Exploring the Forgotten Star Trek Survival Horror Game

[@SuperSlowmobile]

O'Brien doesn't sound like he's in nearly enough constant physical and emotional pain to be a convincing O'Brien.

[@LuxAeterna22878]

Indeed. The real Miles O'Brien was the quintessential masochistic engineer. Going out of his way to watch stuff constantly break down and calibrating the shit out of it.

[@ULTRAOutdoorsman]

Oh Jaesus

[@BriahnAznable]

I heard he was supposed to be the main character but O’Brien injured his shoulder 47 times 😞

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

I haven’t forgotten this game at all…because the guy who borrowed it from me in college never gave it back.

[@AdeptusMumbles]

This comment reminded me, I loaned my jewel case of Battlefield 1942 to a family friend and never got it back.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

@@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r This happened for me with Starsiege, and that was a major disappointment. But I had a backup burned. Lesson learned, never loan the original.

[@HeathenSWolf]

Damn such people. I still remember that girl that never returned my Unreal Tournament 3 that I gave her.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

@@HeathenSWolf at least with valve games, you could put your cdkey into steam. Dunno if ut3 was a big loss when 2004 was the best version. I own the CD set, DVD, and anthology. Probably be fine losing the cd set. Oh, btw, have you guys noticed how review sites and manufacturers colluded to remove the disc drive bay? We don't even get slots for hard drives anymore, it's all RGB fans. So you're stuck with tiny space NVME, and games take over 100GB. Such a great progress we've made. I have an entire bookshelf of games on disc. Never going to get rid of my disc drive.

[@UndyingNephalim]

You are right, this game has not aged well mechanically. I had a ton of difficulty playing it on release and while I did better when I came back to it a decade later, it was still a glitchy and difficult game that was lacking in any fun. To add some context as to why the game reviewed so well: It was released at the absolute peak of the "janky tank controls Survival Horror Craze" inspired by Resident Evil. A lot of the issues with this game were really common in many survival horror games at the time including Resident Evil itself, although many of them solved the camera issues by just having locked camera angles in each area. I think people were just very used to the clumsiness found in the genre before it was really refined in the following decade. Another positive of the game that I think stuck with people is.... it's a Star Trek Horror game. Not only that but it actually succeeds in creating a creepy and unique atmosphere that's extremely rare in any Star Trek media. Despite how unfun this game was for me and how much I always disliked it, there were a lot of events, images, and sounds from it that have been burned into my brain for over 20 years. If there were an old Star Trek game that could use a modern remake to fix its issues this one would be a candidate.

[@azordash_games]

You raise some really good points here... I probably glossed over the atmosphere in my video, because there were so many challenges to talk about, but you are right, it is excellent & really nails the brief. I enjoy both Star Trek and horror, and I'd make an argument that outside of this game & some of the episodes in STNW, we haven't really seen these 2 things together. Now I have not played every single Star Trek game (although I am trying to slowly work my way through all of them), but I'm pretty sure there are not any others with this type of atmosphere. I also agree that there were a lot of these janky games... The Thing (which I believe is getting a remaster soon), released a mere 2 years later and fixed a lot of the issues I had with the Fallen... I should really go back and play that actually... Anyway cheers for the thoughtful comment. I always appreciate reading other people's experiences.

[@UndyingNephalim]

@@azordash_games Thank you for the response and no worries, I never really was able to appreciate the atmosphere of this game when I first played it for many of the reasons you mention in the video. It was just such a frustrating game with camera issues and wonky combat. It wasn't until years later I started to pick up on the really unique vibe this game has. To my knowledge there are no other Star Trek horror games. There are brief segments in the two Elite Force games that try to feel like spooky horror levels but those are just smaller parts in a larger game that's not a horror game. It is kind of sad but understandable how few times horror and Star Trek seem to combine. Off the top of my head there's barely any episodes: Conspiracy in TNG, the one with the zombie Vulcans in Enterprise, maybe Schisms in TNG? I feel like the Motion Picture has a really creepy atmosphere akin to a horror movie even though it's not a horror film. Other than that though, it's slim pickings. I remember that Thing game, it's been ages since I played it! It's worth you doing a video on it to see how it holds up. I think that's also around the time when Resident Evil also started nailing the controls and camera.

[@azordash_games]

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about the horror-esk areas of Elite Force... but as you say, it never really felt like true horror. On the topic of those episodes, Conspiracy is a great episode & honestly you could make a spin off game based wholly on the events of (and preceding) that episode. I'm surprised no other ST media has drawn on that for inspiration... maybe we'll see something in S3 of STNW. Yeah the Thing was very good from what I remember... I want to cover it, but I have a few other games I need to get to first... namely Harbinger & Resident Evil. I've got a new found enthusiasm for examining 90's horror/3rd person games :D

[@retroinspect]

It doesn't play much different from similar games of the era like Alice or Messiah. Part of it is acclimating to the game, part of it is having an itchy quick-save/load finger, part of it is just approaching these games on their level.

