Trek or Wars: better overall game franchise?

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2005-06-29 03:47pm

Lord_Woodlouse wrote:SW wins. But then SW has the unfair advantage of a development/publishing company all to itself.

Actually ST had an independent major publisher with a few developers focused on fewer total games, the games however happened to suck.

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2005-06-29 05:05pm

the .303 bookworm wrote:
Lord_Woodlouse wrote:SW wins. But then SW has the unfair advantage of a development/publishing company all to itself.
Actually ST had an independent major publisher with a few developers focused on fewer total games, the games however happened to suck.

Not one which was essentially in-house like LucasArts is with LucasFilm, I think.

A lot of ST games were made and produced by Activision as part of some deal which, IIRC, ended up turning sour.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-29 06:19pm

Activision had the license to publish Star Trek games set in TNG. Basically, Activision sued Paramount for running the franchise into the ground.

Activision published a lot of the newer stuff, like the Elite Force FPS, the Armada RTS, and the Bridge Commander starship arcade game - whoops, meant to say simulator. Oh wait, I didn't because... well, that's a whole topic in and of itself.

Interplay had the license to publish TOS/Movie-era games, which was mostly seen with the Starfleet Command games, the old 25th Anniversary/Judgment Rites adventure games (DAMN those were good games!), and the Starfleet Academy/Klingon Academy starship simulators. Oh, and that "New Worlds" RTS... which always seemed like a ripoff of Warzone 2100 to me.

Of the two, I'd say Activision easily pumped out more of the shovelware - there have been several forgettable titles released that were simply mediocre at best and basically just tried to cash in on the Star Trek franchise.

General Brock · Post by **General Brock** » 2005-06-29 06:39pm

HemlockGrey wrote:I have a copy of "Visual Star Trek" on my system. You fly around a whole bunch of quadrants with the mouse. You click on Klingons, Romulans, or Tholians to shoot torpedoes at them or use up your energy to fire phasers. The Klingons have normal ships, commanders, suppercommanders, and supercommander factories, and you have 25 days to blow them all up. Its pretty fun.

I have that game too! Does it hang on occasion, or is it just my version? (Downloaded from The Underdogs)

Always wanted to mod the sprites...

I think SW has the better gaming universe; because of sheer volume of games put out, a few would have to have been winners.

Unless they come up with Elite Force, or Klingon Academy versions of TOS. Something like Bridge Commander in TOS would have been great; being able to intract with the original Enterprise crew and command the ship would have been enough incentive to buy the game at first-release price.

Of couse, Scotty and McCoy are gone now. Damn it.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-29 08:23pm

Elite Force in TOS? *shakes head* No, Elite Force thrives on witless plots and technobabbly-powered weapons, and actually makes some fun out of it. Elite Force should stick with the Voyager and beyond era where it belongs.

Part of me would like to see another Star Trek starship game, but I just know it would be fucked up by insufferable asshats who are more interested in shaping the franchise around their own half-baked gameplay ideas rather than the other way around. Fuck, I wouldn't have minded some of Bridge Commander's other shortcomings so much if it had felt more like a starship simulator, but instead they went for a fucking arcadey feel and couldn't even get the damn ships right after they promised they would and GRAAHH FUCK YOU TOTALLY GAMES!!!

Yeah, I'm a little bitter.

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2005-06-29 08:33pm

Birth of the Federation is the only uniquely good ST game really, and it was still far from perfect (it was easily one of the most awaited games I've ever had, I was obssessed with it before it came out).

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2005-06-29 11:54pm

Besides Starfleet Command and Birth of the Federation, I really can't think of any good ST games.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-30 12:17am

Knife wrote:Besides Starfleet Command and Birth of the Federation, I really can't think of any good ST games.

