Federation Games Division Game Review

Star Trek: Klingon Academy

Review System:

Pentium III 650MHz

128MB RAM

Matrox G400 MAX 32MB

For years it seems we have been awaiting the arrival of Klingon Academy, from Interplay Productions. Ever since Starfleet Academy was released way back when and many Star Trek fans played through, and, for the most part, enjoyed, this game has been in the making. 

Many of the "old timers" of the Star Trek gaming community remember the turmoil over Starfleet Academy. It was too fast, it played like a space fighter simulator. It was like the Excelsior class was an X-Wing. It did, however, have above average graphics at the time and the movies were nice Star Trek footage (if cheesy.)  Well, the Klingon Academy team took all our complaints about SFA and aimed at the goal of the perfect Star Trek space simulator. Did it work out? Well, let's see.

Klingon Academy is set during the Cap'n Kirk Star Trek movie timeline, as this is the only timeline in which Interplay is licensed to make Star Trek games. No worry, I really enjoyed those movies, they were indisputably some of the best. From that, you can expect to only see element of those movies in this game.

Graphics 4.5/5

    Let me say it straight out, Klingon Academy has amazing graphics. The space environments such as the planetary rings, solar coronas, nebulas, asteroid belts,  black holes are all awesome. It is so much fun to play a space combat game where you actually spend some time looking at the environment around you!

• Nebulae: Nebulae will cause problems with sensors and obscure your vision (and that of the enemy!). They also disrupt cloaking devices and seeking weapons.

• Ion Storms: Compared to "using a flame thrower in a refinery". Using large weapons within an ion storm will attract dangerous electrical discharges to the firing ship. When hanging out in an ion storm, keep the weapons fire to a minimum.

• Planets: You can use planets for cover (of course). You can also bombard planetary installations from orbit. Planets are sometimes protected by planetary phaser batteries and ground-based marines.

• Planetary Rings: Think Saturn. Planetary rings can literally strip the hull from a fast-moving ship. Also, beam weapons have trouble cutting through the debris in the rings. This is ideal when a larger ship wants to even the odds against a fast, maneuverable ship.

• Gas Giants: An efficient (but reckless) way to throw off pursuers. Your visibility will be impaired, and your sensors will be "thrashed". If you're not careful, the 1000 mph winds will send you straight to Sto-Vo-Kor.

• Asteroid Belts: Asteroid belts can help you evade enemy sensors. I'm sure they hurt if you crash into an asteroid, too.

• Stars: Every system has at least one. You can actually do battle within a star's corona. From then it becomes a test of endurance. If a ship's shields fail within a stellar corona, the radiation will kill its crew. Don't get too comfortable, though. The temperature is over a million degrees (and is not kind to a ship's hull).

• Pulsars: Think of a pulsar like the revolving light on top of a police car. A pulsar will shoot out powerful electromagnetic energy at regular intervals, which can disable sensors and kill your crew.

• Neutron Stars: Neutron stars effectively disrupt subspace communications, so your enemies cannot call for help. Neutron stars also have a very strong gravitational field which screws up the aim of beam weapons.

• Black Holes: Tremendous gravity disrupts weapons targeting. Turbulence disrupts your maneuverability. Radiation disrupts your health. And your weapons can be disrupted in any number of exotic ways. For a Klingon, this type of battle is exhilarating!

    One of the most bragged about features of Klingon Academy has been the "ginsu" ship damage modeling. Once the shields go down on any of the ships in this game, get ready for some pretty and exciting ship chopping! Chunks snap off, warp engines rip apart, engineering hulls are strewn open. It's awe-inspiring when you hit a ship with one of the high powered weapons and a huge chunk of the saucer is sliced away.

    Weapons are much better looking in KA than in SFA. Phasers are now really nice streams instead of pulses. Torpedoes are amazing looking little red blobs of doom. Special weapons are increasingly mean looking. You can almost feel bad when you hit the bare hull of an enemy with the powerful heavy disruptors or the super-mean assault phasers. 

