After playing the demo a few months back, strangely the video presentation ended up being the only thing I was worried about. I am still one of those people that scoff at the idea of using real actors for any sort of video in a PC game. Even with the help of Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) Command and Conquer 2's video briefings came off as cheesy. Christopher Plummer (Star Trek VI), who reprises his role as the cunning, but honorable, General Chang is the core of this game's excellent audio/video presentation. I will give credit to the written dialog, because every bit of spoken word in this game feels authentic and appropriately fills the mood, but if it wasn't for Plummer's excellent speaking mannerisms I couldn't see it sounding quite as good. Each speech has a brief, but surprisingly full, explanation of the ideals of a warrior, such as honor and loyalty, as well as a briefing on the next mission.

The visuals during actual gameplay are really quite impressive. 14 Degrees East has employed a completely new 3D engine for Klingon Academy and it really shows. Each ship is detailed down to the very last view port, and the results are starships that actually rival those found in the older movies. The textures are dead on, but this doesn't become readily apparent until a battle ensues. While other Star Trek titles have simply used textures to illustrate damage along a ship's 3D model, Klingon Academy goes even further by allowing complete destruction of these 3D models. Just like in the popular movie series, ships can have gaping holes and even entire sections missing from them as result from an intense battle. The ships also take a little longer to actually blow up once the player pushes them past the point of critical with a well-placed disruptor blast. This effect is again, a tribute to the motion picture series. Not every starship is a powder keg waiting to explode.

As mentioned above, a starship doesn't always leave a battle as the prettiest warrior. This doesn't only have cosmetic effects, but as logic would dictate, a severe problem for ship systems. For example if you use the sub-target system to knock out a ship's warp capability buy blowing off its warp nacelles, your enemy loses the advantage of warp, allowing the player more chances to use warp to escape to a nearby planet and repair systems. It's the little things that make up the gameplay in Klingon Academy. Each Klingon ship has its own set of properties, ranging from weapons, shields, and of course overall mobility.

Mission structure in Klingon Academy is pretty sound. As some may come to expect from this kind of title, the gameplay for the most part consists of a series of missions that outline an overall goal. During missions the player will often be faced with command decisions, which directly affect the course of the game. Many of these decisions are not only combat related, but some are based on the idea of 'what is the honorable thing to do'. The ultimate goal in Klingon Academy is the destruction of the Federation. Since this game supposedly takes place several years before Star Trek VI, the attack on the federation ends up being a mock training simulation within the top command school of the Klingon Empire. As the story develops Chang singles out the player as one with promise, and in result the usual briefing/debriefing routine has its breaks. The subplot that drives these sub-missions involves another Klingon house rebelling against the chancellor, and Chang wants to stop it. Although many remember Chang as the ultimate bad guy in Star Trek VI, you have to admire his loyalty to the Empire.

Through each mission the player comes across various objectives which all test the limits of not only combat, but command. The main part of piloting the ship is carried out using a joystick much like any space simulation. Firing weapons also operates in the same manner, the main difference being the dependence weapons have on supporting subsystems. Using the numerical system along the bottom of the screen, a combination of numbers navigates through a series of menus which allow the player ultimate control over their ship. For the most part the amount of things that can be used through this menu is pretty insane, but the player can also move to substations in the ship and take direct control of an area, which of course means more options. I doubt 14 Degrees could have done a better job wrangling up all these options and allowing quick access at the same time, but with so much depth, the title might lose the more casual audience.

As missions progress, the difficulty is best reflected by the amount of tinkering done with the ship systems and the manipulation of space environments during battle. Unfortunately the biggest problem with Klingon Academy is the flow of the difficulty scale. While the game does train a person in basic command of a starship, the missions still reflect the idea that you are seasoned veterans of starship combat. The first mission is actually pretty easy, consisting of a basic assault on two smaller federation ships, but missions 5 and beyond are really some tough stuff. This isn't simply because the player is outgunned of course, it is because the particular mission demands the player essentially thinks 'outside the box'. This form of limited open-ended gameplay is actually sort of nice, and once the player starts to think like a starship captain things start to fall in place. In the end, however, players might end up trying one particular mission many times over, and when it comes to the longer missions it can become quite frustrating.

The best way to prepare for this is the fantastically open ended training simulator that is overflowing with all types of ships from all types of races. Even though this game is called Klingon Academy, the simulator lets the player take command of several famous, and not so famous Federation and Romulan starships. In pitting all these ships against each other (can have up to 16 in any fight) the differences in the starships of different races becomes even more apparent. Klingon ships, for example, can usually turn to face an enemy more quickly than a Federation ship of equal size. The simulator also provides many battlegrounds that are quite large thanks to the ability to warp between significant points within an area. War can be waged near a black hole, within the rings of a planet (very cool), in the darkness of a nebula, or right next to a sun. The conditions in Simulator Mode are configurable enough to allow a good amount of practice to take place, but it still doesn't quite make up for how hard this game can really be.

Thankfully Klingon Academy has broken free of the standard the first Academy title created. The excellent use of spoken dialog, and open-ended mission scripting allows for a great story to be told. While the command of a starship can be one of the more difficult experiences, for some it can be one of the most fulfilling. Klingon Academy sets aside loose mission guidelines in an effort to spur on a sort of creativity that will ultimately lead to success in battle. While this may be something a few people may not like, rather opting for a more scripted mission structure, Klingon Academy does one thing I think more games should make us do; use our brains.