[@mustangmckraken1150]

Survival horror hasn't been refined at all lol the genre is effectively dead outside of Resident Evil. Tank controls are fine, I don't understand why people complain about up moving your character forward, it's really not a difficult concept. Resident Evil Remake came out on the Gamecube with 3D controls less than a year later, used tank controls, and is considered by many to be the best of the classic style games, if not the best game in the franchise.

[@KyokujiFGC]

The cardassians trying to release the pah wraith is a bit odd, since only Dukat was interested in doing that, and a lot of cardassians considered the Bajoran myths to be mostly superstition.

[@konoko1984]

Cardassians are only interested in harnessing the power of the orb, to use it as aweapon. Obanak one-upped them to release pah-wraiths.

[@Gruegirl]

To be fair, Avery Brooks basically retired by the time this game came out... I can understand why he wouldn't wanna voice Sisko.

[@Tuskin38]

He was in a Trek game that came out 6 years later though, Star Trek Legacy. But you can really tell he wasn't into it.

[@Daimo83]

@@Tuskin38 Were any of them? Shatner sounded like he was on benzos.

[@HaroldLarson-ro7ih]

@@Daimo83 Only Scott Bakula seemed enthused to be in it.

[@CyberLance26]

He does not look very old in the show. Not old enough to retire.

[@Gruegirl]

@@CyberLance26 He didn't retire cuz he was old. He retired cuz he didn't like being famous.

[@mcmurder8835]

Wow, I'd almost forgotten about this. I think I finished it! This was regarded as an AA, 7 out of 10 on release if I remember correctly. You have to remember DS9 was in the zeitgeist back in the day, and PC 3D gaming was still relatively fresh, and miles ahead of other platforms in fidelity. This is an Unreal Engine 1 game. It all would have been quite exciting at the time. I can see how hard this has aged though - this is a fairly early example of a third person 3D action adventure PC game - a lot of games from that era would feel very janky by today's standards, not surprised by that tbh. I remember a derilict ship section that was quite atmospheric. Great retrospective - thank you!

[@azordash_games]

Cheers for the super kind words! Yeah, it's an interesting game for sure, totally agree the derelict ship was really well done. In my opinion, if you take away the performance issues on modern hardware of Dominion Wars, I had a *lot* more fun with Dominion Wars, and that's saying something... I've got the other third person DS9 game on my list to play - Harbinger - so I'll see how that goes and will likely produce a video on that experience.

[@Calculon1712]

My main issue with The Fallen was it was too dark, not in terms of tone, but in terms of where the bloody hell is everything and where am I going and I have to turn the brightness up. Love The Collective as they also did games based on Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Buffy. Dont forget theres the fan made Convergence mission you can get for the game

[@azordash_games]

Yeah I agree at times it is very dark. And I probably should have mentioned this in my video but playing in a well lit room made it really hard to focus on some areas of the screen. I had forgotten there was a Buffy game… I might need to go back to that. The Convergence mission was news to me but I will check it out for completeness as apparently it was pretty good.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

@@Calculon1712 That's why the game has a flashlight. People complained about doom 3, but at least they knew it had a flashlight, where it doesn't seem like anyone knows ds9 has a flashlight.

[@feamatar]

This is an Unreal 1 game, the gamma in those games can be incorrect on modern hardware. I think I remember that TNT and Voodoo cards also displayed the same gamma differently plus the CRT settings were also different. I went to a friend's house once and his CRT + Geforce combo looked way darker than my CRT + S3 combo.

[@Calculon1712]

@@feamatar i think its using the Unreal Tournament engine from what it said on the box and in reviews. Ever since i played it in 2000 it was always too dark in areas and it would get annoying i know theres a flashlight but i dont feel that did much to improve it

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

@@feamatar Yes. This was a horrible real problem, especially with quake 2, and gl_round_down, and people today either pretend or are incompetent about how we had to manually fix games, and just expect it to work. Also, pixel art is NOT real, because we played on CRTs, so the waterfall in Sonic was transparent. As for the next comment about things, Unreal breaks gamma using the multi texture blending in modern drivers. It hasn't worked right since voodoo and tnt2. Unreal 1 retail original patch has a CPU speed bug. Quake 3 gamma is also broken and requires specific fixes to work. We are NOT using old hardware, drivers, or Windows 98. It doesn't work the same on Windows 10, you have to use fixes. That said, the game does have an extreme amount of dark areas like a crashed ship WITH NO POWER, time of day is night, and you HAVE to use the flashlight. It's a required mechanic like doom 3. Doom 3 being dark isn't a bug, neither is this game in those areas. Not only that, you have to use the TRICORDER to find your mission objectives and fight enemies. The video creator does not seem to understand basic required mechanics and blame the game for pebkac. It's a gaming journalist playing cuphead. If you know how to play the game properly, it's not a bad game. I actually think ds9 is the best, most immersive Star Trek game made in the era. Story? Who cares, was Elite Force better? Not really, but it was cool. DS9 made me feel I was participating in the show. EF was Quake with a Trek skin. The Jedi games on the quake engine had better immersion than EF. Not that it was bad. EF is great, but DS9 was real Trek, good as it got for back then.

