The title takes place in an ever-developing Dynaverse, which spans about sixty years. In the Dynaverse the missions are created randomly, allowing you to build up your prestige points, which can in turn are used to repair, buy, and trade in increasingly more powerful starships. New crewmembers can be brought aboard, with better stats that will help your odds in battle.

The player also has to choose between 6 races, each with ships that look, and react very differently from the ships of the other races. For example, Romulans can cloak, while Hydran ships have fighters they can launch against their enemy. The race you choose makes the game all the more different, from the politics, to the battles and even in multiplay.

The graphics in this title are the best I have seen in a Star Trek title thus far. The detail on the ships is so fine you can read the names on the saucer section of a Federation Command Cruiser. The shield flares, phaser effects, and tractor beams are all executed with visual finesse. The only thing that would have been nice for the title, would be some identifiable hull damage. The ships do vent plasma when damaged, but aside from that it's hard to see visual damage aside from the life bar above the target bracket.

What would those excellent visual effects be without sound? 14 Degrees East has included some really nice sounds for Starfleet Command. The music is perfect and I believe the most common track they play was used in most of the battle scenes from the first six Star Trek feature films. Sounds for the weapon fire are dead on as well.

Another small issue I have is with the actual battles. More than a couple of times the battle turns into a circular chase. As one ship tries to face the other's weakest shield, the other ship circles to keep that from happening. This alone can lead to some very drawn out battles. This usually only happens with the ships that have poor rear coverage, but that usually includes the smaller ships that a player starts out with. This might turn away some people new to the game. As much as I think it is one of the quirks of the title, I believe there could have been a better way to keep this from occuring.

Even behind the relatively simple interface, the controls in Starfleet Command can be daunting. It isn't that they are hard to understand, it is just that there are so many of them. Included in the title is a detailed tutorial for each race, teaching you the finer points of energy management, weapon and shield control, and the art of taking over a ship. Aside from that, the control during the game consists of point and clicking, and a few keystrokes to speed up the process. With a little practice, as well as a jaunt through the tutorials, the player should be in a great position to take their place on the bridge of a starship.

During development it was mentioned that the SFC multiplay would have a feature that will allow players to see if their opponents are using modified ships. This does work, however it doesn't keep people from doing it. My little visit to Mplayer was full of modded ships that proceeded to destroy me, only to have their captains' page me afterwards proclaiming their "glorious victory" and some bit about "Blood Wine". Needless to say if you can gather some people that don't creep you out, and don't believe in ship modifications, you can have a reasonably good time playing the title online.