A Brief History Of Star Trek PC Games

2000: Star Trek: ConQuest Online

This game was an early attempt by Activation to take the Star Trek game franchise into an MMO format. Players acted as members of the Q Continuum and collected pieces in the form of spaceships, aliens, people and other objects in the Star Trek universe. These pieces were then used to combat other players for control of the universe.

2000: Star Trek: Klingon Academy

Star Trek: Klingon Academy is the direct sequel to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but from the point of view of the Klingon Empire. Thanks to the Klingon's fondness for battle, this game focused more on combat than its predecessor. There are also a few covert missions that require the player to use the cloaking device on the Klingon vessels to escape dangerous situations or to ambush the enemy.

2000: Star Trek: New Worlds

Star Trek: New Worlds was a real-time strategy game that focused on land battles instead of ship-to-ship combat. Players can choose to play as the Federation, Klingon Empire or Romulan Empire. There are a total of 14 missions that are identical for all factions. These missions focus on building a base to colonize a new world. Considering that the other factions also want these worlds, players will also need to destroy the enemy base in order to gain control of the world.

2000: Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II

Starship Creator Warp II is similar to its predecessor from 1998, but with upgraded graphics and an extended list of building options. Ships designed in the original game could also be ported into Starship Creator Warp II. A unique aspect about it, however, is that ships designed with this program could be ported into the 2001 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars.

2000: Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force

Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force launched alongside the sixth seasons of the Star Trek: Voyager TV show. In a sense, Elite Force can be viewed as an unofficial episode in the sixth season, as it attempts to line up with the story presented in the TV episodes.

During the game, Voyager is trapped inside of a mysterious starship graveyard inhabited by hostile aliens. In order to gather parts and deal with the alien threat, the Voyager crew relies on a new group known as "Elite Force" to explore the other ships in the region. Elite Force is a special team assembled to handle extremely hazardous situations. During the game, players control Ensign Munro, the leader of the Elite Force.

2001: Star Trek: DS9: Dominion Wars

Dominion Wars focuses on the large war fought between the allied forces of the Federation and Klingon Empire against the Dominion and Cardassian Union. Players can choose to play as any of these races. Depending on which race you choose, you'll go through one of two story lines. The Federation and Klingons share a story line, as does the Dominion and Cardassian Union. Although the story lines are different, the ultimate goal of both sides is the same: complete control of a large portion of the alpha quadrant and the wormhole that connects the alpha and gamma quadrants. The game play is best described as a space simulator, but with the option of controlling multiple ships at a time.

2001: Star Trek: Armada II

In 2001, Activision published a sequel to Star Trek: Armada. The new version maintained the same general type of gameplay, but extended it with more building options. It also added new races from Star Trek: Voyager such as Species 8472.

The story line takes place during the same timeframe as season seven of Star Trek: Voyager. It builds upon the story of Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek: Armada. Each faction sends the player through completely different missions, and the complete story is revealed only after the player has completed the game with every race.

2001: Star Trek: Away Team

Star Trek: Away Team takes place at the end of the DS9 TV series and is centered on seventeen new characters on board the U.S.S. Incursion. This ship and crew are sent by Starfleet to carry out special assignments that range from espionage to combat missions. Players control between four and six of these seventeen characters in each mission. Each character has different equipment and special abilities, which gives players multiple ways to complete each mission.

2001: Star Trek: Starfleet Command II Empire At War

Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empire At War closely follows its predecessor with the same general type of RTS gameplay. The game's primary story line is centered around the return of an alien race known as the "Organians," who then try to conquer all other races in the game. Players take control of one of several existing races and attempt to fight against the Organian conquest.

2001: Star Trek: Starfleet Command Orion Pirates

Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates was a standalone expansion pack to Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires At War. The game introduces eight new pirate factions. The primary goal of the game is to play as a non-pirate faction and eliminate the pirates. Alternatively, you can also play as one of the pirate factions and wipe out the non-pirates.


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Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
  • ern88
    I wish they would do another Bridge Commander style game.
    Reply
  • Reynar
    Uhhh...Birth of the Federation was turn-based. And glorious despite the game breaking memory leak and other bugs.
    Reply
  • adgjlsfhk
    No star trek armada III? technically its a mod, but it still is amazing.
    Reply
  • Mopar63
    Birth of the Federation was an amazing game that needs to be remade. Sadly it was never properly supported. The Star Fleet Command series will always hold a special place in my heart. I worked with Taldren as a part of the "Inner Circle" a select group of play testers that worked directly with the devs. I was also the creator and Editor and Chief of Hailing Frequencies, an SFC Fanzine. Of all the Star Fleet Commands my least favorite was SFC III, I just never felt it captured the essence of SFC.

    I works on the New Worlds beta, all I can say is I am sorry. :-( I played a lot of Star Trek Online but Perfect World has pretty much ruined what started as a great Star Trek game.
    Reply
  • dimar
    I would love Star Trek game series, Mass Effect style. Rich story line and lots of action. But no prequels. I hate prequels!
    Reply
  • enewmen
    Some where exceptionally good, but only similar to Star Trek - having warp, shield, photons, etc. The Cosmic Balance by SSI (1982) for example added strategy by limiting the space available by hull size. So you can have a ton of weapons, but no shields. Or Super fast but no weapons. Or good weapons & shields but no living space. Balanced, Or any combination. The paper game "Star Fleet Battles" (1979) was also excellent, but there was never a good computer game version of that.

    Edit: Most licenced "Star Trek" games where made for suckers and totally SUCKED! "Starship Creator" (1998) for example was exceptionally bad (wait 2 hours to cross the map and nothing happens).
    Edit again: I have no love for Star Trek online - no good reason and I can't die. Just don't like it.
    Reply
  • jaguarskx
    Playing Star Trek Online while doing a bit of moderation...LOL.
    Reply
  • jaguarskx
    Star Trek Bridge Crew

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=romB8e5nMp8
    Reply
  • cletus_slackjawd
    Armada and bridge commander where my favorite
    Reply
  • wifiburger
    did not play a single startrek game, even tough the movies / tv series are decent,
    FPS MMO would be nice I'll play that :-) 20% no man sky and 80% destiny yeah that would be awesome
    Reply