[@Billy-bc8pk]

Man, those graphics -- I instantly knew this was the early 2000s based on how the cube map shaders were designed; back then a lot of PC games were using some directional light shaders as opposed to static pre-baked lighting into the textures, so games like Hitman: Codename 47, Halo Combat Evolved and Anachronix had this distinct, grimey look to them due to the contrast in lighting and highlight maps. Really a time-capsule for that era. It's amazing how similar this game looks to those other early aught-titles, and it really separated them from the games coming out of the 1990s during the burgeoning of the 3D gaming era and the brownish-gray mud-pallete of the Unreal-dominated era that would come during the mid-to-late aughts.

[@Grim2]

This game is a fine example of inherent flaw of a game where you're armed with highly powerful weapons... but can't get pass a locked DOOR....

[@Grim2]

(Side note, I wasn't very fond of this game even when it was new.)

[@iammichaeldavis]

Seeing LCARS used as an actual UI scratches a deep, deep subconscious itch

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

@@iammichaeldavis actually made better use of it than Voyager. You have the scan tool and equipment that actually requires use. It's a real trek experience.

[@tullyDT]

@11:33 Well Sisko did get his men to plant cloaked mines in the valley leading to the Federation base During the siege of AR-558

[@8_Bit]

I loved this game at release and played it through twice. It had a very strong online community in a forum that lived on WAY past the game. I remember going back years later and was shocked to see it still had activity.

[@azordash_games]

Sounds similar to Bridge Commander... I was looking a few years ago and found a site with mods still being released!

[@Tuskin38]

This game's story is very loosely based off a DS9 novel trilogy called 'Millennium' which came out the same year. Millennium's story is even more crazy, with shit like Weyoun becoming the Kai and Emissary of the Pah-wraiths and leading a violent Bajoran Ascendancy 25 years in the future from the 'present' of the novels.

[@azordash_games]

Oh wow. I never got into any of the novels sadly, perhaps it was for the best 😆

[@Tuskin38]

@@azordash_games They only really started getting good around the time Enterprise came on TV, as since there were no more 24th Century shows to get in the way they had a lot more freedom.

[@Greatdictator]

What a good video for youtube to serve me up not long after i finished rewatching DS9

[@xxnoxx-xp5bl]

I mean, The Federation mined the wormhole before the Dominion War even started, by the time of the war bio weapons, assassinations and genocide were all fair play...

[@azordash_games]

You have a good point!

[@williambell3304]

Anti-ship or Anti-tank mines tend to be viewed differently than antipersonnel land minds, for whatever reason.

[@guaposneeze]

"This IP cash-in licensed game would have been stronger if they spent another year polishing it rather than pushing it out and selling it on the strength of the IP alone." is something you can put in the review of almost every IP licensed game made in the last 40 years. Given some of the budgets and schedules those games get to be released in sync with the parent property, it's amazing any of them turn out decent or even playable.

[@azordash_games]

Hehe... I do agree with you 100%. But go and watch my Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza video :D

[@pferreira1983]

@@azordash_games That's actually a pretty good game.

[@SpiritOfBagheera]

Best Trek PC games of all time? THIS one + Star Fleet Command + Star Fleet Command II: Empires at War. This review was made by someone who truly needs to "git gud." Honestly, his complaints made my eyes roll back into my head so fast and so much that my face might as well have been a slot machine...

[@chriswathen9612]

The low framerate problem happened even back in the day when the game was new and being run on then current hardware under then current Windows. Seems to be a bug rather than a compatibility problem. Although it was just a lot of find the key I did love this game. Played through as all 3 characters and they all play a slightly different game, sometimes even interacting with each other and you recognise them doing things you did playing as them. There was also qute a hefty extension called Convergence which added a whole other single player story on.

[@azordash_games]

Ahhh yes good to know about the frame rate! I had never heard about Convergence until you mentioned it. Funny that it didn’t really come up in any of research, but looks like it was an unofficial mod? I might need to check it out…

[@brad2737]

GOG we need this please

[@Squantanamo]

On the subject of landmines. Theres a whole episode about the horrors of landmines. The Siege of AR-558

[@williambell3304]

Mines the protagonists are happy to make use of.

[@emperorofthegreatunknown4394]

I think you would enjoy AVP2 (2001) similar era of game with a good story, and use of IP.

[@azordash_games]

I actually never played number 2. Although I do have don’t memories of the original. I remember some of the environments especially as the Alien being massive too!

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@azordash_games The second AVP game is quite uneven. Generally the graphics are better and more detailed, but I thought the Xenomorph models in the first game looked better. The game is also heavily scripted. It's hard to explain, but in other games, there could be some small variety to the enemy encounters, as they would usually just be chillin' and doing their own thing until you come along and disturb them, but here, it's like they're just hiding around corners waiting to pop out at you. The Primal Hunt expansion is even worse. There's a section near the end where you're raveling through a large structure, going through many almost identical areas, and you know with absolute certainty that another wave of attacking aliens is going to be triggered when you reach the halfway point. And even though you occasionally encounter other marines, it's always "Boy are we glad to see you! Now go and crawl through this vent alone." And I think there was only one time when playing as an Alien that I ever encountered another of my kind. I didn't hate it, but I was a little disappoint by it. I did have fun later with a cheat that lets you change species, so you can switch to the Alien and go places the human and predator can't.