    The ships themselves are very nice as well, although I believe the textures are somewhat bland on the Klingon ships. Maybe it's too much green or something... However, the Federation ships, freighters, luxury liners, etc. are really well done. There are logos, detailing, and writing on their hulls to such a degree never seen before. 

    All the ship classes you've seen in the movies are here. Excelsiors, Mirandas, Oberths, Constitution (new and old), Klingon Bird of Prey, Klingon D7, etc... There are tons, and tons of ships. Nothing has been left out. In fact, Paramount has given Interplay permission to create some ship classes, such as the Okinawa class and the huge Yamato class, or the awesome Sword of Kahless Klingon Battlestation-gone-ship. Fans of Starfleet Command will recognize a lot of these ships as they are in both games.

    I know there is a way to cause a warp core breach or warp core ejection. I've done it in the demo but not yet in the final game. I can't wait to pull it off in the final game as I've heard the development team added some more detail and art to the whole sequence.

    On the review system, with all the graphics details maxxed and at 1024x768 resolution, the game is generally smooth although there is some major jerkiness at times. I also get some graphics glitches with the crosshairs, but this has been documented by Interplay (a G400 issue) and there is a way around it. Load times between levels is relatively long, strange since our review system has 192MB RAM and the game is running off of an optimized 7200 RPM hard drive. Not a big deal though.

    A major concern was brewing earlier this year regarding in game resolution. Originally the development team said it was impossible to change the resolution from 640x480. However, one of their programmers came up with an ingenious way to stretch all the art in the game and fool the engine to run at basically whatever resolution you can do. The 2D renderings do get distorted somewhat because they are stretched but this is only a minor caveat to the amazing clarity of a higher resolution. However, KA is very demanding and I would recommend 800x600 on a system any lesser than the review system (I'm going to go to that too soon though.) The main reason it was even a problem is because KA is basically an extremely heavily modified SFA engine game. You really can't it's the same engine tell other than the game is the same basic concept, a space cruiser sim.

    The in game movies and renderings are also very nice. With Christopher Plummer and David Warner reprising their roles as General Chang and Chancellor Gorkon. These two guys really put on a great show! The costumes are exactly the same as from Star Trek VI. The filming is well done too. Sets are believable. Just wait till you see the intro movie :P 

    All in all, the graphics are simply superb. There are some problems with some graphics cards, as noted in the included readme, and there are some small glitches and strange slowdowns but who cares? It's beautiful! I'm sure we can expect some patches if there are major issues (I haven't found any yet.)

Gameplay 4.5/5

   Klingon Academy has some of the most amazing game play of any space sim. This mainly comes from a vast selection of controls. You can do nearly anything you want with your ship. You can tweak sensors, engineering, helm, weapons, damage control, medical, and more. The detail is incredible.

• Verbal Order System: Using the number pad on your keyboard, you can call out many commands quickly. Simple key combinations determine the recipient of the order and the order itself in an easy to learn interface. Sounds kind of like that old Star Trek V game from Mindscape (anyone remember that one heheehee.)

• Gunnery Chair: Seen in Star Trek V, this feature allows you to fire your weapons in any direction around your ship, while your helmsman moves independently of your aiming.

• Boarding Parties: Klingon marines are at your disposal, beam them aboard an enemy ship and sabotage it from the inside. With adequate force, you can take over the enemy ships. Don't waste, recycle!

• Crew and Officers: Your crew will learn and grow with every mission, becoming even more able. With an experienced crew, you can make the most of whatever vessel you command.

• Officers' Stations: All stations are accessible to you. Check shields, damage, etc. Very useful if you want to get down to the gritty.

• Tractor Beam: Many evil things could be done with the tractor beam in SFA. Throw them into gravity wells, etc. Heh heh

• Communications and Jamming: Jam enemy communications.

• Sensors and ECM: Electronic Counter-Measures (ECM) to mask your sensor signature and disrupt enemy targeting, just like modern aircraft and naval forces.

• Cloaking Device: Well, you can probably guess what this does :)

    The gunnery chair is a nice addition. It lets you concentrate on firing the weapons instead of weapons and flying. Personally, I prefer to fly and shoot as it gives more control, and I don't like waiting for the helmsman to line up my torpedo launchers.

