Despite Mad Doc Software's best efforts, even at the time of the original release - Star Trek fans were just not that interested in Armada 2. It had less re-playability than Armada 1 due to the lack of community made mods and I distinctly remember me, my friends and reviewers being woefully disappointed in the warping mechanic. I know warping faster than the speed of light is a large part of Star Trek but it just didn't make sense in an RTS setting. However this time around for this digital re-release, I'm changing my opinion slightly... Remember when Sid Meier's Civilization IV had 2 amazing expansion packs (Warlords, Beyond the Sword) and then they released that WTF Colonization expansion pack that changed the gameplay and somehow made Civ 4 less fun? Star Trek: Armada 2 is essentially that but instead of it being some off-shoot DLC for a popular strategy IP, it was the game that literally killed a Star Trek gaming genre.
Out of all the Star Trek® games to be digitally re-released, I was MOST excited for the announcement of Star Trek: Armada 1 - one of the BEST Star Trek games ever to exist! Why is Star Trek: Armada 1 so amazing you ask? Voice Acting: Features 4 iconic Star Trek TNG/DS9 actors reprising their legendary roles! Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard and Locutus of Borg, Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf, J.G. Hertzler as Chancellor Martok, and Denise Crosby as Romulan Admiral Sela. Gameplay mods: Star Trek: Armada 1's core gameplay mechanics are very similar to other RTS games released around that time - but the one thing that really took Armada 1's gameplay and brought it to the next level were game modifications created by a passionate community of fans - specifically the legendary Millennium Project 1.9 SE mod! This single game modification adds almost every conceivable canon starship from the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager/Post Star Trek: Nemesis timeline AND also re-textures a lot of existing in-game starships with beautiful HD quality. Along with these new starships, the mod creators included additional hero ships and stations from the TNG/DS9/VOY timeline for use in multiplayer that includes: Deep Space Nine as the Federation starting starbase, the Borg Queen's Diamond with Alice Krige voice over (Borg Queen, Star Trek: First Contact/Star Trek: Voyager), Enterprise D - Galaxy X-class with Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr Riker, Star Trek: TNG), Klingon Bird of Prey IKS Hegh'ta with Captain Kurn (Tony Todd) voice over. Story: Nothing to really write home about but still interesting for Star Trek fans. Music: Enjoyable but sometimes a bit monotonous. Those who are having graphical problems, I highly suggest joining the Classic Star Trek Discord Server - everyone on there was very helpful at getting these old Star Trek games running at peak efficiency on my beefy gaming PC: https://discord.gg/f29wvKP87x *The BEST Star Trek game except for BOTF 😎
Tried playing this game this morning and the furthest I got was seeing a pixelated 240p Paramount logo video pop up and then nothing. Application minimizes and just hangs. After 20 years, I expected these ports to be a little more optimized. *SIGH* welp, back to playing Star Trek: Birth of the Federation!
