Review: Star Trek: Tactical Assault (DS)
Score: 86
The 1960s - Star Trek airs, with James T Kirk in charge, and every male of between 10 and 20 (including me) was kick-started on a sci-fi imaginative journey that lasts to this day.
The 1980s - the early home computers and even the mainframes I worked on, all had versions of 'the Star Trek game', in which your tiny ship scanned around and warped across the ASCII character galaxy, engaging in combat, sustaining damage and retiring every now and then to a Starbase for repairs and shore leave. It was incredibly low-tech and a lot of imagination was needed by the player, but it worked.
2006 - Star Trek hits the Nintendo DS....
First of all, kudos to the graphics and design teams, they've used the dual screens to excellent effect, with the lower one being your control panel for your ship and crew and with the top screen being your view-screen/birds-eye view (do they have birds-eye views in the vacuum of space?).
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copyright IGN)
OK, we're not talking the textured complexity of Doom here, but I liked Tactical Assault and felt drawn (albeit with a little of the imagination referred to earlier) in to the world of Federation, Klingons and Romulans.
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copyright IGN)
You have a crew, but it's mainly to add atmosphere, because you've got complete control. The action mirrors that in the original ASCII-art game, in that you're despatched from Starbase on various missions, during which you'll encounter other (usually hostile) races/vessels. Combat is handled well, with effective (though never jaw-dropping) animated graphics in the 'viewscreen'.
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copyright IGN)
There's the option to play through a full campaign as a Klingon champion, should you wish to see the Star Trek world from the Dark Side(!) In fact, in 'Skirmish' and 'Multiplayer' modes, focussed on combat, you also get the chance to play as a Romulan, a Gorn or an Orion captain.
Which, for a Trekkie like myself, is all pretty darned cool and mainly accounts for the high score given above. Star Trek: Tactical Assault isn't the best DS game ever, it's not even the best Star Trek computer game ever (a PC title in the 1990s stole that honour), but for any fan of the show it scratches an itch and is a must-buy.