Trek the Stars on Your Smartphone
I’ve always wanted to command a starship, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Almost everyone who grew up watching Star Trek or Star Wars must have had dreams of exploring the galaxy, discovering strange alien races and then saving them from destruction. Sadly, NASA hasn’t provided the means for any of us to achieve those dreams. But the developers at 14bricks Games have brought us something to live out those fantasies on a mobile device. It’s called Star Command. It’s a spaceship simulation game of survival in a harsh universe that wants you and your crew dead, assimilated, or eaten for lunch.
You start the game designing your captain with minimal options, and then you pick your starship out of four choices. There is one small ship and three medium ships ripe for the picking. Each ship has a specific design with a set number of empty rooms that can be built into different stations. But all the ships come with two rooms that can only be used for weapons. It’s best to start with the small ship, since it can be overwhelming to manage on your first playthrough. Thankfully, the tutorial portion covers practically everything you will need to know within the first few missions. These early missions are catered to teaching you different aspects of the game, like navigating the galaxies, building the stations on your ship, hiring a crew, assigning that crew to stations, and ship-to-ship battles. Once you’re done with that, you’re on your own. Thankfully, jetting around the galaxy is easy. Simply pick one of the available locations, and you’re on your way. You never directly pilot your starship which leaves more room for keeping an eye on your stations and crew.
Your crew is divided into three categories: Tactical, Science, and Engineering. The different stations on your ship are also divided this way. Whatever station the crew member is assigned to will determine his or her abilities. If you put crewmen on your laser cannon, they’re “tactical”, and can attack infiltrating enemies. If you place them in the medical bay, they’re “science” and can heal injured crewmates. Your people on the engines are obviously engineering, and they can fix any damage done to your ship. All of these stations and crewman are color coded so they can be recognized easily. Assault is red, Science is blue, and Engineering is yellow. When you’re in the middle of a ship-to-ship battle with hungry Antorians, you need to be able to find the right people for the right job.
The ship-to-ship battles are the main gameplay element in Star Command, and where the most stressful situations arise. You have to juggle firing your ship’s weapons, fending off any aliens beaming aboard, repairing any damage to the ship, healing your crew that are fending off the aliens, and generally trying to not screw it all up. Firing your ship’s weapons is done once their bar is charged, and then you must successfully complete a short mini-game to actually hit the enemy vessel. Your tactical officers will need to be directed around the ship to wherever there are invading aliens, and they automatically attack any that are within range. Your science officers operate similarly, but they will heal any fellow crew within range. The engineers will do the same, only for damage done to your ship. If you miss on that critical laser attack, or fail to see a group of undead Russian cosmonauts beaming aboard, you’re toast. It’s unforgiving and frustrating, but so rewarding when you see that victory screen.
Star Command isn’t a long game, or a very deep one, but it is leagues ahead of any other Android game that tries to recreate the experience of captaining a starship. With its charming pixelated art-style and blatant homages to the sci-fi genre, it’s hard for this nerd to not love it. Even after Antorians have brutally wiped out my crew, destroyed my lovely ship, and caused me to actually yell at my smartphone, I still reload my game and try again. Space is a cruel and challenging mistress, and I will conquer her.
Never give up, never surrender!
Star Command is available for iOS and Android OS.
About the Author
Keith Hanson is a podcaster currently residing in New Jersey. He can be found weekly on Sidecast where he rambles on about video games, wrestling, movies, Muppets, and other very important topics. If you want to find him right now, he's probably posting something to his Twitter.
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