[@Zyklon_B_still_and_know_God]

It's multi-player was A-tier, and it's got a pretty cool interlacing story between all three playable races in single player.

[@Battfro]

​@@azordash_gamesAVP2 is the only one not made by Rebellion and AVP2 is objectively the best story, best atmosphere, best immerison, and best overall game. The Expansion pack is mid though.

[@DIEGhostfish]

​@Battfro The Rebellion games are good, even great, but 2 is better.

[@Maniac536]

I remember this game getting Meh ratings back in the day. It would later get forgotten as soon as Elite Force came out

[@lilliputmoss]

I couldn't even get this working with modern patches a few years back, gonna try again as it still looks great to me.

[@ShinoSarna]

The thing is, I played this game as a kid and absolutely loved it. I never watched any Star Trek series but had no problem understanding the plot - it helps that actually the game manual has many pages of backstory to introduce a new person to this world. So this was my introduction to Star Trek and it definitely picqued my interest in a way no other Star Trek game did - probably because other ones I played weren't in-person action games, but mostly ship-based simulator and strategy titles.

[@GAZ888F]

Thought the VA for sisko was familiar, its the guy who voices Gantu (whale man) from lilo and stitch. Kevin Michael Richardson. Also nice video, had no idea about star trek games outside the mmo.

[@azordash_games]

Ohhh nice. Yeah I think the Sisko VA does the best with the lines he was given. Just a shame Avery Brooks was not available.

[@goldeklee]

There's something really funny about KZbin recommending this to me, recognizing the HUD from somewhere and realizing that I had a mod that changed my HUD in Gmod to this game's style lol Outside of that, it looks like a fairly competent game that could use polish here and there!

[@azordash_games]

All hail the KZbin algorithm gods… I like the Star Trek HUDS as they are generally always easy to see, so I can understand you wanting to replicate it in gmod.

[@Progger11]

I only recently played this game for the first time, and I absolutely adore it.

[@NicholasBrakespear]

I dream of the day that Epic is visited by the ghosts of Christmas and learn their lesson... and release the source code for this version of the Unreal Engine so that we can have an explosion of open source development. Because this old version of UE was fantastic, had such a cosy vibe, and allowed for such varied and imaginative game design. Flaws aside, the fact that this game even existed and remains so visually distinctive is a testament to the technology behind it. Let's not forget too - this version of the Unreal Engine was boasting full realtime reflections on level geometry... in 1998. Also, when it came to the original Unreal, it was outright impressive how good it looked running in software mode - which is to say, running without any graphics card.

[@local_waver]

7:13 my man started getting sturdy once the phaser hit him lol

[@hpk9706]

my favorite part of this was predicting which actors would be willing to do voice lines and which ones wouldn't come back in a million years and being exactly correct

[@_Codemaster_]

11:25 - No, the Federation mined the wormhole leading to the Gamma quadrant. I think Rom came up with self-replicating mines. -or was it self-sealing stem-bolts...

[@zerrodefex]

The self-replicating mines were Rom's idea, there's a whole scene in an episode with the brainstorming session.

[@_Codemaster_]

@@zerrodefex Cool series, one of the best in the star trek genres. About the the brainstorming session I think they kept it on a "See Thee Rom".

[@ngates87]

I really likes this game.

[@darthkobe73]

I missed so much being mainly a console gamer. This looks awesome. Thank you for covering it.

[@azordash_games]

Cheers for the kind words. PC's got a disproportionately high amount of Star Trek games. Although there were some great console games too!

[@andrewkingham]

I mean, Sisko famously started a war using mines, so it may not be Federation strategy; but its certainly Sisko's playbook.

[@azordash_games]

You got a point there….

[@jamesknight3070]

I'm Starfleet Command/ Armada/ Klingon Academy for Trek games, but given the diabolical drought we've been experiencing since the early noughties it is absolutely worthwhile highlighting all of the "classic" games......even Shattered Universe.......perhaps. 😆 Thanks for the video!

[@Child_of_woe_1994]

i think the main reason it has such a good review score back then is because people's standards were much different back then compared to now

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

People also had physical manuals and knew the game has a flashlight for dark areas. They also didn't post reviews blaming the game for their own skill issue.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Im a big time trek fan and a big time retro gamer yet even i had not heard of this weird game

[@ShinoSarna]

I think it's important to remember the game in historical context. Yes, the third person stuff is janky, but ALL third person games back then were like that. It wasn't really until Max Payne that people really figured out how to make third person games control well. The same is true of figuring out how to work with doors - 3D gaming was still relatively new, and figuring out how to make doors open in a way that doesn't break immersion was a still fresh problem (eventually devs realized that nobody actually minds if you just press action and doors magically open in front of you).

[@ThommyofThenn]

6:43 Sisko when the Romulan guy figured out his data rod was a fake

[@azordash_games]

Haha yesssss

[@Zyklon_B_still_and_know_God]

It's a faaaake

[@nonyabisness6306]

an excellent game. I still own the boxed version of this. I would love a remake of this, together with Dominion Wars. If you dislike this you are the problem.

