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Star Trek Software Reviews
Welcome to our section dedicated to Star Trek software. Over time, we intend to make this part of the site a definitive guide to every piece of Star Trek software ever released, no matter what computer or games console it was released on. As such, there will be very few new reviews here - it is meant more as a review achive. If you have any software that isn't covered here and you want to submit a review, please feel free.
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Screen Themes, Vision X
Software, PC To call ScreenThemes a Windows wallpaper program or a screensaver is an insult and underestimates what this software actually does. Yes, it does both, but does so much more... The primary function of Screen Themes is to offer a variety of ever-changing Wallpaper images for Windows. While not dedicated solely to Star Trek, there is extensive Star Trek support, hence the review. Basically, you can set Screen Themes to change your background image automatically at intervals to suit your mood from a range available as part of the trial version of the software, or from the extensive library online for those of you who register. As well as the wallpaper, there the option of using an on-screen calendar and you can also use Screen Themes as a screensaver. In this function, it presents images from your collection in a random order with some very impressive transitions in between with music/sound effects of your choice. There are plenty of options available as well to allow you to customise the software to your heart's content. In the main menu screen, you can choose not to view thumbnails of images you haven't seen, you can alter the frequency the images change, whether to add sound effects (and there are plenty of free Star Trek sound files on the Screen Themes web site available to download) and whether you want the images altered using various textures. In addition, the calendar is fully customisable with type of fonts used, positioning on screen and more. Images are available in themed packs, each one containing around 15 hi-res pictures. For the Star Trek collection, most are photos from the various shows but there are also original CGI images as well. The quality of the images is absolutely incredible as you can see from the screenshots here. They are stored in a compressed format when you download and install the packs and they decompress and re-scale to fit your screen size as they are needed. Even when the images are scaled to full screen, they still remain sharp and are extremely bold and colourful. Most Star Trek fans will have seen all of the photos before, with them being taken from standard Paramount publicity photos, but that doesn't stop them from being absolutely stunning. The CGI images are primarily new, but there are some taken from PC games but again, the quality is incredible. Even if you only use Screen Themes for wallpaper, you won't fail to be impressed with how it transforms your PC. A free trial version is available online (and was given away with selected Star Trek games from Activision) and registering is quite straightforward and inexpensive. The package I signed up for cost around £20 and that not only unlocked some of the program's features (such as using your own images in the screensaver) but also allowed me to download an additional six image packs, with discounts on further downloads. There are plenty of packs to choose from as well, so there is something to keep all Trek fans happy. I mentioned sound effects briefly. They are used in Screen Themes either when a new image appears each day or for between pictures when used as a screensaver. You can use your own sound files if you like, but there are over 200 wav files available to download freely and they are all remarkably clear and bring back more than a few fond memories... If you want high quality Star Trek images and sound effects to enhance your PC, then you must get Screen Themes. Registering is fairly inexpensive and for that, you will be able to download a few image packs to get you started. Visit their site now to download the trial version from www.screenthemes.com All of the images accompanying this review have been taken from various Screen Themes packs and are the copyright of Paramount Pictures and are here for illustrative purposes only. Reviewer: Simon Plumbe |
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Star
Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, Activision, PC Released by Activision in 2000, Elite Force is a first-person perspective 3D shoot-em-up in the same vein as Quake and Unreal (infact, Elite Force uses the Quake III engine as the base for the game). You take on the role of a member of the Hazzard Squad, a new team of security officers on board Voyager, specially trained for dangerous assault and defensive missions. You can choose to take on the role of a newly recruited ensign to the team - Alexander (or Alexandria) Munro. After a brief training mission on the holodeck, you go into the game proper and when Voyager comes under attack from an unknown vessel, you are drafted in to conduct some emergency repairs to the ship to help Voyager to defend itself. However, things soon go wrong when a wave of energy is emitted from the alien vessel which transports the Voyager to an unknown region of space filled with derelict spacecraft from all manner of races, some new and some very familiar... Once in this region of space, you have to explore the other craft, form new alliances, and generally kick some alien butt whenever it tries to rearrange your molecules with the nearest available particle weapons! To do this, you start off with a basic selection of weapons (a hand phaser and a phaser rifle) but you can collect various additional hardware along the way including a newly developed anti-Borg weapon... the I-Mod! Eventually, you will discover the nature of what is keeping all of the vessels trapped before you come onto the final battle at the end of the game... beware, this is not for the faint-hearted! Okay, that's the single player game, but as with Quake, it really comes into it's own as a multiplayer game. You can run Elite Force over the internet and play in "Holomatch" games against a number of different human opponents in various arenas. If you don't have an internet connection, you can still use the Holomatch mode as the computer will create a selection of computer controlled opponents for you to obliterate. It has to be said that it is quite satisfying running around Voyager's corridors with what can be only described as a portable photon torpedo launcher shooting Neelix! With about ten weapons to choose from and plenty of levels to keep you going, you'll find that Elite Force will keep you entertained for hours. If you are familiar with Quake, you'll feel right at home here and if not, the stunning graphics and sound will make this game a treat for Star Trek fans everywhere.As I said, the graphics are incredible. It really looks and feels like you are walking around the Voyager (or a Borg cube, Klingon Cruiser, or whatever ship you may be on), and the sound is equally impressive. There are some good ambient sound effects, impressive music (especially during the cut-scenes and animations) and there is plenty of in-game speech with all of the Voyager cast providing their own voices (with the exception of Jeri Ryan, although this was fixed with a patch that was included with the Expansion Pack)! It all adds up to really make you feel as if you are taking part in an episode of the series. Granted, the system requirements for Elite Force are pretty high and you really do need a powerful PC to get the most out of this game, but if you've got the hardware, you'd be a fool to miss out on what is arguably the best Star Trek game ever released. Reviewer: Simon Plumbe |
