Star Trek: Klingon Academy

A fierce space-battle scene immerses the player in the chaotic period of Klingon history two and a half years before the Camp Khitomer peace accords, and reveals the events that led to Star Trek VI. These are the Klingons we know and love from the original Star Trek series: violent, sworn enemies of the Federation, wracked by devastating civil wars. Into this political cauldron you are thrown, playing as an ambitious student in an academy famous for ordering attacks on Federation starbases for homework.

It is clear the designers are die-hard Trekkers; the interface, music, graphics, and acting exude Klingon attitude. You command your ship much as a real Klingon captain would. You personally control the weapons and navigation of your ship, and bark orders to your weapons officer, science officer, chief engineer, and other officers through a keyboard interface. Each order is accompanied by a verbal confirmation, and your officers also report to you verbally. The interface takes getting used to, but it really gets across the feeling that you are a commander of a starship crew instead of a lone pilot. There's nothing like hearing your officers yell "Sensors indicate incoming Starfleet vessels," and answering them with a growl of your own: "Arm all weapons!"

And my, what nice weapons you have. Klingon Academy's brilliant graphics let you obliterate the Empire's many foes in the most satisfying way. Think of the bit-by-bit starship destruction in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: warp nacelles belch plasma after a fierce disrupter barrage, flaming decks are revealed after your torpedoes blast a Federation ship's disc in half. And as in Khan, you can lure your foes into a variety of exotic combat environments, from icy planetary rings to charged nebulae, and even to the fiery corona of a star or the space-time bending horizon of a black hole.

All the action is tied together by a devious plot that threatens the honor and survival of the Empire. The game is a vast improvement over its predecessor, Starfleet Academy, and truly captures the look and feel of Star Trek's most popular warrior race. --Mike Fehlauer

Pros:

• Great music, graphics, and Klingon atmosphere
• Beautiful starship destruction
• Classic Klingon politics drive the missions, linked by entertaining filmed sequences
• Command interface makes it feel like you're commanding an entire crew

• Long load times when warping between systems

When the ships are moving in space you get the feel of really fighting in a 3D environment. The shield effects, power management, weapons, ships controls, and everything you could possibly want to command a Starship is in this game. You could even program the ship's power allocation from the engineering station to your own setting using power macros. Then in the heat of battle have the ships computer execute the power macro. Imagine executing MARV-1-BATA-OMEGA authorization BORG1. There are 3 times as many commands than in SFC; the book is 288 pages long and so far I have only read the parts that are important to me like power management and weapons. I have not yet use the power macro feature.

When a captain leaves the bridge of the ship another officer take command of the fight so that the captain can go to another station and fine tune this orders there. It is possible to give the helm officer orders to fly the ship, while in battle, and you as the captain get to fire the weapons from the security/gunner station. It does not get any better than this. Of course you get to command other ships as wingmen to help you destroy an enemy if you are out gun.

You start off as a cadet in the academy where you must receive training in ship command and Klingon honor (This is not as easy as it sounds). The Klingons do not tolerate failure; in other words, if you fail a mission in anyway you will get kick out of the school. Sometimes you get to asks the dean of the school (played by Christopher Plumer) selected questions and his answers are very very interesting.

In multiplayer mode you get to fly Federation, Romulan, Tholiyan, Gorn and other some other minor race.

There is not a better STARTREK GAME.


Perhaps the most customized game... ever!   December 26, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Although there's nothing much more to say than what earlier reviews have already covered, one thing that should be mentioned about Klingon Academy is it's 'modability', that is, the ability for players to make and download customized ships, screens, star systems, and other game components. There are literally thousands of ships available from all of the five main Star Trek series (TOS, TMP, TNG, DS9, Voy & Ent), fan based designs, and ships from Babylon 5, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc, etc, etc. For me, this has been a 2½-year gaming experience, as new modifications are constantly being made by the KlingonAcademy.com Modding Community. It still amazes me that this 3+-year-old game is still gaining new fans, with a growing and thriving online community...


The new standard for space flight combat simulations   June 28, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I thought X-Wing alliance set the standard for space flight simulation games. However, after playing through the first few missions, I was finally convinced that Klingon Academy puts X-Wing alliance and all others to shame. With Klingon Academy you get more than just random dog fights like in the X-wing games. In fact, in this game, you will be given the chance to hail and communicate with other ships, receive distress calls in near DVD like video with real, human, flesh and blood actors dressed in Klingon attire, the same goes for the pre-mission briefing-during which you will receive a short Klingon philosphy lesson, a Shakespear sonnet, and Klingon mission objectives all given by Christopher Plummer in full Klingon dress uniform that was used in Star Trek VI. Buy it today!


Great game   October 29, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This game is truly wonderful. It has great graphics, great sounds as in weapons and voices and a great plot too. It is easy to learn and easy to use in most cases. Each mission isn't to hard to do but still it makes you use your head. ... Thanks for reading and get this game.