[@gazzaboy84]

Oh how I loved this game . My uncle built me a cheap pc and this was in a bag of games that he also gave me.

[@TheSektor13]

Never head of this game :( This bring memories to Elite Force 1 and 2, possible best older ST games. Although EF1 aged a bit poorly graphics wise i would still recommend you to play both.

[@azordash_games]

I need to make time to get back to EF2. EF1 is a masterpiece & in my opinion the better game, but I still enjoyed EF2.

[@fozzy20]

Forgot all about that game. Must find it.

[@RyanKarolak]

I remember thinking that this game was great. I remember thinking it played well and looked really good. I also played this twenty or so years ago, so I don't know if I'd still feel this way. I think the 3rd person game mechanics were probably good for 2000, but mechanics have also come a long way since then. I think it's still a nice looking game. It is a bit dated, sure, but for 24 years old I think it's not too bad and still has the same dark and suspenseful atmosphere.

[@matthewhunt2143]

Loved the Australia comment in regard to the game.

[@martinithechobit]

Wow I did not know DS9 had a 3d game. This is scary. QUARK HOLD ME.

[@Lichnaya_pravda]

In some aspects, this game was tge best, or even unique. Very dark frightening athmosphere, "parkour" mechanics, unarmed combat, exporation with tricorder, etc.

[@Korhanne]

elevators from that era frequently had problems... Not sure if this was made on the unreal engine or not, but it was a constant issue with unreal games. the only solution was to get out of the elevator and go back up again. made it pretty annoying in UT2k4 multiplayer, because people kinda needed to realize it, and a team elevator is uhh... bad when it doesn't work.

[@azordash_games]

Yeah from what I can see it was an UE game... I oddly never encountered this issue before though, I guess I've just been lucky! As annoying as it was in a single player experience... I would be far less happy if it happened in something competitive!

[@zerrodefex]

And few environmental things accidentally killed as many players in that era of FPS games like ladders did.

[@Iskelderon]

This is one of the games where I'd really get the itch to experiment with RTX. Most of the problem with the overly dark levels would be fixed through bounce lighting.

[@christianmoser3909]

there is a project called Surreal 98 (formerly DXU24) this dude will port Deus Ex in Unreal Engine 5 and means that theoretically any other Unreal Engine 1 can be ported with this project... so maybe there is a chance

[@Iskelderon]

@@christianmoser3909 Thanks, I'll have to look into that and add it to my Google alerts.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

The game also has a flashlight. Skill issue.

[@Iskelderon]

@@JohnDoe-ip3oq Glad you managed to completely miss the point.

[@Iskelderon]

@@JohnDoe-ip3oq Honestly, do you really think that a reply like "skill issue" communicates anything other than that your opinion isn't worth giving a shit?

[@gordon1891]

I had fun with this game. There was a lot to like about it but there was a lot of Frustrating bits like you mentioned with Jumping & climbing issues with some parts needing Pixel perfect accuracy. & Some of the voice acting whilst not bad was Jarring when you knew what some characters SHOULD sounds like.

[@azordash_games]

Yeah, like I feel like if they were all just Voice Actors it would have actually felt a little more natural than having a mix.

[@Uchilsson]

You are completely right. I remempert playing this game. It was fun, but this mechanic was tiering. Jumping and fu***ing darknes!!! I play it on old CRT monitor, I don't see much ;) But this game is good to be remake! Like the Klingon Honor Guard.

[@azordash_games]

Yeah the lack of light propagation in some of the levels is just ridiculous. Not to mention the Dollar Store flashlight that the characters seem to carry.

[@jasonjones7461]

2000?! I was a freshman in highschool when this was released. For context I the N64 was still prime gaming and Majora's Mask released the same year. So come on...give some credit. This trek game looks pretty damn great. I wouldve loved this at the time.

[@iain.collins]

Oh wow, how did I not hear about this at the time? I played through Elite Force multiple times but wasn't even aware this existed. From the video, I don't think I'd have the patience to ensure it now but expect I would have loved it when it came out!

[@azordash_games]

Yeah look, real talk, if I wasn't making a video on it, I'm not sure I would have kept going :D Agree Elite Force 1 & 2 are both great. I need to go back to number 2 soon.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

No it's a good game, I have multiple playthroughs and own a physical copy. The game needs a patch after install, crashes above 1080p, and includes a flashlight mechanic for people who don't understand how to play. The dolby audio renderer is also the best way to play, having multiple choices. It helps to rebind some keys as well. You don't just start playing with default settings and no comprehension of mechanics or you have issues. I use lossless scaling for high resolution support.

[@safebox36]

"You probably wouldn't mention a Star Trek title." I would have said Elite Force / Elite Force 2 had you not mentioned dimly lit corridors.

[@augurseer]

Had this game. Loved it.

[@UnknownName5050]

Less than 10k with this video? Subbed immediately

[@azordash_games]

That's very kind of you to say. Thank you, I really appreciate it.

