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how is the game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 81
Date: August 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS EALLY GOOD. NOT THE BEST BUT VERY GOOD. YOU SHOULD BUY IT PLAY IT & IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT RETURN IT

Huh?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 28
Date: October 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Um... this game isn't yet released, Mr. Capslock.

This is a sequel to Star Fleet Command, widely regarded as one of the best Star Trek games. This title is for the hard core trekker, not the casual tv show watcher. Lots of strategy, decent graphics, it's a chess match in space with gigantic starships as pawns. Should be good.

Bigger, deeper, more involving than the original

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 32 / 34
Date: December 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First, a warning: there is already a patch for the game to fix several problems known with the game at the time it shipped...

But, hey, it's an Interplay game; I've come to expect high quality from them -- but high quality that occasionally needs a strip of duct tape.

SFC II adds two new races: first, the Mirak, based on the Kzinti from Larry Niven's novels and stories and later adapted in the Star Trek cartoon -- explaining how they got into the Star Fleet Battles boardgame that SFC is based on; it's all a rich tapestry. ;)

Second, the Interstellar Concordium (ISC). These guys were my favourite race in the boardgame, and they don't disappoint in SFC II. Their ships are larger than comparable ships of the same class from other races, and they have unique weapons, like rear-firing torpedoes and their Plasmatic Pulsar Device. The PPD is a very accurate, long-range weapon that does damage to multiple shields in multiple bursts.

Every race now gets fighters and/or fast patrol ships (small gunboats, smaller than frigates but bigger than fighters). Now the Hydrans don't get all the fun. The wide assortment of ships (more than 1,000 of them) is astounding, and no two fleets ever need to be the same.

Game balance has been improved; no longer are missile boats the game-killers they were in the pre-patch SFC -- however, the Mirak specialize in missiles, and are certainly the exception to this rule. Run away from them.

Perhaps the most exciting improvement to the game is Dynaverse II, the new campaign system. While offering a fun single-player experience, where it really shines is in the online semi-persistent world, where hundreds or thousands of players can potentially build up their fleets to conquer their enemies. While the game has only been available for a few days as of this writing, I've had some experience playing online and it's a lot of fun. Once the player base grows (and it will -- SFC II went gold before release) I expect the online game to be the only way to go. And, of course, SFC II supports standard multiplayer one-off games, if you don't have the inclination to play a campaign.

The graphics are even better than the first in the series, with space effects, nebulas and planets displayed in eye-popping detail. Weapon effects are glorious, and the sound is first-rate.

The training missions aren't as frustrating as in the first game, and help to ease the massive learning curve for this extremely deep game.

If there's any weakness to the game it is that the ships themselves still look artificial compared to the concept art, and this prevents me from giving SFC II a 5/5 score.

One of the most disappointing games this year.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: December 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

As a die-hard SFC fan I eagerly awaited the release of what I hoped would be one of the best games of the year. Sadly however I was woefully disappointed in the "finished product" or should that be unfinished product. To completely list all of the bugs would take more space than I have here. The most annoying is the near total lack of single player missions (you get one with the game) and tutorials. Also the sound effects and music do not work; nor do some of the hot key commands. Also the game crashes regularly and often requires a complete re-boot of the system. In short save your money and get something else or wait until a fixed version is released.

Not for the faint of heart!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: December 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This sequel takes what was a complex game and adds another layer of gameplay: The emphasis on fleet (multi-captial ship + fighter) movements.

For those who don't know, Starfleet Command 2 is an enhanced version of Starfleet Command v1.03. This version (v1.03) tweaked the computer game closer to the original board game Starfleet Battles (SFB).

The game includes many campaign missions for the eight races and one pre-made skirmish mission (Not to worry : There is an online community that creates interesting skirmish missions). There is an online campaign multi-player component that currently is in a beta stage due to a collapse of an internet company...but Interplay has heroically stepped in to provide the servers. This is should prove to be exciting as the eight empires battle over a persistant virtual territory.

Two things prevents this game from being a five-star. (1) The tutorials don't cover the new features and new races within the game. I guess you have to just "figger-it-out" or just "know." (2) The manual is light on the race-specific strategy or links to other sources of information. Both of these factors make the game more inaccessible for the non-SFB player.

Starfleet Battles is a complex and nuanced strategy game that simulates the starship combat in an extrapolated Star Trek Universe (pre-Next Generation). This game has a great deal of depth and, unfortunately, a VERY high learning curve.

EXAMPLE: I watched a friend of mine (who likes Star Trek on TV) play SFC for the first time. He picked a Federation ship tutorial to play. The first thing he did was arm all of his weapons and shot his photons torpedos at the first ship he could get into his sights. They missed. He piloted his ship closer. Waited around for his weapons to recharge. Fired and missed. (...Repeat until really close...) He just didn't see the fun in it. "They make it look easy on TV." he said.

It is like chess: Deeply complex and rewarding for the dedicated student.

But it isn't for everyone.

