MAISON ABREU: Lair of Abreu, you know, that guy below. Do not mistake this for other Maisons or Houses or even Abreus.
I do look good on this chair, dont I?
Here I am again reviewing a Star Trek game. Like previously I have a few forewords before starting. This game was one of my "Holy Grails", I have searched for it for many years, and although it is nothing I should be proud of, I downloaded it last year. Fortunately the game is complete, and I have manage to play it in all its glory. Like Starfleet Academy I rated this game with 10, and its one of the top Star Trek games I have.
Now I may begin the review. I might include some pictures and videos from sources outside Video Game Geek to support this review. I will be using the same ratings used here on VGG, from 1 (worse) to 10 (best) in the different categories which will then give the final average, and this will be downgraded, for example if it ends up being 5,999 I will rate it a 5.
INTRODUCTION: Klingon Academy is a 2000 game released by Interplay, that lets us take the role of Cadet Torlek in his time in the Elite Command Academy led by General Chang. Essentially its a star ship simulator with interactive live action choices, in which you have to complete several missions, either simulations at the Academy or combat missions in the up coming war. Just as a side note this game takes place prior to the Star Trek movie "The Undiscovered Country", two years before if I am not mistaken.
PRESENTATION: I have already stated that I downloaded this game. So I dont know how exactly it was presented. I know there where 6 CDs, but with the game files there was a scanned PDF of the game manual which I printed. The game manual is very good. Klingon Academy presents many differences from Starfleet Academy in terms of controls and options. The manual reflects that and it is much larger then the previous. It is not an easy reading and requires attention, but after a few tries and if you know how, and what, to search it is very useful. It also gives all the statistics of every different ship in the game, and in terms of Star Trek background its awesome.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND: For its time the game graphics look good, but could be better. With much more different "battlegrounds" then Starfleet Academy and many more ships this one really gives you that Star Trek feel, with different places like nebulas, asteroid belts, black holes, the works. One example can be seen here:
The sound effects are good, and the game music is great. Now the live action sequences are much better treated. They have better quality and as I mentioned the music is very good. I will use the opening speech of the game as an example:
GAMEPLAY: Now its time for the intro:
Even if your not a Star Trek fan you have to agree that is very good. Like before one of the best aspects of this game is the mix between the starship flight simulator and the live action scenes. But what is best, you are not only flying trough the Academy simulator, you will be involved in the Klingon Civil War. The combat and flight part is much more elaborated then it was on Starfleet Academy and this increases the complexity of the game. Now you must take in consideration power allocations with different settings and the possibility to personalize them, but also medical priorities, and security details to either prevent or execute boarding parties. This does make the game more complex, and only trough practice will you be able to fully understand it. Which means this gives you more the feel of starship command although it means a loss of gameplay. Like I mentioned before there is a huge amount of scenarios and ships which gives you a wide range of missions, with very different settings and objectives. The live action sequences choices are simple, but many times the obvious choice may not be the right one, although they dont make much change to the story line. Now the story is just great. As I said, it happens before "The Undiscovered Country" movie, and all the game can be, in itself, a prequel to it. I enjoyed the fact it present us with the view from the Klingon side, and it also gives the background information about the characters and the events that lead to the "overload" of the Praxis moon. And in a bit of Star Trek trivia one of those that graduate with Torlek is K'mpec, future Chancellor of the Klingon High Council as seen in "The Next Generation"
CONCLUSION AND RATING: Klingon Academy is one great game. Its a hard game to play, and it can be frustrating, but it really pays up. Now for the ratings.
I do look good on this chair, dont I?