[@SvendleBerries]

Overall it looks interesting. One negative thing I noticed within this review was the LOUD MUSIC during the dialogue scenes lol Is there no option to turn it down or off?

[@azordash_games]

It’s a good pick up…. I don’t know why but yes the music continues to play during the dialogue at full volume. It was a little distracting. From memory you can tuen it down but then it’s down during the gameplay also… so a bit of a pain!

[@SvendleBerries]

@@azordash_games Man thats a bummer. Well, like you said, theres lots of neat stuff with the game, and lots of irritating things lol Still though, Ill probably pick it up at some point. Never even knew it existed until now, so thanks for that :D

[@azordash_games]

@SvendleBerries if you are a Trek fan there’s definitely something here for you! Just go in with an open mind about early 2000’s game mechanics 😀

[@xMasterAssassin93]

You know what really sucks? With all the Star Trek out there right now, so many TV shows - love them or hate them - we have not had one decent attempt at a large or AAA Star Trek game. The last time Star Trek was at it's peak (the 90s!) there were a fek tonne of games. Sure most were just, well, naff, but there were decent attempts and into the early 2000s we got Elite Force and Invasion, Shattered Universe and of course Bridge Commander (still the best Star Trek game to date imo).

[@Omicron9999]

Considering I didn't even know this game existed until I clicked on the video, I'm pretty sure the only reason it has a metacritic rating of 82 is because only like 5 people knew about it to review it.

[@urgon6321]

I've got this game in 2002, and I really liked it, except for Kira stealth mission as kardassian. I hated that part. Also polish language version of the game had full dubbing with voice actors matching performance from the TV show. And the most annoying glitch I had was renderer failing to render map in some places, unless I switched to software renderer. And crashed Federation starship section was my favorite...

[@Jan_Strzelecki]

Ah, yes - the crashed Starfleet ship level. One that manages to be both too small (the external level) and too big (the subsequent level inside the starship). It's like... a videogame made by people who do have a passing knowledge of Deep Space 9, but not enough to avoid making silly mistakes along the way.

[@ThommyofThenn]

7:40 I gotta tell ya, it's really weird to see a Starfleet person swimming. Have we seen one officer in water? I am not remembering many but there might have been one of Kira in a hot tub or something. She's not in Federation i know but i'm thinking we will have to make allowances

[@azordash_games]

Risa is the only thing that comes to mind… alas I’ve done my best to block that episode from my memory 😆

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@azordash_games Oh the swimsuits lol, that and Worf becoming mildly irritated resulting in his joining a radical moralistic cult. O yea, maybe "Meridian" where Dax takes a lover and there are several gratuitous frolicking scenes of the happy couple. This might have included them in a pond? I love DS9 😆

[@ETHANWHITE-fp4hz]

I remember the beginning of "Rocks and Shoals," when they were swimming out of the ocean following the crash... that's about all I got.

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@ETHANWHITE-fp4hz great example! And in those heavily padded versions of the uniforms it must have been a very dangerous stunt to pull off :p

[@azordash_games]

@ETHANWHITE-fp4hz Oh good memory!

[@Tarquin47]

Great video, I was surprised to find out about a Startrek game I'd not at least heard of. Id like to hear your take on Hidden Evil. I have good memories of it but I bet it'd be pretty awful these days. If I could make a suggestion, dont be afraid to make use of the games themselves. For example you mentioned the slow recharge speed of the Phaser, that might have been an opportune moment to fade out your narration and give use the game audio while you show the phaser firing and recharging so we can see and hear for ourselves how slow it is. Your narration is great but it might help break things up to let us hear the game a little more often.

[@azordash_games]

Thank you so much for the feedback. I really need to hear this to try and improve and I will definitely take on board your suggestion for future content. I've never actually played Hidden Evil, I think I have a physical Bargain Bin version of the game somewhere... must try and track it down. Cheers again for your feedback.

[@bubbahead383]

Dude your a few minor tweaks away from blowing up. Keep up the good work

[@azordash_games]

Cheers for the kind words. Any feedback/tweaks/criticism is more than welcomed. I can't improve if I don't understand what I need to improve.

[@bubbahead383]

@@azordash_games I think the 3-4 videos I've watched are very good, but just have to remember how short people's attention spans are now. You could trim a little fat out, up your cadence just a bit and retention beats every 10-20 seconds.

[@azordash_games]

@bubbahead383 Cheers for the feedback, I honestly really appreciate it! I’ll give it some thought.

[@TheGameGetterKuzuri]

I love this game

[@ericgraham2781]

Sisko used a WMD against a civilian population. I think landmines is pretty easy for him to justify.

[@C01dEyes]

How the hell have I never heard about this? I know there was a canceled deep space 9 point and click adventure game called The Hunt for PC and I know there was a kind of wonky game on I think the super Nintendo. This would have been right up my alley when I was a kid... I may need to hunt down a copy

[@Daimo83]

I have full playthroughs of both Bridge Commander and Klingon Academy and this was one Trek game I could never be bothered with. It obviously sucks to anyone who enjoys games. Btw land mines are totally cool in Trek - they mined the wormhole.

