Klingon Honor Guard P2-300 & Voodoo II Reviewed by Alex van Kaam Requirements Minimum system requirement: - 166 MHz MMX Pentium class computer with 3D hardware acceleration. - 233 MHz Pentium for software only rendering. - 32 megabytes of RAM. - 2 megabyte PCI video card. - Quad Speed CD ROM Typical system: - 233 MHz Pentium MMX or Pentium II. - 32 or 64 megabytes of RAM. - 3dfx Voodoo class 3d accelerator. - Quad Speed or faster CD ROM Awesome system: - Pentium II 266 or faster. - 64 or 128 megabytes of RAM. - 3dfx Voodoo or Voodoo2 class 3D accelerator. This has been a game I have been waiting for, for several months now, based on the UnReal engine I knew it would look awesome and who does not want to play a Klingon for once? Star Trek games there are enough, but you always play the nice Star Fleet officer. Installation again went quite easy, it uses the UnReal 1.0 engine, but UnReal is now at 2.19 and by the time you read this a patch to get KHG up to that level is out. You play a young Klingon who has just joined the Honor Guard and for those of you who do not know who or what the Honor Guard is I included the next part: Warriors from all over the empire apply for admittance to the Dun Vajpu'DuSaQmey. The best of the best from those schools are nominated to serve in the 'avwl' batlh. Those elite few endure a rigorous course of tournaments, philosophic debates, and physical challenges to test their worthiness for the opportunity to join the Klingon Honor Guard. For warriors to pass these tests, they must be possessed of unequalled fighting prowess, stamina, and honour. The Klingon way of live favours the strong and decisive. The weak and foolish have no place in the halls of power, and advancement in rank is often achieved at a high cost. Those in power have normally gained their position the honourable way - by challenging and defeating their superior in personal combat. However, some houses have achieved power through guile and assassination, which are highly dishonourable. Knowing that some might seek to become Emperor this way, Kahless formed his loyal warriors into a group of personal guards he called his Honor Guard. After his death, the Honor Guard continued to serve whoever ruled the empire, providing protection for the Chancellor and, in time, all members of the High Council who accepted their service. As leader of the Klingon High Council, Gowron accepts only the finest, proven warriors as his guards. Foremost among Gownron's Honor Guard detachment is Korek, who is also the current High Master of the DuSaQ To'kar- the school of To'kar. Korek oversees every action of Gowron's guards, and he is the Chancellor's confidant in all matters of personal security. In recent months, Korek has initiated a supplemental training program to hone the skills and maintain the readiness of the Honor Guard warriors. This program of advanced training complements the training received at the Dun Vajpu'DuSaQmey by the exercising warrior's fighting skills, philosophical grounding, and strategic thinking in simulated battles and tactical situations. All members of the Honor Guard cycle through this holodeck training regularly, from the most hardened veterans down through the newest rookie (you). As you start the game you are in a holodeck simulation of an ancient battle, halfway though the training will get cancelled and Korek will contact you, telling you that there has been an assassination attempt on Gowron and the high council. Many are dead but Gowron survived, although heavily wounded. Korek appoints you to investigate the attempt. Controls in the game are, like in UnReal, very easy to customize, so I won't go into these as you can make it as easy or hard as you want yourself. Graphics in the game are of a very high standard, although I was very disappointed when I started the game, unlike UnReal, KHG starts very dull, in a cave like area, later when you enter a town it's not much better, but after that it improves very very much. As you board different ships from different races you encounter all kinds of wonderful scenery, from smooth reflecting floors in an Andorian ship to dark, metallic walls in a Klingon Bird of Prey to the icy plains and canyons of Rura Pente. Sound is again good, with the SB Live patch downloaded, you get 3D sound wherever you walk, music played from the CD is very Klingon-like and fits very well with the scene you're in. As with all these 3D shooters there are not many puzzles, it's more a matter of killing and searching, for all this killing you have a big range of weapons, from a simple knife (D'k Tahg) that you can use to stab or to throw, to a Particle Disrupter Cannon. But I preferred using my Bat'Leth most of the time, it's great to chop someone up with it and then hear the player say "is that MY Bat'Leth in your back?" Your guide and helper in the game is Worf's brother Kurn, you will get a message from him between each mission telling you what the next is. Often he will drop you off with his Bird Of Prey at a new location telling you what to do. and like a real Klingon he does not care one bit about your life. All in all I enjoyed this game, it's bloody for a Star Trek game, but not as bloody as UnReal or Quake II. There are not that many types of enemies, of course there are evil Klingons to kill. And besides that you have Andorians (from the original ST, not from ST-TNG. as far as I know), Nausicans (who carry a deadly grenade launcher) Lethians (who are invisible at times) to a wide range of beasts. It's a shame there are no evil Star Fleet offices walking around . It has many little things that remind you of ST, from Rura Pente, the planet where Kirk and McCoy were jailed, to the little details like when you shoot a Klingon in zero-gravity and his blood comes out in little balloons, just like in the same ST movie where Kirk and McCoy got sent to Rura Pente. If you like 3D shooters and like ST then you really should not ignore this title, if it all sound too gross for you then go play Doom - o -