@captainkoloth1631 Seeing as those characters were star trek characters, I don't buy that personally. I'd wager it's all wrapped up in the mess star treks ownership has been in since the viacom split.
So glad you reviewed this game! I spent many hours as a 10, 11, 12 year old battling my way through the missions and bugs to earn glory for my house. As a kid I never picked up on the gameplay issues and bugs that you mentioned in the video and knowing about them now helps me understand why I thought this game was SO HARD. Still, despite the issues I pushed and pushed until about the mid-game where I must have lost interest because I don't recall ever finishing it. I was probably distracted with Star Trek Hidden Evil or Star Trek Voyager Elite Force haha. I still have my box set and I remember opening it for the first time to discover the key commands pamphlet. Of course I had no idea what a sim game was so i just propped it up above my keyboard and figured out the basics with trial and error. Man, I wish I still had that old Windows 98 HP Pavilion PC. I should go back now and play it again. It would be fun to keybind to my VKB controllers! Thanks for the review and bringing back some found memories.
Guess I was fortunate, I never had any bugs or ran into any serious issues with objectives. I remember the missions with Chang's ship being tough and some missions being prolonged when the AI played mouse to my cat very well but that was the game doing what it was supposed to so my Klingon Academy experience was a 5/5. I wasn't a huge space sim player but this and Tachyon: The Fringe were favourites in my collection.
I love Klingon Academy, but you mentioned that you have not seen or heard of any games like it since, what about Bridge Commander? it is to this day my favorite star trek game and still played by players who are keeping it alive. I think of Klingon Academy as the grandfather to Bridge Commander and wish we had more games that put us in command of a starship
Klingon academy and ST: armada 2 are the only two trek games worth playing for anyone who isn't a die-hard fan. There's also a mod for sins of a solar empire called star trek armada 3 that is excellent. I must have played Klingon academy 4 times when I was a kid. Good stuff!
@azordash_games that game didn't really hit for me, but at the time, I may have been spoiled by the masterpiece that was half-life, and it's many good mods.
Bridge Commander! 😃 although …..🤔 you need to learn the “backspace hack” to speed through the cutscene dialogue faster…. 😅 also the “WASD hack” cos actually commanding the ship means you will lose every fight, and “manual control” is ACTUALLY how to play the game. 😅 and I had a mod to allow all the phasers to fire at once and change the torpedo reload to 5 (seconds?) , not only one phaser at a time & 20 (seconds?). Otherwise Fed ships lack firepower (cos they don’t have bolt weapons only beams and torps).
Fleet Ops mod for armada is banger. There is a submod for fleet ops that turns armada into tmp ka era fighting. Pretty dam good too, just dont use the lyrans....they be bugged lmao
No, I knew he mentioned it, but the patch really makes the game so much more stable and you can still play at 640x480 if you want a traditional experience.
Such a great game IMO, way ahead of its time in some aspects, and gameplay-wise a very improved experience from Starfleet Academy. I knew you were gonna comment on that planet bombardment mission, it was terribly explained hahahaha.
I loved it. My favorite ship was the Insurrection class because it's only in Klingon Academy. I could take down an Excelsior class Federation battle cruiser in only a B'rel class Bird of Prey after an overly long and tiresome but honorable battle. I don't think I had it in me to take down a Ulysses class in a BoP, there was a limit to what it could do.