[@azordash_games]

Klingon Academy and its 6 or so CD’s was a very underrated game. I have it somewhere… I just need to find it!

[@TheVorran]

Is it using the same engine as Jedi Academy?

[@AndrewHills-i4q]

I used to love star trek harbinger on my PC

[@lurkerrekrul]

I played through this game many years ago. In general, I liked it, although I have quite a few criticisms of it. Some of them are more nit-picks, but I do agree that it would have been better as one continuous campaign, rather than three separate ones that retread some of the same areas. I don't recall having any major glitches though. Then again, I played it under Windows 98. Here are some of the things I disliked; It truly seems like the game wasn't finished. During the tutorial you're taught how to scan for suitable areas to beam down supplies, but I never once did this in the game. At most any point while playing, you can contact 3-4 other members of the crew. One of them will re-state your current mission objectives, but the others never have anything to say, meaning there is literally no reason to ever contact them. Bashir in particular sounds annoying smug as he says "Nothing to report, Captain." In one mission, I was sneaking around a Romulan base. I went into a room with two Romulans talking. They completely ignored me, even when I crawled under the stairs they were standing on. Then as soon as they finished their dialog, they immediately attacked me. I figured that I'd acted too suspiciously, so I loaded a save and tried again. Nope, every time they finish their talk, they attack me, even though I was supposed to be in disguise. Then there was the small stuff. Like Worf beginning each mission with only his Batt'leth. I know it's a signature Klingon weapons and fans would have complained if they left it out, but it makes no sense for him to start a mission with just that. I hated using it because I'd always take damage from enemies. I cheated and gave him a hand phaser instead. I figured that made more sense. Normally in games with FPS style mouse control, I prefer to aim manually, however in one of the caves there were tiny bats that were virtually impossible to hit. I relented and turned on auto-aim just for that one part. Finally, while the crashed starship was a cool idea, it was way too small. The bridge portion of the saucer was only about the size of a gazebo. You should able fit an entire football field on the saucer. The main body of the ship seems like it's about the size of an aircraft carrier, but then you get inside and there are huge, cavernous room that are like 5-6 stories tall, if not more. Finally, there was a fan-made add-on for this game called Convergence. I downloaded it, but never got around to playing it.

[@azordash_games]

You have some really good points here. I agree on the parts being unfinished... the tutorial kind of had me pumped for using the tricorder & communication a lot more, but the actual execution is pretty bland outside of the times its required for the story. The Batt'leth starting weapon is ridiculous. Like I'm sure Worf would have access to a Phaser on the Defiant of all places. I ended up just running away from enemies most of the time or using one of the other weapons when I had ammo. Lastly, you're right, I had to suspend a lot of belief in the downed starship interior... it didn't really make sense if you ask me haha. Maybe it was a specially configued ship :D

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@azordash_games I've noticed that a lot of games have undersized spaceships and other things. Aliens vs. Predator (1999) - In the first marine level, you're in a base that seems to have been built around the alien derelict ship from Alien. You see parts of it in various locations, and eventually you end up in a chamber with the Space Jockey. All the parts of the ship and the Space Jockey are about 1/3 to 1/4 the size that they should be. Star Trek The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard - At one point in the game, you're aboard a Klingon D7 Battlecruiser, and you're able to put on a spacesuit and walk around on the hull of the ship. In fact, you need to do this at one point. Again, the ship is maybe 1/3 to 1/4 the size it should be. I walked all the way to the front of the ship, which should be large enough to hold several decks, but was only about the size of a 2-story house. The "platform" on top of the bulbous section should be large enough to hold two decks, but it was barely my height. Star Trek: Elite Force 2 - In one mission you're on a planet with a small landed Star Fleet ship, maybe a Runabout, I forget. You can go inside, but there's barely room enough to stand up in it. At least the level where you have to fight enemies on the outside of the saucer had it suitable large (as best as I can remember), but you were up against a timer, so you really didn't have any time to explore. And the whole level was really short. Also, in The Fallen, if you use the NoClip cheat aboard the alien space station and go outside to the docked Reliant, you'll find that it's quite small, and nowhere near the size it should be. I can excuse this though, as it's just for show and you're not supposed to be able to get close enough to really judge its size.

[@balung]

Sounds like the last plot of the last season of STD.

[@AJadedLizard]

Say what you will, this game _looks_ very nice.

[@UnrealPerson]

7:54 That's a general Unreal Engine issue. Even many Unreal Engine 4 games still suffer from this.

[@shawnio]

this game looks amazing

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

It is, but it requires some patches because the disc version is buggy, it crashes above 1080p, and you need to configure your settings and understand mechanics. The game has a flashlight, I doubt the brightness complainers have the IQ to know that. You should also ONLY use the dolby audio renderer, because it works the best. I use lossless scaling for high resolution.

[@planescaped]

Captain Benjamin Sarevok sounds so off in this game, lol.

[@azordash_games]

For me the more out of place one is poor Miles O'Brian...

