Star Trek games
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The enduring popularity of the Star Trek science fiction franchise has led to numerous games in many different formats, beginning in 1967 with a board game based on the original series.
Contents |
[edit] Board games
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- Star Fleet Battles, the seminal tactical tabletop wargame created by Steven V. Cole and produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
- Federation Commander, the newest tactical tabletop wargame in the Star Fleet Universe produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
- Federation and Empire, the strategic companion to Star Fleet Battles also produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
- Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator published by FASA in the 1980s, based on the combat system from the Star Trek: The Role Playing Game
- Monopoly, produced by Hasbro licensee USAopoly in two versions representing the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- How to Host a Mystery, produced by Decipher in a Star Trek: The Next Generation version (1992)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Klingon Challenge (1993)
- Star Trek: The Adventure Game, produced by West End Games (1985)
- Star Trek: The Final Frontier, produced by Toys & Games Limited (1992)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Romulan Challenge, produced by MMG LTD (1994)
- Star Trek game, produced by Milton Bradley, based on Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
[edit] Card games
- Star Trek Customizable Card Game, produced by Decipher.
- Star Trek: The Card Game, produced by Fleer.
[edit] Role-playing games
Official game titles include the following:
- Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, produced by Heritage Models (1978).
- Star Trek: The Role Playing Game, the original Star Trek RPG produced by FASA. (1982)
- Prime Directive, designed by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. and published by Task Force Games. (1993) Later editions were produced for the GURPS 3rd edition (2002) and 4th edtion (2005), and d20 (2005).
- Star Trek: A Call To Duty, online text based game endorsed by Paramount Pictures and advertised on the Star Trek website from 1997 until sponsorship was lost 2000. [1]. (1997)
- Star Trek RPG, produced by Last Unicorn Games. (1998)
- Star Trek Roleplaying Game, produced by Decipher, Inc.. (2002)
- Star Trek Simulation Forum, has served as the chat based role-playing game of the official Star Trek website since October 2002. [2]. Remains the only simming organization currently recognized by the site. (2002)
- Star Trek Online, a MMORPG produced by Perpetual Entertainment. (Pending Release)
[edit] Starship simulator games
Starship simulator games create the experience of commanding and operating a starship, and usually allow the player to handle a variety of functions, and to allocate resources such as ship power and systems. Many of the early Star Trek games in this category have had a huge effect on subsequent games in their genre, often leading to new level of depth and complexity in programming and/or gameplay. This game category includes both computer games and non-computer board games, since the Star Fleet Battles game series provides an impressive starship simulation, and is wholly a tabletop board wargame.
In the genre of wargames, Star Fleet Battles is actually quite exceptional, because in most wargames, player units are usually defined simply by offensive and defensive numerical ratings. Instead, in SFB players are able to manage each ship individually, and deploy and manage a whole set of weapons and resources, and allocate power, through the use of an innovative tick sheet system, which manages power use for each ship, and also tracks which weapons and systems are in use. For this reason, game documentation is quite large, as it is required to cover a whole range of systems and their interactions.
The earliest computer games in this category had a major initial effect on the genre of space simulators. One of the earliest games in this category was Super Star Trek, an early text-based, DOS-based game, which shaped many later space games. This game is an impressive product, which manages to create a starship experience using only text-based commands and graphics. Another is the Star Trek (text game), which originated in 1971 and was ported to many different systems. The game Begin is considered notable for having a convincing model of game dynamics, as it has very few random elements, and is highly mathematical.
In later years, actually very few games were produced within this genre. More games were produced in the adventure games genre, with relatively few in the starship genre. The first recent one was Starfleet Academy, which incorporated many Star Trek elements, but was criticized for depicting starship operation as more akin to fighter planes than capital ships. A sequel, Klingon Academy, was actually quite different, and was one of the first games to depict starship operation with an appropriate amount of complexity.
In recent years there have been several additions to this genre. The Starfleet Command series of games from Interplay was based on the tabletop game Starfleet Battles, and comprised Starfleet Command, Starfleet Command 2: Empires at War, and Starfleet Command III. This series gave a more naval flavor to this type of game. Bridge Commander was another addition to this genre, reflecting the more deliberative, command aspects of this experience. In late 2006, Bethesda Softworks released several games which carry on the tradition of classic Star Trek ship simulator/combat games, Star Trek Legacy for the PC and Xbox 360, Star Trek: Encounters for the PlayStation 2, Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable and Star Trek: Conquest for the Wii and PlayStation 2.