I mainly played the skirmish mode on this, i rarely touched the campaign as i heard it was buggy and wasnt engaged with it as much as Starfleet Academy. I really recommend the Next Generation Academy mod which gives you all 24th Century ships. The Collection Chamber has the game and it seems to work fine on current OS
I know it's not the same, but there's another space flight simulator around the same time called Freespace 1 (A.K.A. Descent: Freespace - The Great War) and its sequel, Freespace 2, both are pretty good. Here's a small taste of the lore. It's set in the 2300s. There are 3 factions; the first is humans. (Obviously) but we call ourselves Terran(s) Our faction is the Galactic Terran Alliance (The G.T.A.), and we have been at war with the Second faction, the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire (The P.V.E.). The Terran-Vasudan War has been going on for the last 14 years at the start of the first game. The reason for the war going on for this long is #1 Attrition, #2 Neither side has been able or willing to trust the other at peace talks, #3 any armistice is very short lived due to the former, and #4 It's just been a fact of life at this point for the last two generations on both sides. It's around this time the Third faction comes on the scene, The Shivans, they start off as rumors at first, and they attack Terran and Vasudan ships, and stations they come across, leaving no survivors, showing no mercy to everyone that's not their own. After a Shivan fighter is visually confirmed, both Terrans and Vasudans, attempted to communicate with this new faction, but all attempts are ignored. So, they're given the name, the Shivans, until their true name is known... it never is. I'll stop there, so if I piqued your interest, and you want to try the game, getting the hard copies of both games met be a pricey, I think, Luckily for you and anyone else who is interested, before the company that created these games went under, the creative team behind the game gave the fans the open source code for this game that allows the fans to kept the Freespace 2 game up to date with modern computers, refining the detail on all the ships in the game, from the fighters all the way to the biggest capital ships. A group has been so good to this game that anyone can freely download Freespace 2 along with the original Freespace 1 Campaign and a remastered DLC Campaign that came out a few Months after the first game. Some fans have even created hull new campaigns and vessels to continue the story of Freespace in order keep this universe alive. They're even a healthy modding community, three example are a Battlestar Galactica mod, a Wing Commander mod, and a mod based on one of the greatest Sci-Fi series of the 1990's, a Babylon 5 mod. In order to get it, I suggest you first look at other UA-cam videos of people showing you where or someone playing the game, so you know where to look for it correctly. Oh, one more thing, just make sure you get all the files for the game when you download. There was one guy, who ended up stuck on the first mission during his first play through of the 1st game's campaign and didn't know that the audio files were in a separate download and thus didn't realize he had completed the 1st mission.
Thank you so much for the write up… you have definitely got my interest! I’m really a sucker for any space sim or anything I can play with a good old fashioned joystick. Even better if it’s playable on something modern. The environment & space backgrounds look impressive from a quick search too. I’ll check it out for sure. Thank you!
My pleaser also, I've forgot to mention that in both games main menu there's an option called the tech room. That gives you information on weapons, ships, factions, and other stuff in this universe.
Pick up ST Bridge Commander when you can, it came out a couple of years after Klingon Academy and is very similar. Its set just after the dominion war era and also still has an active modding scene.
Funny story... I played through BC as a kid and remember being stuck on a particular mission... it was so long ago I can't remember which mission but it was involving Cardasians. Might be time to go back to it & I will definitely check out the available Mods, cheers.
1:04 Did you try "Everspace 2" then? Maybe you have but I am often amazed at how many people don't know about modern titles in a genre if they're not released by AAA publishers.
I played this back in the day other then crashing to desktop I did not get bugs for the most part, since it is not on GOG and the chances of a re release are nil I find the hardest part is getting a copy. I would love to see a remaster of this there are so few good star trek games that are not older then my kids.
You mention 'no game like it since'...I'd argue "Bridge Commander" is moderately close, as is the very-new (VR-focused) "Bridge Crew". ...although, yeah, neither approached the scale of these earlier FMV games.
Starfleet Academy is ok, the combat of ka is far better than starfleet. Plus the graphics and weapons effects are noticeably worse. TMP phasers fire like disruptor bolts, its weird. But the cast and characters are great and it also uses alot of fmv.
@@HandheldComputing Rip those disc and turn it into a big iso file then back it up somewhere. Game preservation is an issue that's starting to get worse and worse by the day for older formats.
I wish GOG would re-release this. Its in my top three Star Trek games they don't have wish list.
@@roguerifter9724 I agree. No doubt it's licensing issues with the rights to Christopher Plummer and David Warner's appearances.
@captainkoloth1631 Seeing as those characters were star trek characters, I don't buy that personally. I'd wager it's all wrapped up in the mess star treks ownership has been in since the viacom split.
So glad you reviewed this game! I spent many hours as a 10, 11, 12 year old battling my way through the missions and bugs to earn glory for my house. As a kid I never picked up on the gameplay issues and bugs that you mentioned in the video and knowing about them now helps me understand why I thought this game was SO HARD.
Still, despite the issues I pushed and pushed until about the mid-game where I must have lost interest because I don't recall ever finishing it. I was probably distracted with Star Trek Hidden Evil or Star Trek Voyager Elite Force haha.
I still have my box set and I remember opening it for the first time to discover the key commands pamphlet. Of course I had no idea what a sim game was so i just propped it up above my keyboard and figured out the basics with trial and error. Man, I wish I still had that old Windows 98 HP Pavilion PC.
I should go back now and play it again. It would be fun to keybind to my VKB controllers! Thanks for the review and bringing back some found memories.
"6 cd full game" holy f i forgot that part but damm if i didnt instantly flasback to that tall cd holder for the game.
KA is still my favorite ST game of all time, by far
It really is a great game despite some of the issues. I need to get around to trying StarFleet Academy too and see how it compares.
