Star Trek: Starfleet Command Gold Edition

Well, I had originally intended to give a full review of Starfleet Command: Gold Edition. I was quite looking forward to it, since reviewing the original title last year had pulled me, a non-trekkie, into the fold with decided purpose. Unfortunately for those of you longing to read yet another long-winded rant about how great Starfleet Command is, that original idea is no more.

This is due to two factors.
1) The Gold Edition is simply the original Starfleet Command with the 1.02 patch and thirty extra missions
2) The original title got more than its share of electronic ink in my previous 2,300+ word review, and rather than plagiarize myself, I’ll encourage you to follow the link.

While the second reason is self-explanatory, I feel it behooves me to give more justification to the first one. To that end, I’ll start with the extra missions. There are...well, 30 of them. The thirty new missions are broken up as follows:
3 for the Federation
3 for the Klingons
3 for the Romulans
7 for the Gorn
10 for the Hydran

Considering the multiple paths available in the game already, as well as six races, each with their own story arcs, ships and strategies, and you begin to see that there was already a lot going on in here already. (Now here’s where I come clean, and hope that my honesty lends me some credibility.) I haven’t played through the original game in nearly 8 months, so I really don’t remember all the original missions. Of course, I wasn’t able to play through every single race completely last time, which is a heinous thing to say, but I did put over 15 hours each into the Federation, Klingon and Romulan games, so cut a guy some slack. There’s also no documentation to be found anywhere indicating what the new missions are, leaving me further up the creek, and since many observant readers will note that the list above only totals 26, I can only say; that’s how it breaks down on the box. I have no idea what happened to the other four, where they are, or why Interplay doesn’t bother to list them. It’s not like it should be a big secret. Regardless of these oversights, I feel it’s relatively safe to say that while the stories within the game were always interesting, they were hardly Shakespeare. More accurately, they were well-constructed, encapsulated justifications for blowing up other ships with reckless abandon and much quoting of poorly delivered Shatner lines. In light of this, I think we can all rest assured that the new missions will live up to the legacy, wherever the hell they are.

The one disappointment to be found is that Interplay didn’t take advantage of the huge fan support on the net. There are some amazing mods, ships and missions out there from some truly talented people (some of which include the Borg, woohoo!) and it would have been nice to see those in the Gold Edition with a seal of approval.

Of course, let’s not forget that last year Interplay offered an add-on disc that featured some famous Trek space battles, (including the encounter with Khan and the Kobayashi Maru) that was only available when purchasing Starfleet Command through their website. The publicity for this disc was about as widespread as UFO sightings, (which is to say, we keep hearing it happened, but we never saw it) so including those missions would have been a major boon for fans left in the cold last time. Bygones.

As for the patch, rather than list the entire contents, which would be quite a list, I’ll direct you to the following link, and you may peruse the contents at your leisure.
http://www.interplay.com/sfcommand/downloads.html

I would like to point out two items I find infinitely amusing. First, if you look carefully, you will see nestled gently between ‘you cannot fire seeking weapons while erratic maneuvering’ and ‘Mission API: Orions have access to K-Class Freighters’ is the innocent notification that ‘a big memory leak was fixed’. Well, it’s nice to see that problems of that nature are high priority, and their subsequent correction is featured prominently. The second taste of game design irony is the fact that not more than two weeks after the release of Starfleet Command: Gold Edition, which included the 1.02 patch as one of it’s significant, yet curiously undisclosed features, they released the 1.03 patch.

So what am I saying here? Well, I really liked Starfleet Command, and if you don’t own it yet, the release of this game at least gives me another opportunity to recommend this intriguing and engrossing title. While I’m not sure that this ‘Gold Edition’ justifies the extra cash, it’s very possible that you can find a discounted copy of the original title at your local boutique software store. But only if you’re as confused about the ‘Gold’ of the ‘Gold Edition’ as I am.

You know what? My bafflement at this title actually doesn’t end there. Now, this next paragraph may not see print, but if it does, you gamers can rejoice in the honesty and integrity of a website dedicated to the gamers.

Let me tell you a little story from behind the scenes of gaming journalism. When I received this assignment (and therefore, the game) I was a bit bemused by the fact that everything about the game, down to the manuals, was identical to the ‘non-gold’ edition. Yes, the box was altered slightly and listed the number of new missions on the outside, and the CD said ‘Gold Edition’...but that was it. (Oh, the ink in the manual was a bit lighter. Yippee.) I scoured the net looking for some indication of what justified the new ‘gold’ status, since extra missions have been available to download for quite some time. Even the patch has been available for a while.

Well, there wasn’t any information to be found anywhere regarding the Gold Edition. I mean anywhere. Not at Interplay’s site, not even at the developer’s (14° East) site and not even at the dozen or so fansites I visited. It was almost as if the game slipped out by mistake. I tried e-mailing people at Interplay for info, stating that I was a reviewer and naming the site I worked for, and got no response. Finally, the webmasters here at GameZone did some saber rattling, found out where to direct my inquiries, and I did so. Put simply, I asked what the Gold Edition contained that justified its purchase, since I’m supposed to review this game for the people who would buy it. The subsequent e-mail conversations are irrelevant, but don’t you think that scenario was a bit odd? Should it have been that hard to get information about a product already released to the public? I mean, Interplay pulled some sneaky stuff with the first release of Starfleet Command with that ‘bonus-disc’ that contained nearly essential Trek gaming. You see, obtaining that Uhura-class gem required you to buy the game from their website, and they just didn’t tell anyone. No ads, no obvious links or major releases to the press about it. Nothing. I only found out after a reader sent me an e-mail to complain about the fact that he now had to purchase another game if he wanted to get his hands on the thing.

They then follow this jab with the right hook of a ‘Gold’ version of the game that doesn’t contain anything more impressive than what’s already available to download from the 14° East site and various other fan sites. As the knockout uppercut, delivered with surgical precision, they once again fail to notify anyone that there’s a new version of the game out with some, admittedly Spartan, additions.

All personal indignation aside, I have to say that there isn’t really any reason to pick up SC: GE unless you are unable to locate a discounted SC, or they’re both the same price at your local store. Starfleet Command is a great game, but the Gold Edition should be your second choice.

As for the scores, some of the more diligent gamers will notice a difference between my scores for Starfleet Command and the Gold edition. You will say: ‘If you’re so upset about this game, why did you rate it higher than the original, which you encourage us to pick up instead?’ Well, it’s quite simple. I’m not upset with the game, per se, but rather the manner in which it is presented. Let me break it down.

The improved score/rating (since we don’t use scores for that category anymore) in the installation comes from the fact that the original game gave me no end of trouble with loading. It would often freeze, fail or skip back to the desktop. A lot of the problems were solved when I registered the game (only Interplay can answer that one) but they still occurred with annoying regularity. The Gold Edition actually suffered from none of this, except the painfully long load time.

The higher score in the gameplay is due to the existence of the patch, which wasn’t around when I reviewed the game last time. It plays better now.

So there you have it.

Installation- Easy
Gameplay- 8.7
Graphics- 9
Sound- 9.5
Difficulty- 8
Concept- 8.5

Overall- 8.6