Oh come on! Didn't you ever play Star Trek: 25th Anniversary? Or Judgment Rites? Quite possibly some of the greatest adventure games ever.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-06-30 03:39am

I've always liked bc. I know it plays fast and loose with accuracy and shit but It was fun. Multiplayer was fucked (I could never get it to sync files with a server and there were always so few online at any time that I rarely managed to find a server with the same version as me so I hardly got to play anyone). Sure it was arcadey, but that's what made it fun.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-06-30 04:19am

Starfleet Command
Starfleet Command Volume 2
Elite Force
Elite Force 2
Star Trek 25th Anniversary

Those are all kick-ass Trek games. The SFC games are very original and fun to play. Elite Force managed to bring a fun FPS style game to Trek. Star Trek 25th was a real nice RPG with good ship combat built in.

Personaly I would like to see a DS9 era Dominion War FPS game. Make it more like Republic Commando with an elite force of Starfleet Commandos equiped with the best technology and weapons. Either that or something along the lines of Ghost Recon with an attempt at realism instead of arcadish play.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2005-06-30 09:26am

Unless they come up with Elite Force, or Klingon Academy versions of TOS.

The Argas Effect, EF/TOS total cnversion.

Pic
Pic
Pic

Fuck, I wouldn't have minded some of Bridge Commander's other shortcomings so much if it had felt more like a starship simulator, but instead they went for a fucking arcadey feel and couldn't even get the damn ships right after they promised they would and GRAAHH FUCK YOU TOTALLY GAMES!!!

Well, you can't change the arcady feel, but there's been tons of mods - uncluding redesigned, far more cannon ships and bridges - that make the game just a bit more versatile and simulator-y. Just.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2005-06-30 06:06pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Knife wrote:Besides Starfleet Command and Birth of the Federation, I really can't think of any good ST games.
Oh come on! Didn't you ever play Star Trek: 25th Anniversary? Or Judgment Rites? Quite possibly some of the greatest adventure games ever.

actually, no. I haven't.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2005-06-30 06:19pm

Knife wrote: Oh come on! Didn't you ever play Star Trek: 25th Anniversary? Or Judgment Rites? Quite possibly some of the greatest adventure games ever.
actually, no. I haven't.

Your loss. Those are easily the best, and more importantly, the most Star Trek Star Trek games ever made. Closely followed by 'A Final Unity'.

General Brock · Post by **General Brock** » 2005-06-30 08:00pm

Bounty wrote:
Unless they come up with Elite Force, or Klingon Academy versions of TOS.
The Argas Effect, EF/TOS total cnversion.

Well, you can't change the arcady feel, but there's been tons of mods - uncluding redesigned, far more cannon ships and bridges - that make the game just a bit more versatile and simulator-y. Just.

Thanks, I'll check them out!

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2005-07-01 08:13am

Batman wrote:
Knife wrote: Oh come on! Didn't you ever play Star Trek: 25th Anniversary? Or Judgment Rites? Quite possibly some of the greatest adventure games ever.
actually, no. I haven't.
Your loss. Those are easily the best, and more importantly, the most Star Trek Star Trek games ever made. Closely followed by 'A Final Unity'.

A Final Unity never seems to get mentioned much, but it was a pretty ambitious game and quite well done for it's day though some of the puzzles were quite frustrating.

Faqa · Post by **Faqa** » 2005-07-08 04:29am

Star Wars takes it. I never DID like Starfleet Command...

Though damn the ST franchise! I want Star WARS: Bridge Commander! I want bragging privleges for routing the Executor with a Corellian Corvette(yes, I'm aware of the scale difference)! I wanna command Home 1! I want to beat down Thrawn's sorry Merg Sabl tactics! I wanna say "Launch all fighters!".... well, you get the picture.

Why did ST have to get all the good capital ship games?!

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2005-07-08 08:08am

Star Wars every time, sure Lucasarts screwed up occasionally, Yoda Stories anyone? But in recent years you have to look really hard for a truely awful SW game. The last ST game i bought that i enjoyed was DS9: The Fallen which was a middeling 3rd person shooter/puzzler. Worf with a Bat'leth < Jedi with a Saber.

Dark · Post by **Dark** » 2005-07-08 10:41am

I'd say SW dose. Just because of the fact that i'v played alot of both but SW takes it in the fun of the games.

