Throwback Thursday #2: “Star Trek: Armada”

Last week, we showed some love for a timeless SNES classic. Thanks to the miracle of Netflix, I’ve been catching up on Star Trek. All of it. Right now, I’m finishing up The Next Generation. Given the massive amounts of Star Trek I’ve been watching for the last month, picking a game for this week’s Throwback Thursday was a no-brainer. So, let’s take a look at my favorite Star Trek video game, Star Trek: Armada, a PC game released in 2000 developed and published by Activision.

There exists a lengthy list of Star Trek video games, but, frankly, not very many of them are good. Most of the games come across as lazy attempts to cash in on the franchise; however, every so often, a Star Trek game comes along that taps into the true brilliance behind Star Trek and adapts the best parts of the franchise into a game. Star Trek: Armada is one of those games. Armada is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that allows players to control one of four factions: the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, and the Borg. While reviews certainly did not catapult Armada to Game-of-the-Year status, they were mostly positive. To date, it remains one of the most warmly received Star Trek gaming adaptations. The game also spawned a similarly-well-received sequel, which was released the following year.

Plot & Characters – 8.0/10

The plot of Star Trek: Armada follows four characters from the series: Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, Sela, and Locutus of Borg. The player begins with the Federation campaign, which follows the adventures of the Enterprise after encountering a future Federation time ship, the Premonition, which has traveled back in time to warn the Federation of an oncoming Borg onslaught. Meanwhile, in the Klingon Empire, Worf commands ships loyal to the Empire in the midst of another civil war. Elsewhere, Sela pursues a mysterious Omega Particle, a massive amount of powerful omega molecules, which are said to be able to create mass quantities of power; however, the Borg, who are led by a clone of Locutus are also in pursuit of the Omega Particle. Will the Federation be able to hold off a strengthened Borg assault? Will Worf be able to keep the Klingon Empire united after the reemergence of Toral? Will Sela be able to beat the Borg to the Omega Particle and help expand the Romulan Empire’s dominance in the Alpha Quadrant?

While it is not considered canon, the game is guided by an excellent plot. Time travel tends to be a frequent plot device in Star Trek, so it’s easy to screw that up. Armada does a good job of integrating time travel into the story. Each of the four separate campaigns are well-told and interesting. The game’s final few missions are epic in scale and are a wonderful culmination of the game’s various storylines.

All four of the game’s leads maintain their characterizations that made them famous. While their isn’t much character interaction (save for the in-and-out-of-mission cut scenes), the story can definitely command your interest.

Sound – 7.0/10

The game’s music score is nothing of particular mention. Composer Danny Baker used musical themes and queues from The Next Generation and added some generic battle scores into the mix. It serves the game well, but, again, it’s nothing particularly special. The same forgetfulness cannot be said of the voice cast though. Activision managed to secure original actors Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Denise Crosby and have them reprise the roles they originated on The Next Generation. Each actor gives a great performance and really adds to the authenticity of the game. Sometimes, Star Trek games have to settle for cheap sound-a-likes, especially with big-name actors. So, it was a genuine treat to have these three return to the franchise and step back into their much-beloved personas.

Graphics – 7.0/10

Armada’s visuals, much like the soundtrack, are nothing special. Given the time of development, these visuals are perfectly adequate. The cutscenes and character models, though extremely dated now, were standard fare back in the day. Ship models were detailed and the campaign maps were all distinct and well-designed. The game ran smoothly even on modest systems. Overall, it looked good, but the game won’t be remembered as being a major milestone in the evolution of graphics.

Gameplay – 7.0/10

Armada‘s gameplay featured no distinct contributions to the evolution of the RTS genre. It featured a resource system, specific build patterns, and your typical drag-and-click unit movement system. It featured both local and online multiplayer as well. The gameplay was nothing distinctly different from any other RTS in that time. You can check out the game’s first mission in action below:

Overall – 7.0/10

Again, on paper, Armada isn’t the most unique game ever released. While it doesn’t do anything particularly poorly, it isn’t particularly innovative. Still, this game succeeded well in one area: it delivered fans of Star Trek a fun, entertaining game wrapped up inside an RTS shell. If you’re a fan of Star Trek, then you’ll be able to hop right into the story and lose countless hours micromanaging your own fleet of Star Trek ships. It also serves as a great stepping-off point for those trying to get their feet wet in the demanding waters of the RTS genre. The game’s helpful tutorials will show you the basics of RTS gameplay and challenge you to better yourself as a player in the process.

Look forward to tomorrow’s Gamer Pulse and next week’s Throwback Thursday. Until then, thanks for reading and stay tuned to Comic Booked!

Tags: activision, Borg, comic booked, Denise Crosby, Jean-Luc Picard, Klingon, Kyle Black, Locutus of Borg, Michael Dorn, Patrick Stewart, PC games, Romulan, RTS, Sela, Star Trek, Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Throwback Thursday, Worf

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Written by Kyle Black

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