Federation missions come first, and you can't move on to others until they're completed in sequence. The single player game is nicely designed with three campaigns putting you in the control seat of three different races: the Federation, Klingons, and the Borg. In Armada II, you don't have a need to research and develop new ships they just appear as you progress. You eventually acquire three separate research stations: a Federation research facility, science station, and Vulcan research institute, with the latter used for researching and developing more powerful armor, weaponry, engines and life support for all of your ships. In single player mode, units you create are often limited to the circumstances of each mission, but as you progress, more technology and research becomes available.Īn interesting and unique aspect concerns researching both defensive and offensive tools for your armada, such as researching a shield generator for the sovereign-class ships that can be used in battle. Clicking on it takes you directly to the scene, where you can quickly get into the action, and you can zoom in or out using the mouse scroll wheel.

You can still change perspectives, allowing you to fully enjoy the action, and Armada II has an action window that depicts battles on the right hand corner of the screen. But, you still have a plethora of options available for unit creation, and the Instant Action mode has limitless possibilities. Also, Armada II doesn't have the full cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation or focus on Captain Picard, whose voice was used throughout. While not inherently bad, and typical of many other games in the genre, it's more exciting to watch the story unfold through action sequences. The fully animated video sequence that followed and preceded each level in the original is missing and has been replaced with the captain's voice narrating the objectives of the mission and plot with camera shots of the ships moving about. Unfortunately, though, the creators tossed a few good features from the original that would have made a big difference.

You often control the Enterprise, and as far as gameplay and enjoyment, the sequel exceeds the original since it's more difficult. As an RTS experience set in outer space, Star Trek: Armada II is much like the original game in functionality.

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