Star Wars games

X-wing alliance- awsome

Jedi knight academy- awsome

Galactic battlegrounds- very good

SW Battle front- awsome
______________________________

Star Trek games

ST Voyager Elite force- very good

ST bridge comand- Ok

ST Armada 2- very good

ST Klingon academy- awsome

Vicious · Post by **Vicious** » 2005-07-08 01:11pm

Jade Falcon wrote:
Batman wrote:
actually, no. I haven't.
Your loss. Those are easily the best, and more importantly, the most Star Trek Star Trek games ever made. Closely followed by 'A Final Unity'.
A Final Unity never seems to get mentioned much, but it was a pretty ambitious game and quite well done for it's day though some of the puzzles were quite frustrating.

Aw, shit. I totally forgot A Final Unity. I loved that game. That was a true Star Trek experience. It felt just like playing an episode (a good one at that). The puzzles got hard sometimes, but it was still great fun.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2005-07-09 12:47am

Nephtys wrote:TIE Fighter. Whee, go Flight sim.

TIE Fighter is arguably the greatest space fighter simulation ever made. It even managed to get amazing graphics considering that it could run multi-polygon Gourard shaded models on a 486SX-33. THe wing commander series was entirely bitmapped sprites at the time.

Several FPS, which are on par with say EF1.

Dark forces 1 & 2 are pretty much equal to Elite Force 1, but you should probably consider that Dark Forces 1 came out a year before Quake _and_ had freelook.

An RTS, far below Armada in quality..

SW also had the RTS based off of Age of Empires.

interactive fiction, which I never played (Reb Assault?),

The Rebel Assault games are a series of rail shooters, and quite good ones at that. They are not related to interactive fiction in any way.

Slight edge to SW, mainly because they've produced more, even if their means are about the same, with more consistancy to ST.

Virtually every single ST game before Elite Force was pretty shitty.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-07-09 02:42am

Virtually every single ST game before Elite Force was pretty shitty.

Really?

25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites were great games. Starfleet Academy was pretty decent when it was released. The various incarnations of that old Trek game (basically the Great Klingon Hunt) were based on a very solid concept and most incarnations were good. Starfleet Command was very good. Klingon Academy was alright.

There was a stretch of really bad games - a lot of them from Simon and Schuster, and the rest a bunch of shovelware probably primarily concocted by marketroids. (oh hey first person shooters are popular let's make one of those!) But those aren't so numerous as to make them "virtually every single ST game before Elite Force".

Sephirius · Post by **Sephirius** » 2005-07-10 01:31am

starfleet command was quite thoroughly awesome, until activision fucked it up with SFCIII

I loved starfleet academy for the SNES, it was like tie-fighter with some puzzles and bigger ships =)

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2005-07-10 01:37am

Lord of the Farce wrote:
jegs2 wrote:By the way, where the heck can I get a bonified, full version of Star Trek Armada II for under $25?
I got the Activision "Star Trek Action Pack" (which included ST Armada 1 & 2, and Elite Force plus Expansion) for AUD$40 a couple of years back, but I have no idea whether it is available internationally, or just Australia.

On topic, while Star Wars had some real bombs (eg. Force Commander, which IIRC, the early screenshots of which looked like SW Total Annihilation, rather than the joke it became... *sigh*), but it has also delivered quite consistently positive results like the X-Wing series, Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, and Rogue Squadron series.

... Damn it, now I have to fight the urge to reinstall Jedi Academy and go beserk with a pair of Lightsabres, Force Grip, and Force Lightning (UNLIMITED POWER!!!), and it's already 1AM...

*voice from Evil Dead II* JOIN US!

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2005-07-10 04:59am

I loved starfleet academy for the SNES, it was like tie-fighter with some puzzles and bigger ships

Oh yes, that was terrific... I loved the way you had to think before going in guns blazin'. The mission with the boobytrapped freighters was awesome.

NRS Guardian · Post by **NRS Guardian** » 2005-07-12 04:19am

People you're forgetting Republic Commando owns Elite Force I and II.
Also, TIE Fighter is considered by most critics to be one of the best games EVER. Wars takes it.