New 'Trek' game boldly goes nowhere
Jonathan Atwood
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment
When Cryptic Studios announced that they were picking up the rights to produce a Star Trek online game, both Trek fans and massively-multiplayer online game fans took hope. After all, Cryptic had previously produced the successful MMOs "City of Villains" and "City of Heroes." Not exactly "World of Warcraft" killers, but competent handlers for one of the most beloved sci-fi franchises of all times. Unfortunately, if the open beta experience is any indicator, "Star Trek: Online" is going to miss the mark.
On the surface, "Trek" offers enough to entertain any Star Trek enthusiast: iconic ships from every series and movie, classic enemies like the Borg and the Klingons, and plenty of references to past Star Trek series. However, anyone who starts the game thinking that they'll soon be hopping around the galaxy in their own version of an Enterprise will get a rude awakening.
For one, the game is complicated, with a ton of elements to play with and upgrade, few of which are well explained, or even mentioned in the tutorial levels. The effort of learning how to make everything go is made even more difficult by the fact that you essentially have two sets of controls to learn.
Unfortunately, only part of your time is spent in space, boldly going wherever the latest quest giver has told you to go. The other half of your game time will be spent running around with your AI-controlled crew on some generic, slapped-together-looking planet shooting equally generic enemies, while fighting the idiotic AI more than the bad guys.
This is unfortunate, because the portions where you are actually in your starship are fairly entertaining. They're not exactly fast paced, but they're decently tactical, and you do end up feeling like a pretty competent captain. However, as previously mentioned, you had better enjoy the first ship you get stuck in because you will be there for at least 20 hours. The game requires you to go through an entire ten levels-and keep in mind; this is not "World of Warcraft" where the early levels go by quickly-before you even get a different ship. If you want an equivalent of the Enterprise from "The Next Generation" or the later Star Trek movies, expect to be spending at least a month getting there.
Add in constant server problems, long load times, a clunky peer-versus-peer system, and the fact that for an MMO, there is remarkably little multiplayer at all, it's very hard to justify paying $50 for "Trek," much less a $15 monthly fee. Normally, the server and loading problems could be excused by the fact that it's a beta, but with the game due out in February, this sort of thing should already be fixed.
"Trek" has potential-but not enough to excuse the cost. If the price drops-maybe. Otherwise, this game is for hardcore Star Trek fans only. If you want to boldly go where nowhere has gone before, go somewhere else.
On the surface, "Trek" offers enough to entertain any Star Trek enthusiast: iconic ships from every series and movie, classic enemies like the Borg and the Klingons, and plenty of references to past Star Trek series. However, anyone who starts the game thinking that they'll soon be hopping around the galaxy in their own version of an Enterprise will get a rude awakening.
For one, the game is complicated, with a ton of elements to play with and upgrade, few of which are well explained, or even mentioned in the tutorial levels. The effort of learning how to make everything go is made even more difficult by the fact that you essentially have two sets of controls to learn.
Unfortunately, only part of your time is spent in space, boldly going wherever the latest quest giver has told you to go. The other half of your game time will be spent running around with your AI-controlled crew on some generic, slapped-together-looking planet shooting equally generic enemies, while fighting the idiotic AI more than the bad guys.
This is unfortunate, because the portions where you are actually in your starship are fairly entertaining. They're not exactly fast paced, but they're decently tactical, and you do end up feeling like a pretty competent captain. However, as previously mentioned, you had better enjoy the first ship you get stuck in because you will be there for at least 20 hours. The game requires you to go through an entire ten levels-and keep in mind; this is not "World of Warcraft" where the early levels go by quickly-before you even get a different ship. If you want an equivalent of the Enterprise from "The Next Generation" or the later Star Trek movies, expect to be spending at least a month getting there.
Add in constant server problems, long load times, a clunky peer-versus-peer system, and the fact that for an MMO, there is remarkably little multiplayer at all, it's very hard to justify paying $50 for "Trek," much less a $15 monthly fee. Normally, the server and loading problems could be excused by the fact that it's a beta, but with the game due out in February, this sort of thing should already be fixed.
"Trek" has potential-but not enough to excuse the cost. If the price drops-maybe. Otherwise, this game is for hardcore Star Trek fans only. If you want to boldly go where nowhere has gone before, go somewhere else.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 4
JC
posted 1/29/10 @ 9:46 AM CST
Your main objection appears to be that the game is complex and has a "slow build" approach, rather than instant gratification.
Have you played a MMORPG before?
Flash Game Best
posted 2/19/10 @ 9:17 PM CST
Yeah i must say this game really wasnt anything that special. I dont know who came up with the idea, but seriously it sounded good before i played it. (Continued…)
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