The biggest problem with Armada's gameplay is that the more cataclysmic the battle, the more difficult it is to control one's ships. While many ships have special weapons, and boarding parties can be used to capture enemy ships, large battles tend to devolve into a mass of intermingled craft where it's difficult to tell which of your ships is shooting at whom. Under such circumstances it is almost impossible to properly manipulate individual ships' special weapons with any degree of efficiency.
What makes Armada so attractive is that it's so … attractive. Aesthetically, it would be difficult to think of a game that plays to its subject's strength so effectively. The game is all about being involved in the Star Trek universe in a way that all the "interactive movies" shoveled out in past years can only dream about. Armada gives you the chance to trade phaser shots with the Klingons, bombard the Borg with photon torpedoes, get assimilated, and do it all while awash in a mesmerizing sea of lights, colors, and authentic Star Trek ships and sounds.
The graphical presentation is obviously the centerpiece of the game, and Armada is like a sophisticated date: it knows its strengths and exactly what to do to make you notice them. Armada's short skirt and tight blouse are the Cinematic View and the Director's Cut. Located on the interface taskbar below the main viewing area is a small window which can be expanded to fill the screen. During play (whether minimized or not) this Cinematic View acts as a movie-like rendering of the in-game action. When in this cinematic mode, the camera can be maneuvered to give provide almost unlimited perspectives from which to view the game. Like the similar feature in Force Commander, however, the Cinematic View is of limited utility because controlling one's units while looking at a small part of the screen from close range is very difficult.
The Director's Cut feature is more of a graphical enhancement than a separate tool: when turned on, ships in combat will engage in "dogfighting" maneuvers rather than just sit still. This is an interesting effect, although it makes ships difficult to select. Taken together, these features can make Armada seem like a well-choreographed space combat demonstrator rather than a game.
