/b] is a winner), but still, between the missions we'll chill with our guys. Which will be more important than you may think. Just because this game is way more non-linear than [b]WC[/b] and therefore, your decisions may cost you greatly at the end of the game. As a leader of the group, you'll need to be wise. You'll need to understand exactly how to treat people. Otherwise, there'll be... consequences. [b]WC[/b] had that too, but honestly, this game did it better. And, of course, we'll meet our old friends – [b]Kirk[/b], [b]Sulu[/b] and even [b]Chekov[/b]. Unfortunately, [b]Mr. Spock[/b] wasn't included, but hey! Can't have everybody.
Space parts benefited from [b]WC[/b]-like approach too. They became way more dynamic and fast-paced, while also simulating [b]Trek[/b] stuff surprisingly well. See, while the core mechanics here are very [b]WC[/b], the details? The details are all [b]Trek[/b]. You'll need to do everything manually and it feels fantastic! Going on yellow / red alert, controlling the repairs in real time (pretty similar to what we had in [b]MicroProse[/b]'s [b]Star Trek: Generations[/b]), hailing the other vessels and trying to negotiate with them (yes, those negotiations are non-linear too), using the tractor beam, transporter and other juicy things... It feels absolutely amazing. Especially since goals can be pretty complicated too.
This game can be an ass, though. I mean, fighting against cloaked ships is fun ([b]Klingon Birds of Prey[/b]? It's hard not to love 'em), but sometimes, the game will actually punish you for following your orders. I can see why they did it. It's [b]Star Trek[/b] we're talking about. And [b]Star Trek[/b] was always about those moral dilemmas. Like, [b]Kobayashi Maru[/b] anyone? But still, in a computer game format it... can feel unfair here and there. Think 'bout it. You completed your mission. It was hard (the fact that you can't save during the missions doesn't help either), but you made it. You returned to your base and... you learned about how following a certain order was wrong and therefore you've failed. [i]Ouch![/i] Still, this game? It's absolutely beautiful and if you love both [b]Trek[/b] and [b]WC[/b], you should not miss it.
Now, a couple of words about this exact version. It kinda... sucks. For many reasons. First – we've got a regular CD version. Obviously, we won't need to switch CDs, but still, those HQ videos from DVD re-release are not included. Also, don't expect [b]Chekov's Lost Missions[/b]. And while I can see why they didn't bother with HQ videos (those used some weird codec), lack of the addon is just stupid and disappointing. Sure, it's possible to manually add HQ videos from DVD (if you have one that is) and even install the expansion, but honestly, it's all about trial and error and would probably take you some time. And it's just sad, you know? I mean, this version works perfectly fine on [b]Windows 10[/b] / [b]11[/b] and it even has the [b]3dfx[/b] support. Unfortunately, there's no access to it from your [b]Steam[/b] library and the only way to access it is to launch [b]sfad3d.exe[/b] from the game folder (hence lack of play time on my account), but still, it's there. Why didn't they even try to give us all the content? Very illogical and disappointing. Dixi.
