Huge thanks to two fellow UA-camrs who made this video possible, 'Erinyes' and 'Boomer2k6 Gaming'. My recording software didn't like this game, so the footage you see on screen isn't me but clips pulled from their let's plays. If you want to see full game playthroughs, send some love their way from me. Their channel links are in the description.
Nice reviews of both A1 and A2! I have to agree that the original was the better game in pretty much all aspects. The decision to go bigger and thus make each ship more expendable was something that even as a kid back then I couldn't understand, things fell less like Star Trek and more like Star Wars with small fighters buzzing around. The story in general was also weaker, as was the lack of campaign for all factions.
@thomaskinney4815 nailed it. Borg stations were completely different from Armada 1. They seemed like random shapes jammed together. The ships felt like they were made of paper. I hate losing ships. The Borg also sounded like they had a frog in their throat, like they were not healthy. (Although, IIRC I heard them sound like that on a Voyager episode.) Warp was so annoying. I like to keep an eye on my ships, but warp engages only at the edge of the screen. They were constantly going in & out of warp. Ugh! And Im not a RTS fan, but ironically, Armada 1 is my all time favorite game. I still play it. The additional resource of metal threw me off. I wanted so badly to like Armada II, but I just couldn't get into it. 😢
I begged for years for a copy Armada II (which was rare in the Ten's IIRC) after playing Armada I and while I loved the larger variety of ships and races, and the map editor especially, I was let down by two things. 1. Bot Matches (the only way I could play) seemed not as fun because of the larger fleets, the cheapness of warp, and lower durability of the ships. Everything felt smaller. 2. I HATE the Borg aesthetic/playstyle in A2 compared to A1. All of it just seems wrong IMO, and I can't quite put my finger on why.
Great review that brings me back to my time with the game. Would love to see more reviews on Star Trek games by you. Your take on Birth of the Federation should be very interesting.
More Star Trek reviews are in the works for sure. Thanks for your comment. I have plans to cover the entire Interplay/Micropose/Activision Star Trek catalogue…might take me a while though
While in the long run Armada 2 is probably better because of 20 years of insane high quality mods, there is something about it that just feels inferior to the first. The ships seem to spin around at extremely fast speeds instead of gracefully turning like the first game. There are a lot of elements about the UI that bother me too, like the giant bubbles that appear around selected ships. I found myself disabling a lot of the new features in the options menu like warp drive. While I can appreciate their attempts to add really oddball choices of aliens like 8472 as new faction, we're talking about an alien race that can one-shot Borg cubes and it just felt really odd being able to wipe out fleets of 8472 with Klingon ships. Something about the campaign just feels bad compared to the first too, everyone seems to be lazily reading their lines and it just lacks the energy of the voice actors in the first game.
100% the movement of the ships looked graceful and natural in armada 1 rather than turn on a dime. Warp could have been better with effectively 3 warp settings. a really really fast warp speed for small ships vs slow for big powerful ships. It would have added some value to the too weak early ships that become useless once you get later game ships. also ships need to not be made out of paper. They need to ast a bit longer in a fight. Hull damage was cool though you could regenerate your shilds fast but hull damage took alot to fix.
armada 2 was the better. i spent a solid year and a half playing multi and destroying with zerg rushes. got it was so much fun, i wish i could go back to that time
I prefer this to the first game mainly because as far back as I can remember I've been a fan of Frigates real and fictional alike and it annoys me when I'm playing a fleet tactics or strategy game and there are no Frigates available. Its a mistake Armada I made that this game corrected.
Huge thanks to two fellow UA-camrs who made this video possible, 'Erinyes' and 'Boomer2k6 Gaming'. My recording software didn't like this game, so the footage you see on screen isn't me but clips pulled from their let's plays.
If you want to see full game playthroughs, send some love their way from me. Their channel links are in the description.
Klingon Academy is worth a play too! Probably the best star trek game!
Nice reviews of both A1 and A2! I have to agree that the original was the better game in pretty much all aspects. The decision to go bigger and thus make each ship more expendable was something that even as a kid back then I couldn't understand, things fell less like Star Trek and more like Star Wars with small fighters buzzing around. The story in general was also weaker, as was the lack of campaign for all factions.
@thomaskinney4815 nailed it.
Borg stations were completely different from Armada 1. They seemed like random shapes jammed together.
The ships felt like they were made of paper. I hate losing ships.
The Borg also sounded like they had a frog in their throat, like they were not healthy. (Although, IIRC I heard them sound like that on a Voyager episode.)
Warp was so annoying. I like to keep an eye on my ships, but warp engages only at the edge of the screen. They were constantly going in & out of warp. Ugh!
And Im not a RTS fan, but ironically, Armada 1 is my all time favorite game. I still play it. The additional resource of metal threw me off.
I wanted so badly to like Armada II, but I just couldn't get into it. 😢
I begged for years for a copy Armada II (which was rare in the Ten's IIRC) after playing Armada I and while I loved the larger variety of ships and races, and the map editor especially, I was let down by two things. 1. Bot Matches (the only way I could play) seemed not as fun because of the larger fleets, the cheapness of warp, and lower durability of the ships. Everything felt smaller. 2. I HATE the Borg aesthetic/playstyle in A2 compared to A1. All of it just seems wrong IMO, and I can't quite put my finger on why.
Nice game collection you got there Mike! Loved seeing the big box PC games!
Great review that brings me back to my time with the game. Would love to see more reviews on Star Trek games by you. Your take on Birth of the Federation should be very interesting.
More Star Trek reviews are in the works for sure. Thanks for your comment. I have plans to cover the entire Interplay/Micropose/Activision Star Trek catalogue…might take me a while though
While in the long run Armada 2 is probably better because of 20 years of insane high quality mods, there is something about it that just feels inferior to the first. The ships seem to spin around at extremely fast speeds instead of gracefully turning like the first game. There are a lot of elements about the UI that bother me too, like the giant bubbles that appear around selected ships. I found myself disabling a lot of the new features in the options menu like warp drive. While I can appreciate their attempts to add really oddball choices of aliens like 8472 as new faction, we're talking about an alien race that can one-shot Borg cubes and it just felt really odd being able to wipe out fleets of 8472 with Klingon ships. Something about the campaign just feels bad compared to the first too, everyone seems to be lazily reading their lines and it just lacks the energy of the voice actors in the first game.
100% the movement of the ships looked graceful and natural in armada 1 rather than turn on a dime. Warp could have been better with effectively 3 warp settings. a really really fast warp speed for small ships vs slow for big powerful ships. It would have added some value to the too weak early ships that become useless once you get later game ships. also ships need to not be made out of paper. They need to ast a bit longer in a fight. Hull damage was cool though you could regenerate your shilds fast but hull damage took alot to fix.
I really disliked a2. It was clumsy. I hated the 3D depth and i felt A1 graphics were actually better
Great review and commentary very insightful keep up the great content
armada 2 was the better. i spent a solid year and a half playing multi and destroying with zerg rushes. got it was so much fun, i wish i could go back to that time
Solid review.
I prefer this to the first game mainly because as far back as I can remember I've been a fan of Frigates real and fictional alike and it annoys me when I'm playing a fleet tactics or strategy game and there are no Frigates available. Its a mistake Armada I made that this game corrected.
I have it but cannot get it to work on my PC with Win 10!! Any ideas how to get it to work again??
Sorry my friend, I’m not sure. You may be best off saving yourself the headache and repurchasing it from Gog…worked flawlessly for me
He’s correct GOG is your best bet it works like a dream
Armada 2 great gameplay, great extra options but worse graphics.
Great review. "2 decade old website" lmao, so true.