Star Trek: Klingon Academy puts you in the big, leather boots of a Klingon starship captain, and beneath the attractive Star Trek license, it's actually an enjoyable space combat sim.

The story takes place shortly before Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, chronicling the events that lead up to the battle between the Federation and the Klingons. A few familiar faces make an appearance, including Christopher Plummer as General Chang and David Warner as Chancellor Gorkon.

As a cadet in the academy, you will be taken through a variety of training missions, simulating a series of battles with the Federation, before being let loose in the real world. Apart from your combat skills, your honor and courage will be tested, as well. Occasionally you will have to make important decisions, like when to call for assistance and whether or not to destroy a civilian Federation shuttle.

The ships you command are large and unwieldy, and they handle accordingly. A huge amount of firepower is necessary to destroy a single vessel, but still, combat can sometimes feel more like a dogfight than a battle between capital ships. Enemies have a tendency to play 'chicken' by flying directly at you and if you don't maneuver out of the way fast enough, the resulting collision will do some serious damage, if not destroy your ship completely.

As the captain, besides actually steering the ship, which is done easily with either a joystick or the mouse, you will also be responsible for giving orders to the rest of the crew. The various stations, like Engineering, Targeting, and the Helm, are listed at the bottom of the screen and pressing their corresponding number keys brings up menus of commands. The system is easy to use, but can be a bit bulky, especially in the heat of battle, unless you memorize certain commands.

An interesting new element is the effect certain celestial objects, like planets and nebulae, have on your ship. When flying through a planetary ring, for example, micro-particles will disrupt your shields, but they will also reduce the effectiveness of sensors and tractor beams, making them a pretty good defensive hideout.

A great deal of effort obviously went in to capturing the look and feel of the Start Trek universe and it shows in the high quality graphics and sound. An operatic score sets the mood and the sound effects, from the warp drive to the photon torpedoes, are right on target. The voices are particularly impressive and the mission briefings with Christopher Plummer add drama to the game.

The graphics aren't the best seen in a space combat sim, but the backgrounds look good and the ships are bright and nicely detailed. The damage models are especially cool and it's nice to be able to blow chunks out of the enemy's hull and watch pieces of their ship fly off into space.

One major problem to be aware of is that the game crashes occasionally. This can be especially frustrating when it happens after completing one of the more difficult missions. Other than that, Klingon Academy runs fairly smoothly with only a few graphical stutters when the game is searching for a particular sound file.

All in all, Klingon Academy is sure to please gamers looking for a space combat sim with a twist. And any Star Trek fans who have been dying to crush those smarmy Federation jerks in a leather-clad fist will certainly get their money's worth.