rom Activision, the publisher that will soon release the Voyager-based first-person shooter Star Trek Elite Force for the PC, and developer Warthog, the folks who will help bring Starlancer to the Dreamcast, comes a first for Star Trek gamers: a genuine starfighter sim. Players take on the role of flight cadet Ryan Cooper, assigned to Starfleet's elite Rogue--er, Red Squadron. Through 20 levels (and the occasional secret mission) Cooper advances through the ranks, fighting in skirmishes against a plethora of 24th-century baddies.
The Borg have invaded Federation space (again). To help repel the threat, Lt. Commander Worf has been given command of the U.S.S. Typhon, a ship that resembles an enormous version of the U.S.S. Defiant crossbred with the huge carriers of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. Cooper and the rest of Red Squadron have been assigned to the vessel as well, but first he'll need to prove to Worf that he's got what it takes (coincidentally allowing the player to pick up the controls). Then it's off to his first mission--not against the Borg, but against a Romulan incursion in the Neutral Zone. Over the next several levels, Cooper will also be tested against the starfighters of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, the Borg themselves, and the mysterious Kam'Jahtae, a new race created for this game. The Kam'Jahtae seem intent on attacking every sentient race they see, so Cooper also finds himself fighting alongside Klingons (for example) against this deadly new foe.
While starship combat in the Star Trek movies and TV series was almost always on the level of large capital ships like the Enterprise, every species in Invasion uses starfighter craft as well as the expected Warbirds and Cubes. The Federation Valkyries come armed with a limited number of weapons at first (such as photon torpedoes and Type 10 phasers) but naturally receive weapon, shield, and configuration upgrades throughout the course of the game.
More Than Colony Worfs
Star Trek Invasion may initially seem like a simple Colony Wars knock-off, and there's no denying the similarity. But this game is more than a space shooter with the Star Trek license slapped onto it. Invasion's designers (like the creators of Star Trek Armada before them) have built the game around an intriguing story that features two of the most popular Trek characters, Worf and Jean-Luc Picard (voiced by Michael Dorn and Patrick Stewart). Also like Armada, the story takes place during what could be described as "current time" in the Trek-iverse, letting fans peek in at what's been happening in the Alpha Quadrant since the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The all-out action should delight Trekkers, especially those who appreciate Captain Kirk's "blow 'em up and let Starfleet sort it out" mentality over Picard's more traditionally diplomatic approach. The controls are intuitive and easy to pick up, although steering with the traditional D-pad (does anyone still use those, anyway?) instead of the analog stick is tricky. Invasion also has a fantastic lock-on and targeting system that lets the player focus on fine maneuvering during a dogfight, which comes in handy when it's just one Starfleet pilot against a squadron of Kam'Jahtae fighters. The graphics are equally impressive--and probably push the venerable PlayStation "1" to its limit--yet never seem to suffer from the clipping and frame-rate problems that can plague other visually intense titles, not even in the split-screen two-player mode (which includes deathmatch and cooperative options).
There's very little wrong with Invasion, but there are a few quirks that mar an otherwise impressive game. Some die-hard Trekkers may have problems with the whole concept--since when does Starfleet use massive starfighter carrier ships, let alone the Borg, Romulans, Cardassians and so on? And while there's nothing wrong with presenting a challenge to the player, some of the missions are overlong and very difficult, and can become so frustrating that a player is likely to turn the game off in rage at points. It would have been nice to have some kind of halfway save point built into a few of the longer levels to avoid this problem. But these are minor quibbles. Activision and Warthog have, late in the life of the PlayStation, given gamers a good reason to fire up the old gray box.
