Space...the final frontier. These are the words every Star Trek fan knows by heart. And if you don't, that means you're lying. It didn't take me long to gain a small liking to this franchise, and though it took a while, it has become one of my favorite science fiction franchises of all time. From the series, to the films, to books, to comics, to board games, to ship models, I can proudly say I have a little bit of everything. However, being the big gamer that I am, for the longest time, I'd never owned a Star Trek video game. And honestly, that was for good reason. That's because a lot of the Star Trek video games...well...kinda suck. Like the recent 2013 game simply entitled "Star Trek" Which was based on the reboot franchise. Much love to that series, but that game was pretty bad. That's not to say that all Star Trek games are bad, I remember the Voyager arcade game that dominated most movie theater lobbies in the 90's, and I've been recommended games like Bridge Commander or Armada. Both of which I want to try, but lack the PC to do so. And for the longest time, the game we're going to be talking about was unavailable to me, despite how much I wanted to try it. But finally, it was released as a free to play on Xbox and Playstation, so of course I jumped on it. I was ready to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.
...And about fifteen minutes into the game I could list about fifteen things that would make this game insanely better. That's not to say the game is terrible. Far from it. But the overall gameplay at times can be underwhelming, linear, and far from Trek-like. And thus we do have yet to get that perfect Star Trek game, but it does need to be said that the blueprints for that perfect Star Trek game are here. It gets a lot right, but completely misses out on other things. The result can be a kind of frustrating mixed bag that still has its fun elements.
The first thing that immediately comes to mind that I love about this game is the setting. Unlike a good majority of fans, who prefer the Kirk era of Star Trek, I'm very much a guy who prefers later 24th Century Trek. I like Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. And I much prefer that era. Seeing this game go beyond the 24th Century, into the first decade of the 25th Century is a much welcome move for me. I was ready to see how the Romulan Empire dealt with the tragic destruction of Romulus, I was ready to see how the Federation and the rest of the galaxy was recovering from the devastating Dominion War, I was ready to see what kind of new threats perhaps awaited us in the stars. Unfortunetaly, very little of this comes to be. In fact, you quickly realize the marketing ploy behind this when you get a rather disappointing explanation as to what exactly is going on. The diplomatic relations between the Federation and Klingon Empire has fallen apart, and they're at war. I'd have been open to this, but the way they present it feels so very forced. All I can seem to gather is that some Klingon Ambassador felt that the Empire wasn't itself unless it was at war. I'm not joking, this seems to be the only motive. I highly doubt that the long-time relations between the Federation and Klingon Empire, which has had close calls before but has also been through thick and thin would go to war for such a simple reason. And if that wasn't enough, you also get to fight Romulans who want revenge for the loss of their homeworld, the Borg who are returning because...reasons, and the Dominion, which is building up its forces yet again. Do you see what I mean by marketing ploy? Instead of giving us anything new really, we're back to fighting pretty much each and every famous antagonist the Federation ever faced. There's no explanation of how the Dominion built up its forces, despite being completely dominated in the last stages of the war, there's no explanation of why the Borg are suddenly a threat again, despite being crippled in Voyager...it feels more like a gimmick.
You start this game off creating your ship captain using a rather disappointing character creator. While you're given plenty of options, the graphics of this game are nothing to marvel at and it's very hard to give your character a perfect look (for a 2010 game, it could look better). Features can stick out in all the wrong ways. For example, the beard my character sports really doesn't look like its a part of him at all. What disappointments there are in creating your character however are near completely forgotten when you get to customize your ship. Acquiring, customizing, and flying your ship is where this game really shines. While it needs to be said that certain classes of ships are rather hard to come by (more on this later), each ship you get can be customized in so many ways, and the graphics of the ships look absolutely gorgeous. And despite many classes of ships you can use being rather...outdated if you ask me (I have a feeling that in the 25th Century, the NX ships, Miranda Class, Constitution Class, and Excelsior class despite my love of this class would no longer be produced), you're given a decent amount of options to create the ship you want, in look, and performance. You'll start out with a Miranda class (if you go with the Federation), then as you level your character up, you'll unlock other ships, from smaller yet powerful escort ships, to the iconic cruisers, to science vessels. There is plenty of variety to choose from. You can rename your ships, select their bridge crew from personnel who give your ship different abilities, and this has become the main driving force of the game for me. I want to unlock more ships. And pilot them. And I find it very fun to come across other players, and to examine their ships. I love seeing what other Trekkies like myself have named their ships. But of course, you do have the other players, who obviously know nothing about Star Trek, or just don't care about the immersion factor. That's nothing against the game, it's just something I find silly to be warping through the depths of space, only to come across a ship known as the "USS Destroyer 420" or the "USS enterprice". Or to come upon a ship that's a member of "Fleet 69". Classy. Straight from the numerous lore archives of Memory Alpha itself.
