The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Developing a game based on a well-known license is a tricky proposition. The risks include high player expectations, the temptation to produce product for its own sake, and a poor grasp of the given license's flavor. West End Games did an excellent job on the Star Wars RPG, while Decipher's Star Trek CCG was disappointing at best. Red Alert manages to both avoid the pitfalls and still evoke the flavor of ST:TNG starship combat.

At its heart, Red Alert is a disk game. In fact, Fantasy Flight Games helped develop and now owns the actual game rules. This means that you are essentially flipping pogs across a table and tossing tons of small cardboard disks to determine attack results. This may not sound like much fun, but when your pog is a well-rendered 3d model of a Klingon battleship, and those small cardboard disks come up as a massive series of hits on your Romulan opponent, things heat up in a hurry.

After choosing a scenario from a wide selection of scenario/terrain disks, you purchase your ship, crew, and technology upgrades. Each ship is rated for shield, hull, and beam weapon strength. The crew disks are rated for command ability and boarding combat strength. The tech upgrades, along with many crew disks, add either special abilities or a "plus X" modifier to one of your ship's attributes.

Game play is smooth, with a workable hidden orders system. Disks are provided for five different types of orders which are laid out in the order in which you intend to execute them. These include such things as weapons fire, heading/speed changes, and raising/lowering your shields. The fifth order sets this game apart from every other miniature or CCG starship game I've ever seen. The Crew/Tech Activation order allows you to either use a crew member's special ability, or widens your combat options. This is achieved by printing a series of order icons on some crew disks, primarily Captains, Admirals, and higher-ranking bridge crew. Thus, when activated, Lt. Cdr. Worf may either fire, raise/lower shields, or make a heading change. This simulates the personal leadership factor so prominent on the TV series.

The game takes a couple of playings to get used to. As an SFB grognard, the lack of dice and a CRT was a little disconcerting, but the use of hit disks works well, particularly the chance of achieving a critical hit with every successful attack.

Red Alert has everything a Star Trek: Next Generation fan could want. The graphics are outstanding. As I mentioned before, the 3D models used for ship disks are stunning, and the crew disks are illustrated with high quality stills from the series. Each race (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, and Ferengi) is well represented with ships, crew, and scenarios which give each an appropriate flavor.

Any deficiencies are due wholely to the collectible nature of the game. With each ship being unique in game terms, the point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. The cost is also a problem, with each booster pack of approximately 16 disks costing about 3 times what a comparable CCG booster would cost. Just to purchase the 6 basic starters ran about $72. Still, the game is playable out of the box, with 2 starters giving a good mix of ships and crew for an affordable $24.

Unfortunately, this review must also be something of a eulogy. There is one final risk to basing a game on a franchise: loosing your license rights. Decipher purchased all Star Trek gaming rights from Paramount effective January 1, 2001. This means that LUG can no longer produce the game, and all planned expansions have been cancelled. Does this mean that the game is dead? Not at all. Fantasy Flight Games, the originators of the Diskwars format and owners of the Red Alert rules system, have committed to producing a new version of Red Alert set in their Twilight Imperium setting. Look for it this summer. I know I will. Craig C. Robertson

Star Trek: Red Alert
Item type: RPG Product Name: Star Trek: Red Alert Author: Christian T. Petersen, Darrell Hardy, Christian Moore, Matthew Colville Company/Publisher: Last Unicorn Games Line: SKU: Cost: $12/$6 Page count: n/a ISBN: Genres: Ratings: Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Review type: Capsule Review Genre tags:	Developing a game based on a well-known license is a tricky proposition. The risks include high player expectations, the temptation to produce product for its own sake, and a poor grasp of the given license's flavor. West End Games did an excellent job on the Star Wars RPG, while Decipher's Star Trek CCG was disappointing at best. Red Alert manages to both avoid the pitfalls and still evoke the flavor of ST:TNG starship combat. At its heart, Red Alert is a disk game. In fact, Fantasy Flight Games helped develop and now owns the actual game rules. This means that you are essentially flipping pogs across a table and tossing tons of small cardboard disks to determine attack results. This may not sound like much fun, but when your pog is a well-rendered 3d model of a Klingon battleship, and those small cardboard disks come up as a massive series of hits on your Romulan opponent, things heat up in a hurry. After choosing a scenario from a wide selection of scenario/terrain disks, you purchase your ship, crew, and technology upgrades. Each ship is rated for shield, hull, and beam weapon strength. The crew disks are rated for command ability and boarding combat strength. The tech upgrades, along with many crew disks, add either special abilities or a "plus X" modifier to one of your ship's attributes. Game play is smooth, with a workable hidden orders system. Disks are provided for five different types of orders which are laid out in the order in which you intend to execute them. These include such things as weapons fire, heading/speed changes, and raising/lowering your shields. The fifth order sets this game apart from every other miniature or CCG starship game I've ever seen. The Crew/Tech Activation order allows you to either use a crew member's special ability, or widens your combat options. This is achieved by printing a series of order icons on some crew disks, primarily Captains, Admirals, and higher-ranking bridge crew. Thus, when activated, Lt. Cdr. Worf may either fire, raise/lower shields, or make a heading change. This simulates the personal leadership factor so prominent on the TV series. The game takes a couple of playings to get used to. As an SFB grognard, the lack of dice and a CRT was a little disconcerting, but the use of hit disks works well, particularly the chance of achieving a critical hit with every successful attack. Red Alert has everything a Star Trek: Next Generation fan could want. The graphics are outstanding. As I mentioned before, the 3D models used for ship disks are stunning, and the crew disks are illustrated with high quality stills from the series. Each race (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, and Ferengi) is well represented with ships, crew, and scenarios which give each an appropriate flavor. Any deficiencies are due wholely to the collectible nature of the game. With each ship being unique in game terms, the point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. The cost is also a problem, with each booster pack of approximately 16 disks costing about 3 times what a comparable CCG booster would cost. Just to purchase the 6 basic starters ran about $72. Still, the game is playable out of the box, with 2 starters giving a good mix of ships and crew for an affordable $24. Unfortunately, this review must also be something of a eulogy. There is one final risk to basing a game on a franchise: loosing your license rights. Decipher purchased all Star Trek gaming rights from Paramount effective January 1, 2001. This means that LUG can no longer produce the game, and all planned expansions have been cancelled. Does this mean that the game is dead? Not at all. Fantasy Flight Games, the originators of the Diskwars format and owners of the Red Alert rules system, have committed to producing a new version of Red Alert set in their Twilight Imperium setting. Look for it this summer. I know I will. Craig C. Robertson

Star Trek: Red Alert