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Star Trek: Invasion is a video game, released in 2000 for the PlayStation. The game was developed by Warthog Games for Activision. The game also has some distinction being developed by the same team (who were mostly working under Warthog Games) responsible for the Colony Wars series of video games.
A "space combat shooter" title, Star Trek: Invasion is based on characters and situations from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The game features voice acting performances by several Star Trek actors, including Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) and Michael Dorn (Worf).
Valkyrie class Fighter[ | ]
The Valkyrie Fighter is the starship used by players in the game. Flying as Ensign Ryan Cooper of the fictional elite Starfleet group "Red Squad", the player flies the ship through 30 missions in both single and two-player mode.
The team based the Type I fighter on a streamlined version of the Federation mission scout ship seen in Star Trek: Insurrection. Called the "Talon class" in Star Trek Fiction (also termed the Venture class in Star Trek: Armada, the scout ship itself was approximately twenty-four meters long, had a crew of between one and four, and was an intermediate step between the shuttlecraft and the larger Danube Runabouts see primarily in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Similar to the Runabouts, it was sometimes armed with four Type-5 Phaser banks, and 3 micro-Photon Torpedo launchers. It was also capable of independent scientific operations, and possesses both impulse engines and warp drive.
In an early scene in Star Trek: Insurrection, Data engaged in a "dogfight" using a Talon class scout ship with Picard's Shuttlecraft. The registry number was NCC-75227. Although following normal numbering conventions, some have suggested the number was the craft that carried the scout ship to the Ba'ku planet.
Six versions of the Federation's Fighter exist, each available in various stages of the game.
Three versions are "trainer" craft, available in only the 2-player missions. All versions have similar weapons, but different characteristics.
- Orca Space Superiority Fighter: Although visually similar to the baseline Talon class scout ship, game data suggest the Orca is lightly shielded and agile, with moderate speed and good hull strength.
- Gryphon Interceptor: A weak hull with very strong shields and increased speed and agility, Designers looked to the Saber-class for inspiration.
- Scarab Heavy Assault Fighter: intentionally resembling the U.S.S. Defiant, it boasts improved shields and the strongest hull, at the cost of speed and agility.
Three versions of Valkyrie are available only for single-player missions.
- Mark I: the first version, visually similar to the Talon scout ship, is armed with twin pulse firing Type 10 phaser cannons firing from port and starboard, a single continuous firing Type 9 phaser and a compression phaser from the nose of the craft. Ten Photon torpedoes, ten Quantum Torpedoes and ten Photon mines round out the player's offensive power. At various stages of the game, the weapons can be augmented by advanced technology or power ups.
- Mark II: Called the "Valor", the player gains this fighter after several missions result in capturing more powerful weapons. Visually, the Orca cockpit is attached to twin warp nacelles projecting forward. Pulse Phasers, made famous in Trek canon by the USS Defiant, as well as more powerful Torpedoes are added to replace earlier weaponry such as Photonic missiles, disruptors, and improved mines.
- Mark III: In the final stages of the game, the player flies the Federation's most advanced Valkyrie fighter, updated with biorganic technology derived from the invaders, the Kam'Jathae, who are guardians of the insect-like Hur'q. The sleek ship has a rounded cockpit with two thin nacelles arcing around the lower half of the vessel. Their weapons include the deadly Trilithium Warheads (a fictional high-explosive in Star Trek Canon) and improved disruptors (a type of weapon usually used by the Klingon and Romulan Empires).
All three versions have three directed energy weapons, and three types of explosive munitions, plus a tractor/repulsor beam.
Although capable of Warp travel, it is only used in bursts during gameplay, similar to afterburners in real life fighter aircraft. It is perhaps this reason the player and 25 other Valkyries of the Red Squad are carried into the theatre by the U.S.S. Typhon, a four-nacelled Mobile Fortress/Fighter Carrier armed with Turret-mounted Type 10 Pulse Phaser Cannons and Quantum Torpedoes. In several missions the player mans one of the turrets. Since the turret has a 360 degree view of space dorsal to the Typhon, one can assume at least one turret is on the ventral side.
Game Boy Advance version[ | ]
A port for Game Boy Advance was being developed by Classified Games, but was cancelled for unknown reasons.
Response[ | ]
IGN gave the game an 8 out of 10.[1]
References[ | ]
External Links[ | ]
- Star Trek: Invasion at MobyGames
- startrek-games.com
- "Star Trek Invasion" instruction manual, by Activision, 2000
- "Star Trek Invasion" Strategy Guide, by Brady Games, 2001
PlayStation Longplay of Star Trek: Invasion