Unfortunately certain ships you might wanna acquire are completely locked off. One ship I've yet to be able to acquire because I'm not a high enough level yet, is the Vesta Class starship, and even if I was at a high enough level, I doubt I'd be able to get it because to my understanding, the only way to acquire it is to buy Zen points with your own money. It needs to be said that microtransactions make their appearance in this game. They unlock certain ships, cosmetics of certain ships, bridge officers, clothing, you name it, they're in a lot of places, and what's really kinda angering is that most of the more powerful ships are locked behind these transactions. You can unlock the games signature Odyssey Class ship, but an even more powerful version of it is available for money. And these ships can run you up to twenty-five dollars or more! For one single ship! This is a bit of a slap in the face to me, but for a free to play MMORPG, my guess is they gotta pay their bills somehow. And I am thankful that they don't shove these microtranaactions in your face as other games do. So I kinda see this as a necessary evil in a way. Even if a bit dickish.
The story of this game is at times, incredibly linear. One thing I found incredibly hopeful at first only to be disappointed, was that you start off as an ensign, straight from the academy. This I like! I thought it would be cool to work your way up through the ranks to eventually gain command of the ship, but alas, this wasn't meant to be as the first mission has it. Your commanding officer is killed right off the bat and you pretty much gain your ship right then and there. I think it would have been pretty cool to work your way up, rather than just gain commanding status right away. Right off the bat, I found myself not really enjoying the ground missions. The planets you beam down to really aren't that open, the enemies you face aren't overly challenging, and the environments can be rather bland and dull. A lot of these mission maps serve as nothing more than for you to go from point A to point B. And you're not given a whole lot of options in solving a mission. There is no take suggestions from your fellow bridge members option, or attempt a solution yourself, it is one bridge officer or you have the solution at the ready, go execute said solution, and kill whoever stands in your way. Again. Very much like the lore of the franchise. This is where the game could have shone as a testament to what a true Star Trek game could have been like. While I understand that Starfleet holds to high moral codes, why is the dialogue system of this game so very...scripted? You're not given a whole lot of options. And even when the dialogue system does have multiple options, you'll always have a green highlighted option which will progress your mission forward. There is no right or wrong answer. You cannot develop a personality with your captain, it's been written for you. In other words, if I wanted to break immersion, and be just a complete jerk of a captain, I can't do that. I cannot in any way affect the diplomacy of this game, and Star Trek is practically centered on diplomacy. And while certain solutions can come up that are unique to your character's class (Tactical, Engineering, or Science), these so very rarely come up, that I can't help but wonder why they bothered including them in the first place. More work here could have been done to make this a more variable game, perhaps with an added element of cause and effect. Perhaps a wrong decision has a very negative impact on your mission? Or even relations with other factions? See where I'm going with this? Diplomacy in this manner might actually make for a very strong Star Trek game, rather than the shoot 'em up game we ended up with.
Gameplay on the ground is also rather stiff. I almost never aim down the sights because the aim is so very werky-jerky, and constantly locks onto members of my own team, and I have no easy way of switching to enemy targets. At times, it even switches when I don't want it to or tell it to. The weapons that you can have are pretty fun and varied. And capable of doing different effects. You don't really have to worry too much about aiming as a lot of these kinda just hit your target, but this isn't so much a complaint from me, because headshots and whatnot really don't matter too much in this game, and I actually like this aspect as it keeps very much to the Star Trek spirit. It's cool to know that your high intensity weapon can be just as deadly on the body as a head shot in your average Call of Duty game. While ground combat and gameplay can be disappointing, it is all forgotten when you're piloting your ship and engaging in ship to ship combat, because this is again, one of the coolest aspects of the game. Like ground combat, you don't have to worry too much about aiming, but this is again, very much in the Trek spirit. And you can still work to avoid the attacks of your enemies, and are very much focused on ways to deplete the shields of your enemies, whilst unleashing your full payload of photon torpedoes on your enemies. This is yet another aspect of the game that keeps me playing. I'm not confident enough to try and challenge other ships, but it needs to be said that when you're engaged in battles in which the ships are neck and neck and tearing each other up, it can be satisfying to walk away victorious.
