Gaming Bullets

• 'Armada II' producer Doug Pearson has announced that a patch for the game is currently being developed. According to a post at Armada Universe, the patch will most likely be available in January and address issues such as the combat system and graphics card problems. Further information can be found in Pearson's original post.

• On Friday, December 14, Armada Universe will be holding a chat with Mad Doc Software's Dr. Ian Lane Davis and Matthew Nordhaus to talk about the upcoming 'Armada II' patch. Further details can be found here.

• Jim Weber at Gamezilla has posted his review of 'Star Trek: Armada II.' "Some sequels are released with minimal improvements and can be huge disappointments," he wrote. "Star Trek: Armada II, however, has a number of new features and additions to gameplay that create a new experience. It is still a conventional RTS game and has issues with longevity as it can become boring and repetitive, but with the thirty missions and with multiplayer capabilities, you should get your money's worth." In the full review, the game was awarded a score of 83%.

• Over at Games Domain, John Brandon was also fairly positive about 'Armada II,' especially the graphics. Here's an extract from his review:

  A revamped 3D graphics engine definitely enhances the experience. Borg stations have an incredibly high polygon count with layer after layer of detail. It's cool to see the wireframe ghost image when you first place these structures. Federation vessels are probably the most lacking since they look a little pale against black space. Some weapons send an expansive shockwave of destruction; others look a little more like peashooters. But, for the most part, everything you see in the game looks really impressive, especially when you zoom in for a close view.

  The complete analysis, in which the game scored a rating of 3 out of 5, can be found here.

• A considerably less positive review has been posted at Gaming Age. "It looks as if the folks at Mad Doc got a little too comfortable with this situation," wrote Ryan Thompson. "A lot of the 'new' ships had been previously added to the original through user-developed mod packs, and a few of the other changes in 'Armada II' are reminiscent of past player-based creations. Ultimately it is the lack of polish found pretty much everywhere in the game that makes it feel like less of a sequel and more like a pricey Star Trek: Armada mod." 'Armada II' was awarded a C minus grade in the full review.

• "Armada II is a pretty good game that makes an effort to appeal to the person who is both a Trekoholic and a hardcore strategist," said a review at the Electric Playground. "The game offers a lot more depth than the earlier edition, and I get the feeling that with a little more tweaking it could have been the RTS rival to Starfleet Command, a series that the hardcore Trek/hardcore strategists revere." To read the complete analysis, in which the game scored 77%, head over to the Electric Playground.

• Details on the Hirogen and Q additions to the CCG 'Holodeck Adventures' pack, as well as the new Arachnia card have been posted at Decipher.

  Thanks to Blue's News for most of these!

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