Star Command Review

By: Kris Keilhack
December 4, 2006

Long-time computer gamers may remember an ancient multi-platform (PCs as well as mainframes) unofficial Star Trek “simulator” that appeared under a variety of titles, versions and guises. I personally grew up with a 2nd hand Atari 2600 and a copy of Star Raiders, a similarly themed spin-off title, before progressing to a shareware version of EGA Trek on my old 286. Now that experience is available in a slightly tweaked and updated form for Palm OS devices.

For a basic overview of the history of this game as well as a summary of its lineage, please see its Wikipedia entry. The Palm OS version is, by all accounts, mostly similar to the later graphical PC versions of the title such as EGA Trek.

Pros:

Faithful recreation of the classic '70s & '80s hacker/programmer classic
Surprising amount of depth once you delve deeper into the game
An authentic Classic 'Trek experience if you can overlook the lack of licensed content
Rock solid app that is stable and playable on a nearly every Palm OS handheld made in the past six years

Cons:

“Krutons” and “Zingers” don’t have quite the same cachet as “Klingons” & “Romulans”
Steep learning curve due to the numerous commands and obscure button labels
No sort of in-game tutorial, documentation or help screens
Nostalgia plays a large role in determining the game’s value to some gamers

Conclusion
Star Command is a fun diversion that is perfectly suited to the Palm OS. Indeed, it is especially enjoyable on older OS 3/4 devices or mono screens. The old-timers amongst us will be especially intrigued by this recreation of a game that wasted many mainframe CPU cycles -- long before Tetris was around!

My Ratings:
3/5 - Palm Software 3 / 5 (for the average contemporary gamer)
4/5 - Palm Software 4 / 5 (if you played and enjoyed one of the original variants years ago)

Star Command is compatible with Palm OS 3.5 and higher. It will run on older greyscale handhelds as well as color and high resolution screens on the latest models. It occupies 314k of memory. The full version costs $12.00 to register and there is a free trial that will allow you to play through the 3rd rank, where cloaking Zinger's begin to appear.

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Caesar salad?

zinzan @ 12/4/2006 3:11:48 AM #

Krutons? Travelling through what turns out to be a soup of a galaxy....

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate"

Good old game!

ZargoGames @ 12/4/2006 8:57:49 AM #

There are some types of games that are programmed in old times but they have a very good strategy, good gameplay and so they are still alive! This game is on of those. I remember I played it in a text version on old big supercomputer IBM 360/370(it had 16MB memory and took two rooms!) in 1980 year! And I am going to try it again on my palm!

help files

briforge @ 12/4/2006 3:57:01 PM #

Hi, I'm the developer. Thanks for the review. FYI, there is an entire Help menu to explain all the buttons and actions. There is also an HTML file that comes with the distribution that also explains the buttons and commands.

why I can't contact your support at mobilefunforge

Bendotz @ 12/9/2009 12:03:50 AM #

my friend just bought me Star Command at www.mobilefunforge.com(with paypal) ,but until today he still didn't receive any serial code..so he email to support@mobilefunforge ,but can't sent (its reject)..anyone here know where I can contact the developer? please help..

Just like the good ol days on the S250

T. @ 12/4/2006 7:23:25 PM #

This brings back great memories of being yelled at by our boss for playing Star Trek instead of working.

However, I am experiencing crashes on my TX. They only occur occasionally and the game will start right up where it left off. How are other TX users doing with this game?

RE: Just like the good ol days on the S250

hkklife @ 12/6/2006 10:32:10 PM #

I didn't have any issues whatsoever with this app on my TX or my 700p. I'm launching it off of a 2gb SD card on the TX and a 4gb SD on the 700p, no 3rd party launchers or hacks of any kind on either device.

Have you noticed the crashes more frequent when you have wi-fi and/or BT turned on? You might want to turn both radios off when playing this game (or any other game for that matter) as they consume minute amounts of system resources and/or always introduce another possibility for a crash or reset.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

I can't contact support@mobilefunforge.com !!!

Bendotz @ 12/11/2009 12:22:12 AM #

Please somebody help me! 3 days ago I bought star command through mobilefunforge website,but until today still did'nt receive any serial code from developer..help me please?..

RE: I can't contact support@mobilefunforge.com !!!

Bendotz @ 12/11/2009 4:14:45 AM #

well..nevermind..
I like this game (really good gameplay) and
I just bought star command at palminfocenter...very fast support :-) ...thanks

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