Some Trekkies will appreciate the amount of nostalgia that is in this game. Many levels of this game come straight from elements or actual plots of other episodes. For me personally, this can get a bit confusing, or at times a little...too safe. I don't like spoiling things, but the very last level of the Klingon War story arc, you get to fight a planet killer. If you don't know what a planet killer is, it's an enemy from one of my favorite episodes of the Original Series, "The Doomsday Machine". I wouldn't mind this too much as fighting this mechanical horror is fun in a nostalgic way, but the take a lot of elements straight from the episode it's based off of. An ally you have in this straight up rams a shuttlecraft down the killer's maw and reveals to the player that the open maw is its weakness. Another example includes an altered timeline because the Enterprise-C was taken from its original timeline. You know...like the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" of The Next Generation, which features the same ship and plot. While each of these missions have their own take to the story, it cane be a bit of a head scratcher to me. Why just base missions off famous episodes of the franchise, instead of create something new? Because a lot of the original missions they have seem so very basic and not too rewarding. While I enjoy playing through these missions, and uncovering lore and background of this universe, a lot of it can be rather bland. But it does need to be said that there are a lot of very fun missions that aren't just based off episodes of the franchise. One of my favorite episodes revolved around my ship going back in time to stop a Klingon ship from destroying the original NCC-1701 Constitution Class USS Enterprise. This episode does kinda...well...feature the Guardian of Forever from the Original Series, but it does it in a very fun way. Hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice (he did do some voiceover work for this) as Spock, thanking my ship for the assistance made me smile. And later on when I'm confronting the Klingon who tried to destroy the Enterprise, they come back and assist me! This is a geek's dream come true.
However, there are times I feel this game isn't quite as polished as it should be. I've run into numerous bugs that while not entirely game-breaking, have been very annoying and frustrating. I had the hardest time passing one particular mission because during one segment in which I had to destroy a comet, I had numerous Klingon Ships warp in to attack me. And though I could engage them, after I'd destroy one, my weapons would just straight up refuse to fire. This wasn't anything like a weapons deactivation ability, my weapons didn't even have the option to fire. I'd get destroyed, respawn, I'd be able to fire, I'd destroy one Klingon ship, and then the bug would come right back. This was beyond frustrating. Eventually I had it so that I destroyed the comet before engaging any other Klingon ships and this worked. I haven't experienced a bug like that since, but you'll notice them in the game more often than not. I've also been frustrated when a certain action box or dialogue box will come up, and then shortly afterward, ANOTHER one will come up in front of it or behind it. And there's no way to exit out of some of these boxes. Sometimes you actually have to control your dialogue options of the box that's behind the other box. There's gotta be an easy fix for this...come on Arc. I also find it kinda silly that there is no ship collision damage. While we know better than to run directly into an asteroid while flying a ship, if you were to do it, there's no consequence. You'll just kinda harmlessly bounce off it in an awkward way, or even at times, ghost right through it. Maybe Starfleet perfected the Phase-cloaking? The same goes for other ships and planets. You cannot die by crashing your ship into anything which is in a way kinda understandable, but I feel some sort of consequence should have been added here. Another thing I need to mention is that the overall gameplay of your ships and whatnot isn't exactly explained the best. It took me at least ten to fifteen missions to realize that Bridge officers provided the numerous abilities for your ships, and even then I didn't know how to equip the ship with bridge officers. And I can't say I'm an expert there because I'm still learning how to recruit additional bridge officers and whatnot. I'm a Commander, level 29, and only have one additional bridge officer from recruitment. I'm unsure if this is the way it's meant to be or if I'm just missing something.
All in all, the blueprints for a good Star Trek game are here, and in some ways, the elements in this game are very well done. But as fun and satisfying as it can be, some things do just hold it back. I won't penalize it too much as it is free-to-play, and for the amount of game we're given, it can be quite impressive despite a few frustrations in learning, but once you pick it up, it can be a real treat, especially if you're into Star Trek as I am. Yeah the story doesn't really feel very much like a Trek type of story, but for what we have right now, there are a lot of things I have found fascinating in the game's lore, and overall story. It does hold to the spirit of discovery, even if you're not exactly out exploring the unknown, more than you are just fighting your enemies. The music, is nothing too special, but the opening theme I gotta say is pretty cool. And it does need to be said that there are times you will go off the path of your normal missions just to go and explore, and you will find things to do, that will keep you entertained, or come across just little things like a memorial where Romulus once was that make exploring a bit encouraged. It's not the perfect Star Trek game, but it's a really good first step to getting that perfect game we will one day have...hopefully.
I'm giving Star Trek Online a solid seven out of ten. If you're on the console Xbox One or Playstation 4, and have been wanting to try this game, we've final been given the opportunity, For a free to play game, I'm happy for the most part with what we got. Feel free to voice your opinions down below, and as always, thanks for reading.
Final Verdict: 7/10
