Star Trek: Online (PC) Review

Brutal Gamer’s review of Star Trek Online.

From 1966, to the present day, Star Trek has been a very important part of the SciFi world. The whole universe in which it was set, was so groundbreaking, imaginative and ahead of its time that even today people are hard pressed to turn on there TV and not see some reference to Gene Roddenberrys utopian prophecy for the future, and as such Star Trek has accumulated a tens of thousands strong Army of cult followers, with regular Cosplay and Conventions dotted throughout the world.

As you can imagine, any ambitious game developer can see an almost  endless Sea of potential here, and a great  many have tried and ultimately failed to climb into the sleek, uniformed boots that the “Trekkies” and “Trekkers” demand be worn by those wishing to capitalize on there sacred world. Cryptic are the latest developers to brave the harsh critique of this cult, and wielding a significant amount of  MMO expertise from their previous titles, City of Hero’s/Villains as well as Champions Online they’ve made a brave step into the dark abyss to invest in ST:O, and were all about to find out if that step lands them into great success, or imminent failure.

The game begins by throwing the players straight into some tutorial-style action. This humble beginning marks the start of what is to become an adventure  that is unarguably epic in scale. Cryptic stated that they wanted ST:O to be the first Star Trek game to, “appear on a truly massive scale.” And as the tutorial progresses and you find yourself in command of the “smallest” starship you instantly become spatially aware that you are most definitely in space, and it is Big. You learn basic flight controls by flying a few kilometers around an area, in what is a very simple and user friendly environment. It deserves mentioning that the tutorial doesn’t actually feel that much like the usual patronizing,  “Look up, look down. WELL DONE!” routine that too many games opt for. This beginning, while not very challenging, really does give players just the right amount of information to be competent, and leaves plenty of room for the more hardcore players to start planning some basic tactics, and opens a door for  those Trekkies and storyline lovers to begin guessing towards the plot, but more on that later.

Now I know what many of you are probably thinking, and to be honest I don’t blame you.  Not just because  this is a unashamed  TV show to Game port, but its Star Trek… Which has an un-denyable reputation and enough reputation based stigma to shy away some of the most open minded of gamers, and has aquired this reputation that the Star Trek world is for only the most hardcore geeks, who wear uniforms to bed and can count to 50 in Klingon or some other sort of strange alien tongue. I could go on for a while about all the different things that spring to mind when people mention ST, but once your past all that I feel its my duty to give credit where its due. Cryptic really have made a game for everyone here, its not the intimidating mass of people playing the game wearing a star-fleet badge that you might have come to expect, but actually a rather welcoming game that has taken an entire library of TV history, and built upon it a game that is as much for the cult-ignorant masses as it is for the die-hard loyalists who can all be found conjugating together on Cryptics very friendly and large community forums, criticizing and praising the different aspects of “canoness” while all enjoying the same, something-for-everyone game.

The main stoyline, is followed and enjoyed by progressing through different “Episodes” which unlock as your rank increases and title allowes. The episodes are where the bulk of the plot line lay, and it is abundantly clear very early into the game that Cryptic have invested alot of time and effort into creating a believable and cannon storyline. make no mistake, the story of this game really does span the light years (yep, its that big) that the game’s setting covers, and if Cryptic are to be believed, then the already vast world should be regularly expanding into new and unexplored territory to help keep things interesting. Unfortunately though, this game definitely does have its faults that need to be fixed first, and though these are far from serious enough to prevent the game from being enjoyable, they can also at times take away from your overall game experience and should be a higher priority than adding new content.

A few of these little issues for example, can and did become obvious from the go. Graphics are far from ground breaking, and the engine the game is built upon is definitely showing its age. We can all ignore graphics to a degree, but when your head to head with a strong, melee based Klingon warrior, you feel no less afraid than you would the softest and most limp armed of enemy’s. Plain and detail-less opponents make for an un-imposing nemesis.

Another of these little issues is the difficulty. Many people have been complaining about how easy the game can feel. Being a bad ass Rambo is all well and good in Halo, or even in other MMORPG’s like World of Warcraft. But the point is that those games are centred around a world of hero’s, where One warrior takes on the world. This 1 vs 100 attitude contrasts with the whole “unity and togetherness” and teamwork promotion that the Star Trek world really is about and though its not a serious complaint this experience can also sometimes take away from the overall enjoyment of the game.

Beside all of this, I feel I should stop rambling and draw this review to a conclusion by adding  just a couple more  little things, and mentioning a few things that really must be said. I’m admittedly a fan of this game, and i DO actually like Star Trek. But unfortunately you can’t talk about this game without mentioning the cost, £9 a month is, though fair and an average price now, makes you have to think hard and consider what your actually going to be getting for your money. This is a new game, and with that comes the inevitable server problems, bug squashing random crashes and all those things you’ve repressed from other pre-update “new title” experiences. On a tight budget. In short, if your an MMORPG fan, think about it, Star trek fan? Try it. MMORPG and Star Trek fan? You’ll love this. To be honest, its even worth a go if you want to just play something in between your World of Warcraft phases, which in truth could actually be considered an achievement given World of Warcraft’s popularity.

Final Thoughts

All in all this is a generally good game which, though undoubtedly has a few issues that really need to be patched or settled, is not actually a bad title, but rather the perfect description of a “try-before-buy” game that you really need to play to understand. Not bad, but not brilliant… Which isn’t always a bad thing, but you cant help feeling this game has probably been cut short, and made to be “safe” rather than ground breaking.

You can really tell they didn’t want to risk anything, but unfortunately it leaves you asking yourself whether or not there’s anything special to be found either.

No related posts.

Images