Reviews

With the new movie hitting cinemas this year, we can probably expect an explosion of Star Trek merchandise and gaming soon. Until now, though, the franchise has been quiet on the current generation of home consoles, with only Star Trek: Legacy on Xbox 360 and this game, Star Trek: Conquest, on the Wii (also released on PS2).

Conquest has the developmental might of Bethesda Softworks (Oblivion, Fallout 3) behind it, though this is a completely different style of game to those two. What we have here is a turn-based strategy game set in the Star Trek Universe. You won't see many familiar names, but you will come into contact with several well-known factions.

No wonder the shields were always failing, they're only green lines!

The game is set at a time when, according to the opening text, races are at war, diplomacy is dead, alliances are forgotten, and borders are ignored. Basically, it's all kicking off. You have two modes to choose from at the main menu, Campaign or Skirmish. The former is the game's main mode, which we'll come to shortly. The latter lets you enter into a simple battle between two factions, and serves as a fairly handy means of introducing yourself to the combat system.

Campaign is the "rule the galaxy" mode of the game, where you choose which side you'll be leading to glory. You can pick from the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Breen and Dominion factions, and then select which (would-be) Admiral you wish to take charge of. Each race has different rankings of industry and facilities, plus varying ranges of ships and weapons. Potential admirals have strength in either attack, defence or movement, which will give their fleet a boost in the relevant area.

The map screen in all its...Dullness (PS2 screenshot shown)

Once you've chosen your faction, you can then select how many opponents you'll be going up against (between 1 and 5), as well as the difficulty setting. Choosing between Easy, Medium and Hard will affect how many credits you begin with, as well as how much of the game map you can see. Once the game starts, you will spend your turns strengthening your fleet and space stations, and then moving the fleet around the map.