Star Trek: Klingon Academy

The sequel to Star Fleet Academy, Klingon Academy attempts to correct the faults of the previous game while allowing you to play as a member of the arch-nemesis of the Federation. You play Torlek, a young Klingon officer selected for Command Academy, where the finest naval officers are trained to be the most effective ship captains the Empire can produce. Your instructor and mentor is the famous General Chang, two years before the events that lead to a truce between the Federation and the Empire. Chang will test you and your classmen in a simulated campaign against the Federation, and should you succeed, you may be called for other services as well.

Although not completely detached from the arcade nature of the original game, both the agility of the lighter Klingon ships and the sluggish controls and more elaborate commands make this sequel seem more a starship simulator than a fighter simulator. The majority of the gameplay takes place in a 3-D environment simulating space. Everything from black holes to ice rings will hinder your travels, but most important are the enemy ships you will encounter. From traitorous Klingons to Federation starbases to cloaked Romulans, over forty different types of vessels can be encountered, and most can be played in multiplayer. Lighting effects and models that can be scorched and damage enhance the visual effects. Control is through either a keyboard/mouse or keyboard/joystick combination and certain ship functions can be automated to allow you to worry about immediate concerns. Ships sail past each other, in a cumbersome imitation of dogfighting (although one must not forget that most vessels have side and rear firing weapons in addition to the forward-firing main weapons).

In the single player game, you take Torlek through the Academy, following a creative campaign of Chang's that simulates a decisive assault on the Federation. Although simulated, failure results in dismissal, so there are no second chances. Eventually, you'll graduate and become embroiled in the political issues leading up to Star Trek VI. The between mission (and sometimes within mission) briefings occur through roughly 90 minutes worth of live action film, featuring both Christopher Plummer and David Warner returning to the roles they played in the movie.

In the multiplayer game, players can do a free-for-all or divide up into teams, each choosing a vessel from the various races available in the game. They then can duke it out in a number of environments, from near a sun to within an asteroid belt to even in the upper reaches of a planetary atmosphere. Each environment causes different effects on your ship and, subsequently, different hazards.