Birth of the Federation

Copyright: KBkids.com

You would think with all the great Star Wars games, the Star Trek folks could finally get it right. Unfortunately this program left testers still waiting for that 'great' Trek program, and returning to their trusty Starfleet Academy. Here's hoping next year's Star Trek Armada will be as great as it looks!

Even extremely proficient gamers may sit staring at the screen with this program saying, "Gee, I must really be dumb!" Birth of the Federation is extremely difficult to understand. Testers in this case were both hardcore Trekkies and gaming fans. After long periods of time with the program, both were still lost.

The basis of this program is to dominate the universe. There are several ways to go about accomplishing this feat. You first select which race you will be. You can choose to be the Federation, Ferengi, Klingon, Romulon, or Cardassian empires. Many initial options allow you to set technology levels, number of races encountered, victory conditions and more. So far, the game is looking pretty good. The interface is very nice looking...that does not make it playable, however.

This is a turn-based game. You can play against the computer, or up to four opponents over the Internet or a network. The game play area is nothing more than a confusing grid. There are so many features, and options that players soon become overwhelmed. There is a tutorial (hidden in the load game area) but it did not help much at all! The idea is to control development and exploration until your goals are accomplished. In reality, the fun was lost for testers long before they got a good handle on the gameplay. This program also bogs down on any system as play advances and the game must handle more data.

Star Trek fans will do better to hang on tight to their copies of Starfleet Academy until the release of Armada.

Bottom Line: A good idea that gets bogged down in a frustrating and confusing gameplay interface.

Ratings: (based on KBkids.com's 4 star rating system)

Overall: 2

BrainGain: 1 1/2

FunFactor: 2

EasePlease: 1

Buy Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation at Amazon!