[@pferreira1983]

Really enjoyable game although the Kira levels with their stealth aren't fun to play. It needs god mode to really get the most out of it. Would love to see a re-release of the game. Some of your criticisms don't really work. For instance the story is an adaptation of the trilogy novels that were released after the show ended. It was intentional to have the Pah-Wraiths in the game as they're in the books. Shout out to Tony Barnes who six years or so after the game was released released a new campaign mode.

[@enterprise-h312]

I seem to remember one of the dumbest and/or laziest villains ever being featured in this game. A comment stated that Star Trek never did horror? What constitutes horror? Star Trek did plenty of creepy episodes prior to 2009.

[@azordash_games]

Yeah the whole villain arc just felt lazy. Good question, for Empok Nor was probably the only real horror that I consider for Star Trek. As in something which genuinely scared me. Oh that and The Thaw but that’s for other reasons 🤡

[@enterprise-h312]

@@azordash_games You might find a mission in the game "Star Trek: Judgment Rites" creepy. You'd have to say for yourself whether you think that it qualifies, however.

[@azordash_games]

I’ll find out soon enough I guess 😀

[@A54729]

I played all the Star Trek games. like ALL. Back then Star Trek Starfleet Command was my fav. I played this and hated it.

[@bremer1701]

i only beat kiras campaign. Man that gamne was hard. And creepy.

[@MrBoBoTom]

Yar Obrian, from da Irish

[@azordash_games]

Like I want to know what was on the voice acting casting notes for poor O'Brian...

[@derkernspalter]

wtf, i never heard of this game but i should have. I hope it will turn up on GOG like the other Star Trek games some time ago.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

Probably not, the rights are probably hard to acquire, and the game has some bugs. It needs a patch and crashes above 1080p.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

13:30 wait….Commander Riker is in this game too? 😂

[@ryansmith9138]

Have you seen Birth of The Federation? Its a really really good Civ style Start trek game.

[@azordash_games]

One of my favorites and plan on covering it in a video soon!

[@bigrigjoe5130]

Feels odd to me that these games didn't get console releases

[@AllanPichardo]

Does it have to be so dark?

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

No, there's a flashlight. Also, gamma settings. Skill issue.

[@anumeon]

DS9 Harbinger is soo much better than this game if you ask me. (Except for the maze with the floating drones,, i hate that part)

[@WillbaDissidente]

Is there any Star Trek on N64? This is would be a great one! *

[@clark85]

I think youre over estimating the purpose of a tutorial. Jumping correctly is not a quality of life issue lol I am sorry. That is complete misuse of the term

[@stewsretroreviews]

It looks ok, but movement issues etc don't help this game much, and it's a little frustrating the last time I played it, average I would say

[@ThommyofThenn]

And hating Daikatana is just a meme by people who've never played it or gave up in the first level, which is a terrible first level it has to be said. It's actually a solid fps game so i'm always glad to see more informed takes on it

[@azordash_games]

Agreed…. It’s definitely not a masterpiece but there are a lot of good ideas among the less than good ideas!

[@CoralCopperHead]

Doesn't help that it feels like it was built around Deathmatch -- which nobody bothered with 'cause we already had UT and Quake.

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@azordash_games o yea no way is it some hidden gem but im definitely glad i took the time to get to know it, and for the most part if was rewarding. Also fun to see some post-Doom work from some of gaming's first 'rock stars'

[@NicholasBrakespear]

Eeh... it's not quite as bad as people say, but remember - when it came out, it was being played by people who had Half-Life, System Shock 2, Unreal and Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, and a host of other excellent titles vying for space on their HDD. Deus Ex also came out around the same time, setting all new benchmarks for scope and scale and innovation in FPS titles. There just literally wasn't any reason to cut Daikatana any slack. I'd say the main source of the hate was mainly because it was genuinely a disappointment for those of us who had been bombarded with the hype for it, and its creator.

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@NicholasBrakespear true that is some DANG stiff competition even within the same studio! Was Deus Ex a critical darling when it released? I didn't play it until last spring and ofc by that point it has been a legendary game for years

[@booleanBoy]

"Cisco, Kira and War"? at 3:03

[@ultimateelderscrolls6837]

I think you were a little harsh on this game.

[@Darek_B52]

So what makes this survival horror? You never really answered that. What you described would fit Escape From Butcher Bay & that isn't survival horror.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

It's a bad review. People can have bad takes and modern journalists are far more incompetent than years ago.

[@HupfderFloh]

7:28 well yes, it's in the name, duh

[@whisperienced]

My brother had this game it was not fun to play.

[@shawnio]

excuse me "keen star trek fan" you are on a cardassian ship, they all have keycards for the doors, every single other entity in star trek uses key cards.

[@mainmanmick]

oh man, tis was such a good game

[@MisterMarin]

Lots of wasted potential here.

[@the7percentsolution]

The last time I was playing this game I got stuck somewhere and just kinda lost interest. That being said, I still love that this game exists because I absolutely love DS9 and I'm glad so many of the actors reprised their roles - especially Terry Farrell as Jadzia! And as dated as the graphics are I still get a kick out of walking around Ops and the Promenade/Quark's Bar. I'm shocked no one has modded the game considering Elite Force was modded extensively. I can only assume the latter is much "easier" to mod.