The game-play's OK; the shell needs work

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: December 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I snagged this game as soon as I could; heck, I pre-ordered it.

SFC1 had me stuck in front of my computer for whole weekends. I thought I had outgrown the Star trek genre (and I have) but letting loose a swarm of missiles with "I got yer Prime Directive right here" written on their nose from a Drone Heavy Cruiser caught my fancy. The only problem I had was with the shell outside the simulation; it was a bit clunky, and I felt railroaded into situations I had little control over.

SFC2 did not improve on this situation.

The simulation aspect is just great; no worries there. But the shell... for the love of tribbles, the shell! It's difficult to maintain the supply levels on the ships, and it's a KNOWN BUG(tm) that buying missiles is hosed up. How could the QA team let the game ship with that glaringly obvious bug? The scaling on the shell screen is odd, too. They programmed it for 800x600 (I think), so when you play the game in 1024x800 to 1286x1024, the shell interface is shrunken. How hard is it to write the interface for 1280x1024 and shrink it to fit the smaller sizes?

Most of these problems should be fixed by patches (especially the missiles buying problem, Interplay!), and until then, I think I'll let the game sit quietly on my hard drive while I play something else. I won't unload it... yet.

Many bugs spoil what should be an excellent experience

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 20
Date: December 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

As a veteran of the (long to play) board game Star Fleet Battles, I was extremely happy when Starfleet Command came out last year. Although it had glitches and imperfections, the possibilities of finally having starships duke it out in a tactical setting (although real-time) was a joy.

Of course the original Starfleet Command lacked some of the races and other features of SFB, and so, a year later, we come to Starfleet Command II.

SFC II has two new races missing from the original Starfleet Command that are a staple of SFB...the Mirak (renamed from the board game due to infringement--you might know them better as the Kzinti) and the dreaded "evil Federation", the dangerous ships of the Interstellar Concordium. It is their efforts to bring "peace" to the various groups in the game that drives the engine of the missions and the map.

For all of its pluses, however, the bugs and glitches are many and major. The multiplayer "dynaverse" is still in beta due to a licensing problem, and the game itself is very very buggy. The word on the message boards from the designers is that Interplay, the parent company, rushed this puppy out of the door for the Christmas rush...and it shows.

Taldren has a reputation for fixing their mistakes, and so I am pretty sure that in time the game will be working well. Right now, however...it can be painful to wait minutes between turns on the major map and other glitches.

Without the bugs, this game would easily get four stars, possibly four and a half.

Complete waste of time...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: January 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

After seeing the first one, I thought that this would be a distinct improvement, and the bugs in the first one would be ironed out in the second. Of course, I was completely wrong. The "campaign"-level interface is completely useless: if you think that you are getting some kind of strategic deployment of forces, think again. In fact, the new "Dynaverse" engine seems to do practically nothing except to hand you random and pointless missions that are either way too easy or way too hard.

Due to these inadequacies, coupled with the myriad bugs present in the game (which have not really been fixed with the patches), I would not recommend this game. Stick to the first one.

Wait untill about version 3.0, as the game is full of bugs

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Once you actually get to fight other ships, the game is a blast. Complicated, but learnable. You will spend time mastering stratagy and controls. Unfortunatly, the game crashes A LOT. As you progress through the campaighns, the time between battles stretches to 10 minutes, as the computer does "something" (800 mhz athalon is doing something, as the hard drive and CD aren't doing anything, and the graphics it is changing are minor). It will crash to the desktop with unacceptable frequency. You will reinstall it at least once. And, if you are like me, you will put up with this because the actual battles are visually awesome and really fun. Stratagy is challenging and not covered by any documentation real well (trial and error). I am playing with patch 2.0.0.4 and have read that othe patches are a LITTLE better, but none of them qualify as good. 3.0 will probably be playable.

On second thought...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Well here is my second review, This game dosen't hit it's mark, Interplay has once again botched up anouther game(new worlds, Klingon Academy), how may you ask? They kicked this baby out of the crib before it could barely walk, there's only one scirmish, the first one had a bunch, NO officer slection(picking a Vetern or cadet fresh out of the academy, like in the first one), The mission start of good but jump up to higher difficulty way too soon,(after 3 missions I was expected to combate advanced warships with only 2 escourt class vessils, Kobyashi maru any one?) The online world that Interplay was headling for this game is non-exsistant, So now all we have is Star Fleet command gold w/ new lighting and damage, with no scirmishes, multiplayer, with insaine suicide missions.

But keep the faith, Taldren(ppl who actually made it)has completely backed this game, when Interplay's Brian Fargo said " thank god this is the last ST game we'll ever make", Taldren has basicly devoted thier website to help us all make this game better, witch you'll see none comming from Interplay. This will be the last ST game from Interplay, and thank God, Activison now holds the liecences for TNG, Voyager,TOS and TMP, Simmon&Schestur hold the liecence for DS9, and from what I've seen they will and have made much better ST games.

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