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This game rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 21
Date: November 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I'm not the biggest of Star Trek fans but this game rocks. You get to control all aspects of your empire. You can build ships, outpost, and other builds. You can build spies, gain tech, and a whole lot more. The best part is the combat. The battles are great. (Watch out for the borg and other killer creatures)

Excellent work

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 13
Date: November 16, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is a well thought out game that incorporates many different types of strategy, the multiplayer features are sluggish but are easily fixed with a patch. The many races gives the game unique perspectives.

Great visuals, slow pace

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 07, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I am a huge fan of both Star Trek and sci-fi empire games (like Master of Orion 1 and 2) but I was disappointed by BOF. It feels a lot more like Star Wars: Rebellion than the classic Master games. The ability to choose which race you play is excellent--each race has its look and feel as well as game mechanics. Unfortunately, it gets boring fast. You must micromanage each and every system, ship, tech advance, other races, pretty much everything. Also, once you get a bit ahead, the computer-controlled races have no chance. And if the Borg show up, forget about it.

I'll stick with Master of Orion 2

So much potential.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: December 09, 1999
Author: Amazon User

A Master of Orion type game set in the Star Trek Universe! When I first heard this game would be coming I was thrilled and impatiently waited for the day it would be released. Unfortunately waiting for the game was the most exciting thing about it.

Now don't get me wrong it is a "good" game but it is not great or fantastic in any sense of the word. If it had been released a few years ago it probably would have been received better but the truth is that this game is simply Master of Orion with Star Trek names and graphics. There was no real improvement or innovation in this game. Star Trek's rich background and history are given short thrift. The Diplomatic system is shallow and uninspired. The combat system held the most hope but it simply becomes a battle of the strongest fleet wins, with little chance for tactics or strategy. One of the worst features is trying to navigate around the map. You can't simply scroll with the mouse pointer like in MOO but have to zoom and unzoom between different map settings.

In the end if you really love Star Trek and simply can't get enough this game will probably interest you. But if you are a serious gamer looking for new challenges, wait for this game to hit the clearance rack.

It had the chance...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 28, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Birth of the Federation seemed like a reasonable purchase at the time -- but it's long since migrated off of my hard drive. Microprose has a solid history with Masters of Orion behind it, but they just didn't do justice to that game and Star Trek at the same time.

The game continues along a similar vein to MOO2 complete with a pretty reasonable combat environment. Like MOO2, though, it becomes a lot of micromanagement for not a whole lot of return and the computer just doesn't seem up to the task of truly defeating you.

If you're a Star Trek fanatic, you likely "have" to own this game and will enjoy it simply because of the universe (be warned though: it's all Next Generation due to licensing). If you're a turn-based strategy fanatic my suggestion is to stick with MOO2 or look elsewhere.

If you do purchase the game -- make sure to download the update from Microprose.

So much fun here...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 28, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game completely rocks. As you've read all the other reports, this game has a Master of Orion 2 feel. But I believe that Birth of the Federation provides a unique perspective on the Star Trek universe which makes this game so much fun. Truly, this game is a must for any strategy game player. I highly recommend it. Every single time you play a game you can rest assure that it will be different.

Never give a Cardassian an even break

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 29, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I LOVE this game! There are not enough hours in the day for me to play. My only wish is that the galaxy were bigger and there were more places to go and more races to deal with.If you like Star Trek so much the better but it is still a great game that I would recommend to anyone.

Birth of the Federation Needs to BE REBORN

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 11
Date: January 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

What a disappointment! I anticipated beaming onto other ships and mind melds...maybe even a holodeck- at the least great animation...but no. The battle scenes are realistic, fast, and clear, but that is where it ends. Colonization is a still graphic,the races also are not animated. The game is long- the research doesn't seem to make any difference in what you can build- it is very slow moving and uninteresting. It seems like a remake on a lesser level of MOO2. I vote for MOO2.

A MUST for every Trekker

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: January 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Microprose earned my loyalty on this game. I LOVE IT! I've played this game a hundred times, yet each time the versatile AI guarantees a completely new gaming experience. Though the game had several bugs initially, Microprose has a patch that pretty well takes care of them. The 5 empires are so much like what you see on the episodes that playing the game is like entering the Star Trek Universe. The oddest thing about the game is its name. Each empire you play is the central empire of the game, and it's no more the Birth of the Federation than the birth of the Klingons, Cardassians, Ferengi, or Romulans. Watch out for the BORG! They are devastating! I highly recommend this game!

Good for Warp 7, but shakey past that.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

We've seen them all; turned based games pitting you vs. the almighty AI, but somehow this one is different. As a trekker, I can honestly say that I was pleased with the game and most of the major glitches were solved after downloading the patch. What were you to expect? MS Windows has enough problems but we keep on running it, fix after fix, after patch, after...

I am waiting for a possible upgrade (read as "Give me more of the current stuff...") but as it stands beggers can't be choosers. I will say this for the game, make sure you have a system well beyond the requirements. Myself, equipped with a P1 166MMX and 80MB of RAM sure find the going slow when your empire gets up there in the turns. (To give an indication of how long it takes per turn near the end; I can go off and boil a pot of water!) But that aside, for a first crack at a game in this area of sci-fi, Microsoft does an adequate job. The major races at the hihger difficulty levels pound you to bits leaving you wondering if computers can actually think! Good for a whirl if you're a die-hard and even an arm-chair trekker.

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