@@azordash_games don't leave out SFA, really!!
Guess I was fortunate, I never had any bugs or ran into any serious issues with objectives. I remember the missions with Chang's ship being tough and some missions being prolonged when the AI played mouse to my cat very well but that was the game doing what it was supposed to so my Klingon Academy experience was a 5/5.
I wasn't a huge space sim player but this and Tachyon: The Fringe were favourites in my collection.
The bugs ruined this game so badly. Some missions required 10 play throughs to get lucky enough to get through it.
I love Klingon Academy, but you mentioned that you have not seen or heard of any games like it since, what about Bridge Commander? it is to this day my favorite star trek game and still played by players who are keeping it alive. I think of Klingon Academy as the grandfather to Bridge Commander and wish we had more games that put us in command of a starship
That quadtree effect on Klingon viewscreens is, how you say, aesthetic.
You should do a video on Star Trek: Bridge Commander from 2002. A similar sort of game but a bit newer, it was a lot of fun
Klingon academy and ST: armada 2 are the only two trek games worth playing for anyone who isn't a die-hard fan. There's also a mod for sins of a solar empire called star trek armada 3 that is excellent.
I must have played Klingon academy 4 times when I was a kid. Good stuff!
Don’t forget Elite Force 🙃
@azordash_games that game didn't really hit for me, but at the time, I may have been spoiled by the masterpiece that was half-life, and it's many good mods.
Star Trek Starfleet Command.
Bridge Commander! 😃 although …..🤔 you need to learn the “backspace hack” to speed through the cutscene dialogue faster…. 😅 also the “WASD hack” cos actually commanding the ship means you will lose every fight, and “manual control” is ACTUALLY how to play the game. 😅 and I had a mod to allow all the phasers to fire at once and change the torpedo reload to 5 (seconds?) , not only one phaser at a time & 20 (seconds?). Otherwise Fed ships lack firepower (cos they don’t have bolt weapons only beams and torps).
Fleet Ops mod for armada is banger. There is a submod for fleet ops that turns armada into tmp ka era fighting. Pretty dam good too, just dont use the lyrans....they be bugged lmao
There is a community patch on the klingon academy forum which enables stable play on moder systems and wide screen and high resolutions.
someone didn't listen to the disclaimer about that in the video eh?
No, I knew he mentioned it, but the patch really makes the game so much more stable and you can still play at 640x480 if you want a traditional experience.
Such a great game IMO, way ahead of its time in some aspects, and gameplay-wise a very improved experience from Starfleet Academy. I knew you were gonna comment on that planet bombardment mission, it was terribly explained hahahaha.
Always loved this game. Lots of fun, great FMVs too.
The FMV's really are great. This and Star Wars Jedi Knight are probably my top 2 FMV games.
I also enjoy Star Trek Borg and Klingon, though I'm not sure those strictly count as FMV games...
I loved it. My favorite ship was the Insurrection class because it's only in Klingon Academy. I could take down an Excelsior class Federation battle cruiser in only a B'rel class Bird of Prey after an overly long and tiresome but honorable battle. I don't think I had it in me to take down a Ulysses class in a BoP, there was a limit to what it could do.
Love this game, but yes I remember having to replay levels due to the bugs
11:13 Hold on hold on. I know for a fact that they tell you you have to be close.
I mainly played the skirmish mode on this, i rarely touched the campaign as i heard it was buggy and wasnt engaged with it as much as Starfleet Academy.
I really recommend the Next Generation Academy mod which gives you all 24th Century ships.
The Collection Chamber has the game and it seems to work fine on current OS
I know it's not the same, but there's another space flight simulator around the same time called Freespace 1 (A.K.A. Descent: Freespace - The Great War) and its sequel, Freespace 2, both are pretty good.
Here's a small taste of the lore. It's set in the 2300s. There are 3 factions; the first is humans. (Obviously) but we call ourselves Terran(s) Our faction is the Galactic Terran Alliance (The G.T.A.), and we have been at war with the Second faction, the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire (The P.V.E.).
The Terran-Vasudan War has been going on for the last 14 years at the start of the first game. The reason for the war going on for this long is #1 Attrition, #2 Neither side has been able or willing to trust the other at peace talks, #3 any armistice is very short lived due to the former, and #4 It's just been a fact of life at this point for the last two generations on both sides.
It's around this time the Third faction comes on the scene, The Shivans, they start off as rumors at first, and they attack Terran and Vasudan ships, and stations they come across, leaving no survivors, showing no mercy to everyone that's not their own.
