Star Fleet (game Series) - Star Fleet II: Krellan Commander

Star Fleet II: Krellan Commander

This sequel to Star Fleet I was published in 1989 by Interstel Corporation, but was only in production for a few months due to internal problems at Interstel. The game was much more complex and sophisticated than Star Fleet I. It involved many different ships types, including battlecruisers, destroyers, heavy and light cruisers, frigates, troop transports, freighters, scouts, and starliners. Fleet operations were possible and the universe included hundreds of planets to utilize or conquer. It was only released for DOS.

Star Fleet II: Krellan Commander allows players to command a Krellan battlecruiser with small complement of escort vessels. Like Star Fleet I, Star Fleet II has an officer ranking system using some Roman style names. The sequel improved the graphic appeal, allowed for player to conqueror planets, take over enemy starships (commanding marines to go various levels of the ship) and so forth. The game was released with bugs and needed a patch to be completely operational. The DOS version of the game can now be found as freeware. Many of the freeware versions of the game are the original flawed game and not the patched version.

The game was designed and written by Trevor Sorensen, Mark Baldwin, and Dennis Lawler.

The game was reviewed in 1990 in Dragon #154 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. M. Evans Brooks of Computer Gaming World gave the game a mixed review, praising the rich gameplay but noting a number of bugs and other flaws marred the experience. Brooks also criticized the "primitive" ASCII graphics, slow load times between menus, and the need for a "Tutorial Disk and Training Manual" which was sold separately.