Flashtrek 2 is one of the first games in this category which is online and wholly browser-based. It also appears that Star Trek Online, which is an MMORPG and is currently under development, will fit into this category, since starship operation will reportedly be one of the key aspects of this game.
[edit] Pinball games
Three pinball games have been based on the Star Trek series:
- Star Trek, released by Bally in 1979.
- Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, released by Data East Pinball (now Stern Pinball) in 1991.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics in November 1993 as part of Williams' SuperPin series.
[edit] Video games
[edit] Arcade
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Star Trek - Strategic Operations Simulator | Arcade |
| 2002 | Star Trek: Voyager - The Arcade Game | Arcade |
[edit] Computer
The history of the Star Trek personal computer game franchise began as early as 1971, with a Star Trek text-only computer game written in BASIC. Many PC titles have since been published, and the franchise was one of the first based on a TV program to break into the young PC gamer market in the 1990s.
Interplay, Simon and Schuster, Microprose and Activision released most of the best-known Star Trek games between 2000 and 2003. Titles like Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Elite Force and Star Trek: Bridge Commander were all published during this period, as were over half of all the other major Star Trek PC games. The absence of new titles after 2003 was due in large measure to a split and subsequent lawsuit between Activision and Viacom which ended in 2004.
With the departure of Activision in 2003, the franchise under the tenure of Paramount effectively came to a close. Since the end of 2005, CBS has assumed most franchise management, including games and other products. Even with no new licensed titles released during 2003-2006, the older games like Armada and Elite Force still have an avid fan base which keeps the small community going. Development of the new Star Trek: Online title is currently underway, with release expected in 2009.
Bethesda Softworks was announced by the outgoing Director for Products and Merchandise for Viacom (Mr Harry Lamg) as the new publisher for Star Trek gaming on the console (handheld and stand alone) and PC markets. In December 2006 they released their first 3 Star Trek games in the space of 3 weeks. Star Trek: Legacy for the PC and Xbox 360, Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, Star Trek: Encounters for the Sony PlayStation 2 and Star Trek: Conquest for the Wii and PlayStation 2, in late 2007. Bethesda had effectively done what Activision, Interplay, MicroProse, Simon & Schuster and Viacom had failed to do in the previous 15 years of Star Trek gaming history, they released a game for each platform.
[edit] Console
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Star Trek: Phaser Strike | Microvision |
| 1982 | Star Trek: The Motion Picture | Vectrex |
| 1989 | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (cancelled) | NES |
| 1991 | Star Trek: 25th Anniversary | Game Boy, NES |
| 1993 | Star Trek: The Next Generation: Future's Past | SNES |
| 1993 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Game Boy, NES, SNES |
| 1994 | Star Trek: The Next Generation: Echoes from the Past | Game Gear, Genesis |
| Star Trek Generations: Beyond the Nexus | Game Boy, Game Gear | |
| Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Super NES, Sega Mega Drive | |
| 1995 | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time | Genesis, SNES |
| 2000 | Star Trek: Invasion | PlayStation |
| 2004 | Star Trek: Shattered Universe | PS2, Xbox |
| 2006 | Star Trek: Tactical Assault | PSP, DS |
| Star Trek: Encounters | PS2 |
[edit] Cross-platform
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | 32X, SNES, Windows |
| 2000 | Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force | PS2, Windows, Macintosh |
| 2006 | Star Trek: Legacy | Xbox 360, Windows |
| 2007 | Star Trek: Conquest | Wii, PS2 |
[edit] Handheld electronic games
Numerous stand-alone electronic handheld and tabletop games have been produced by manufacturers like Bandai, Coleco, Konami, and others. Pair Match, manufactured by Bandai in 1984, appeared in several Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Online Star Trek Games - A large collection of free online star trek games
- Star Trek Games Database - A large database of Star Trek game information provided by StarTrek-Games.com
- TrekCore Gaming Museum Information on all Star Trek games, by platform, and includes Current online games.
- Games article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Star Trek Games History by Victor1st of Star Trek Gamers , 2006
- Star Trek: the Top 10 freeware games
- Star Trek games at BoardGameGeek
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