After a Shivan fighter is visually confirmed, both Terrans and Vasudans, attempted to communicate with this new faction, but all attempts are ignored. So, they're given the name, the Shivans, until their true name is known... it never is.
I'll stop there, so if I piqued your interest, and you want to try the game, getting the hard copies of both games met be a pricey, I think,
Luckily for you and anyone else who is interested, before the company that created these games went under, the creative team behind the game gave the fans the open source code for this game that allows the fans to kept the Freespace 2 game up to date with modern computers, refining the detail on all the ships in the game, from the fighters all the way to the biggest capital ships.
A group has been so good to this game that anyone can freely download Freespace 2 along with the original Freespace 1 Campaign and a remastered DLC Campaign that came out a few Months after the first game.
Some fans have even created hull new campaigns and vessels to continue the story of Freespace in order keep this universe alive.
They're even a healthy modding community, three example are a Battlestar Galactica mod, a Wing Commander mod, and a mod based on one of the greatest Sci-Fi series of the 1990's, a Babylon 5 mod.
In order to get it, I suggest you first look at other UA-cam videos of people showing you where or someone playing the game, so you know where to look for it correctly. Oh, one more thing, just make sure you get all the files for the game when you download.
There was one guy, who ended up stuck on the first mission during his first play through of the 1st game's campaign and didn't know that the audio files were in a separate download and thus didn't realize he had completed the 1st mission.
Thank you so much for the write up… you have definitely got my interest! I’m really a sucker for any space sim or anything I can play with a good old fashioned joystick. Even better if it’s playable on something modern.
The environment & space backgrounds look impressive from a quick search too. I’ll check it out for sure. Thank you!
My pleaser also, I've forgot to mention that in both games main menu there's an option called the tech room. That gives you information on weapons, ships, factions, and other stuff in this universe.
Pick up ST Bridge Commander when you can, it came out a couple of years after Klingon Academy and is very similar. Its set just after the dominion war era and also still has an active modding scene.
Funny story... I played through BC as a kid and remember being stuck on a particular mission... it was so long ago I can't remember which mission but it was involving Cardasians. Might be time to go back to it & I will definitely check out the available Mods, cheers.
If you're looking for a modern sci fi space shooter I would highly recommend Everspace
1:04 Did you try "Everspace 2" then? Maybe you have but I am often amazed at how many people don't know about modern titles in a genre if they're not released by AAA publishers.
I have heard of Everspace, but never actually played it… is it worth checking out?
@@azordash_games Depends. Do you like roguelikes? Right now it is on sale on GOG for $3.
I played this back in the day other then crashing to desktop I did not get bugs for the most part, since it is not on GOG and the chances of a re release are nil I find the hardest part is getting a copy. I would love to see a remaster of this there are so few good star trek games that are not older then my kids.
It's easy enough to find on the seven seas. Got myself a copy that's functional in windows 10, trust me.....that took some digging lol
Getting close to a ship to scan it is a space game standard of the time. Tie Fighter did the same.
I had starfleet academy back in the day, but never this one. I have played it though.
It’s the Star Trek game I’ve seen but never played or afford (probably because of the 6 discs).
You mention 'no game like it since'...I'd argue "Bridge Commander" is moderately close, as is the very-new (VR-focused) "Bridge Crew".
...although, yeah, neither approached the scale of these earlier FMV games.
The cinematic feel wasnt there with BC. But Ill say this, a modded BC install looks good to this day.
Starfleet Academy is ok, the combat of ka is far better than starfleet. Plus the graphics and weapons effects are noticeably worse. TMP phasers fire like disruptor bolts, its weird. But the cast and characters are great and it also uses alot of fmv.
Honestly by the standards of 2000, not that good looking. The Starfleet Academy engine was definitely showing some age at that point.
Love this game but found Starfleet Academy played much better in the single player mode!
I’m looking forward to giving it a go… looks like it is playable on modern PCs too which is always nice.
@@azordash_games Yeah theres a steam version of it available now. I have the original disks but sadly they are starting to get disk rot 😥
@@HandheldComputing Rip those disc and turn it into a big iso file then back it up somewhere. Game preservation is an issue that's starting to get worse and worse by the day for older formats.
@@mosser-wm3dx I have already ripped them, might look at uploading to internet archive
Really nice videos, but the AZORVIEW frame should be way darker.
I appreciate the suggestion…. I’m working on re-working the frame so will include your feedback. Thanks again!
Better to cut the top and bottom frames. There's no need to make the game smaller.