The GOG version hasn't worked on any of my machines in a long time. I've worked with support, but they haven't been able to find a solution. Further, the game is poorly designed. I've often had to restart a long level before of a win condition I didn't find out about until late in the level.
The Star Destroyer level is broken. What a terrible port. I could beat the level with hours and hours of practice, from reading the forums. But the controls are just too bad, the level design ridiculously moronic. It's not worth the time.
Some of the shooting levels are really fun to play, and the story is good. Some of the piloting levels are very unfun, but the difficulty editor makes it a cinch to beat those. The flexibility of the difficulty is what does it for me. You can customize the experience you want, all while experiencing fun gameplay and a cool storyline. The only downside is how short the game is.
Most space empire builders require extensive study just to understand the basic concepts, and avoid getting wiped out by the first enemy you meet. This game gives you basic concepts that you can grasp pretty quickly, but has enough layers of depth that I wind up thinking "okay, that kind of worked, but it would have worked so much better if I had ..." That's a good point for a game to be at. The gameplay is both fun and challenging.
The game does an incredible job of helping you sympathize with the outcasts you're caring for. You have to be patient, since making mistakes can result in mass starvation or freezing. But as long as you're responsible, you have a good chance of taking care of the original outcasts, and their growing families. The game is engrossing, with a gradually increasing difficulty that does not require you to fail over and over before you are able to take care of your first few people.
You wouldn't expect gameplay and story this good from such an old game. But I've had more fun with this game than any in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg are terrifying for part of the game, and it feels great to finally be able to beat them. If you can only buy one Star Trek game, make it this one!
Seems like a great, classic game. But the controls don't work for me on Windows 10. I can't even enter the first village. I've tried everything, and looked online. It's too bad that so many GOG games don't work on Windows 10.
The game is accessible, if dated. The missions are hard enough to be challenging, but are winnable even for a new player within a few tries. This is a fun game! The downside: The controls are wonky, failing to make adequate use of the mouse. Make sure you study the controls on the main screen, since you can't access them while in a mission. Sometimes missions spring surprises on you that cause you to fail the mission, as you could not have anticipated them. Likewise, sometimes the game glitches, and the non-player ships fail to take a required action. This can cause you to fail through no fault of your own. This is the chief flaw in the game.
