klingonacademy

Klingon Academy

Wow! This game is a great improvement on the Starfleet Academy space combat simulator. There are many more variants of Federation, Klingon & Romulan starships, with the chance to command all of them in the special ship simulator level. (pit old constitution class against new).

This game has a "surprise" voice guest star of Michael Dorn, (TNG/DS9 Worf), who plays Colonel Worf's brother, an academy trainer. One mission even puts you up against the voice talents of Captain Hikaru Sulu!

The first sets of missions deal are set in the academy simulator, where you, as a cadet take command of a rookie crew through a simulated war with the Federation. Later, you get embroiled in a Klingon civil war (for "real") which is fun....

Christopher Plummer (Chang) is, as you might guess a splendid actor who brings more Shakespearian prose to the game - and shows exactly how that eye patch was needed.

Great game, but I found the lack of ships names (like NCC-1701 signed on the hull) were missing, which loses some of the character. However, I did enjoy blowing away sections of enemy starships (and starbases), to reveal the decking underneath, which was a good bonus.

There are HUNDREDS of MODS's. i.e. you can download starships, such as Voyager, the Defiant, Borg Cubes, Galaxy & Sovereign classes!

This is of course excellent - if you've ever wondered how Kirk's Enterprise would do against Picard's Enterprise - or even the dreaded TNG Borg!

*****

Space combat game. The game is set in the original Star Trek time frame, in the years preceding the movie, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when tensions are running high between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Those familiar with the series/movies will recognize many of the characters featured. There are several game options including the main single-player campaign and instant action mode as well as a selection of multi-player options. There is also comprehensive mission editor.

*****

Star Trek: Klingon Academy
Reviewed by Chip Carter

Here's a worthy successor for graduates of Starfleet Academy.

Get one thing straight: I do not like Klingons. I am from the south, and that's how we are raised here. I can't help it, no more than I can help the fact that I like grits and the Atlanta Braves. But I must admit, after getting my hands on Star Trek: Klingon Academy, I feel a little more softhearted toward those intergalactic boogers. In fact, I'm thinking about taking the "Kill All Klingons" flag off my roof and putting it on a pole in the driveway instead.

I was one of those rare gamers who really liked Starfleet Academy. A lot. But I always felt like there were elements of that game that could have been better. KA takes the promise of SA and boldly goes--oops, sorry. Almost had a maximum cliche moment there.

Realize, now, that we're not talking about modern-era Klingons, all touchy-feely and civilized and stuff. These Klingons are from the good ol' days when Klingons was Klingons, and sheep were nervous. They're evil, nasty, kick-you-in-the-nuts-and-spit-in-your-eye-while-you're-crying Klingons.

The Klingon Academy itself is run by General Chang, the one-eyed dude with a thing for Shakespeare from the movie The Undiscovered Country. In fact, KA's a prequel to that movie, and Christopher Plummer, who starred as Chang, recreates that role here to great effect. You begin your life as a miserable cadet, taking on simple simulated missions, eventually learning to command the entire fleet of Klingon craft in 25 missions. Including enemy and secret vessels, like Flash Gordon's ship, there are more than 40 controllable ships, many of them created specifically for this game. They range from small B'rel-class birds of prey to the Accuser-class Dreadnought, which is almost three times as long as the Enterprise. There's also some brand-new weaponry that'll bring a tear to the eye of even the crustiest old commander, including an antimatter field projector device, the frequency-modulated particle accelerator cannon, an awesome assault phaser, and seven others.

Meet the Academy's requirements, and you'll become a commander; you might even be chosen to become Chang's right-hand man in an impending Klingon civil war.

The real beauty of this game is the chance to do more than just point a giant ship at an enemy craft and fire away. You have to control all aspects of the ship's operation, a task that can get extremely sticky in mid-battle. Each essential station has a designated key control: 1 for engineering, 2 for navigation, and so forth. Once you access each station, there's another number-based menu that lets you give commands. Say you're in combat against a Federation vessel, and you want to concentrate fire on a particular part of the ship. You'd first press 8 to access weapons, then press 2 to enter the weapons sub-system, then press a number from another list to select your specific target area. It's not as mind-boggling as it sounds--after a few rounds, you'll begin to memorize the sequences you use most frequently.

If you get tired of the story mode, there's an instant-action mode that'll throw you into battle against as many as eight ships. Or you can always go multiplayer--deathmatch or co-op--online or via a LAN. Hey, 14 Degrees, here's an idea: next time around, how about a multiplayer co-op mode wherein each individual controls a different part of the ship? You know, a navigator, an engineer, and all that.

Graphically, this one's an amazing look at the Star Trek universe. Klingon, Federation, Romulon, Gorn, Tholian, and Sha'kurian vessels are perfect enough to pass muster even under the closest scrutiny. The battle effects are amazing, from scorched and pockmarked ships to burning decks revealed when part of the hull blows away. The interactive 3D backgrounds are equally impressive; whether you're in deep space, threading Saturn's rings, battling in an asteroid belt, or hanging out on the edge of a black hole, the view is breathtaking. All told, there's a staggering 90 minutes of video here, and it's all worth watching, thanks mainly to Plummer's stellar turn (which gets my hands-down vote for all-time best acting in a game). In fact, at times it's a little too much, and unless you have a PC capable of a space-shuttle launch, you may have to drop your video settings to avoid slowdowns during combat.

Here are some examples of the MODS available for Klingon Academy.......