Star Trek: Encounters for the PS2

Let's start out with the very best part of this game - the graphics. I mean, these are blow you away, super sweet sci-fi movie style, Star Trek tv show graphics that I fell in love with on the box while I was standing in line to buy it. (I'm putting in some screenshots below this part of the review so that you can see what I'm talking about.) Now, with the graphics comes a part where you have to get used to how the ships move and shoot and all that - which can get confusing and frustrating - but if you are any type of a ST fan, then this won't be as hard as you might think. But, the graphics in general are superb and I love how they managed to make everything as realistic to the movies and television shows as humanly - 'er computer-ly - possible.

So, for this area of the game, it scores a 5 out of 5 from me.

Now, there are two sides to this part of the review. One good and one bad. So, we'll go through the good parts of the review first and show you why you need this game in your PS2 arsenal.

The good: There are several different ways that you can actually play this game on your PS2. From playing Episodes out to just all out skirmishes with other ships in the area, you can play the way that you are the most comfortable with. I love the fact that you work to unlock your favorite areas of the universe, favorite captains, ships, and more. It gives you something to work for, to strive to beat, and makes the game even more fun.

You do start off with training to get your ship legs and to learn the controls and how to control your ship. (We'll talk about this in a minute though.) After that, you will get to move on to another bigger, faster ship that will have you start off your Starfleet career in style. You will be able to start unlocking ships that you love from movies and television shows, favorite characters through Character Cards, and even more. I love the game play in ST: Encounters as it's always changing and for a true ST fan, you will remember these areas, ships, people, and more.

So, for the good areas of the game play - I give it a 5 out of 5.

Ok, the bad part about the game play is that you can't get anywhere else until you have unlocked a mission by beating it. This is normal you say? True, but here's the problem with ST: Encounters - it can be so hard to win some levels that you will actually throw the controller in frustration... I speak from experience here. Even the very first level is super hard, and you have to beat it to get an upgrade on your ship from the slower version that you're playing.

Now, this first level is training and learning how to maneuver, shoot, and all that jazz... so yes, you need this training. But, come on. I have never in my life played a game where the training levels were so hard that you wanted to quit. So, the difficulty level of the game itself could have been lowered in the beginning levels so that you can actually pass and gain some confidence in yourself and your abilities. By making it so hard, everyone else in my family gave up during the first level of training - even me a couple of times - until I finally was able to beat it and move on.

So, for the bad part of the game play - it's difficulty - it gets a 2 out of 5 from me.