    Enemy AI can be terribly ruthless and efficient or dropped down to just plain ruthless. They like to play chicken with you, it's amazing, and scary. Sometimes they'll throw their engines into reverse so you fly right by, then they get on your arse and launch a few torpedoes into your rear....it's sweet (heh heh.) The AI is good at keeping its strongest shields towards you. That is, until you blow out his impulse engines!

    The missions almost never go as planned. There are tons of fun and exciting surprises. Amazingly well-scripted events.  For example, in one early mission you are to clear some systems of Federation ships (hahahah) but in one system you receive a distress call from a fellow cadet in another system. He is under massive attack and is near being boarded. You must assist as capture is unacceptable to Klingons..so, go save the guy!

    On another note, these missions aren't short! Some of them last nearly a half-hour! That's quality work! Sure, once you've worked on one mission for a while because your dying, it gets old. But, it's still pretty so shut up and gaze!

    Another nifty feature are the marine boarding parties. If you have enough marines on your ship, and your enemy's shields are down, you can board their ship and take it over! Can anyone take over the Enterprise? Sure, just take your Sword of Kahless Battlecruiser and lock a tractor on that poor Constitution refit. Haha. He's doomed now.

    My only complaint with the campaign is its linearity. If this game had a dynamic campaign, oh lordy, it would be perfect.

Audio 4.5/5

    As with all their Star Trek games, Interplay has a original soundtrack for Klingon Academy. It's very well done, and fits the Star Trek universe's Klingons very, very well. It reminds me somewhat of James Horner's soundtracks, that's how good it is.

    Sounds are also nearly perfect. Very bassy yet crisp and exact to what is shown in the movies. Some sounds are new since many of the weapons weren't in the movies. Ship sounds are nice too, especially when you pull a hard turn and the engines make sort of a screaming sound. Very impressive.

    My major problem with the sound is the repetitive crew commands and orders. Eventually you have to go into options and shut them up or you will go insane. It's good there is an option.

 

Controls 5/5

    The controls in KA are very customizable, a required feature in games these days. There are 3 pages of control settings within the game of which most can be changed to meet your preferences. It's the standard fare for flight; up, down, left, right, roll, pitch. Hotkeys for speed, targeting, zoon, external views, etc.

   And the answer to the big "are the ships still fighters?" question. Well, yes and no and partly. Sure some of the smaller craft are speedy little things, such as the Bird of Prey. However, the Excelsior and the huge Klingon ships are extremely unwieldy and have a very slow turning rate. You can change this to your liking in the options menu with the legendary game speed slider. So, in actuality, the fighter issue has been resolved more than adequately.

    Joystick, keyboard, and mouse flight controlling are the options. I've tried all and I like them all. The mouse control is very well designed, you click and hold the right mouse button and move a little leader icon around the crosshair and your ship goes in that direction with variable speed. Joystick is what I use most of the time, I think I may prefer keyboard though......

   I played with my ancient CH Flightstick which is a pain to calibrate in Windows 95,98, etc. KA has its own calibration routine! It's the good, old upper-corner lower-corner and works like a charm!

   KA has many, many controls. It takes a while to get them all down, some you never do get down. But, once you've got what you need, you will have fun!

Replay Value 4/5

With the immense multiplayer section of KA, how can you not want to keep playing! I personally can't wait for major battles at school in the dorms. In a few months.......I hope :P

You can choose your space terrain, ships of your fleet, and some other goodies.

I'm not real sure how much people will want to replay the single player. It doesn't seem dynamic at all so you'd be playing the same thing again and again. I suppose one could adjust the difficulty and play at a harder setting.

I hope one day we will see games which use dynamic campaigns like the Wing Commander series once did. They weren't perfect but it sure was cool where your mission success quality affected forthcoming missions.

 

Overall 4.5/5

   Sure it has some minor flaws but this game is great fun. If you like Star Trek, you will like this. If you don't like Star Trek but love a good space sim, you should still have a great time. If you enjoy both, well, you know what to do!