Star Trek: Legacy

Star Trek: Legacy (2006) attempted to combine decades of Star Trek history into a single game — the campaign takes the player from the era of the Enterprise series through the age of Kirk and Picard to Voyager, commanding a different ship suited to its era and technological level in each chapter. Development was handled by Mad Doc Software, previously behind Armada II, and the publisher was Bethesda Softworks after the rights to Star Trek video games moved from the previous publisher, Activision, to a different license holder in the middle of the decade. The campaign's structure, split across several historical periods, was unique among Star Trek games and let players compare how the fleet's technology and tactics evolved over the decades.

Legacy combines elements of real-time strategy with more direct, action-oriented ship control in open space — the player doesn't build bases or gather resources as in the older Armada games, but focuses purely on the tactics of individual battles, managing shields, and special abilities of ships depending on the era the story is set in at the time. The graphics were among the best Star Trek games had to offer at release, thanks to expansive space vistas, richly modeled ships, and impressive explosions that showed off particularly well on the new graphics cards of the time. The game also included a full multiplayer mode, in which players could build their own fleets across eras and test their strength online, extending the game's lifespan beyond the single-player campaign.

Why play: Legacy is a good choice for fans who want to experience the different eras of the series in a single game and see how the fleet of the Enterprise NX-01 differs from the later Federation around the time of the Next Generation and Voyager. It will also appeal to players looking for a more accessible alternative to the older Armada games, less burdened by micromanagement, where the focus is mainly on battle tactics rather than base building.