Star Trek fans have been eagerly awaiting a brand new game based around their favorite franchise for quite some time. Over the years we have been privy to a great number games and most of them have been terrible. The last Star Trek game (Star Trek D-L-C) that followed quickly on the heels of the 2009 JJ Abrams film was a PSN and XBL exclusive game that largely sucked.
Is this new Trek game, a third person shooter from NAMCO/Bandi the answer to Trek fans collective prayers? Yes………and……no.
THE PRO’s ::
- Above Average Voice Acting
- Excellent Score/Soundtrack
- Solid Story
- Decent Cut Scenes
Much like any video game based around a film franchise the game makers will try to model the characters to look like the actors in the film and (if you are lucky get the actors to record a line or two of dialog). In NAMCO/Bandi’s Star Trek we get performances from everyone starting with Chris Pine and Zachary Qunito all the way down to Zoe Saldana, and Simon Pegg! And they actually put some effort into the game.
The makers of this game also acquired the help of Academy Award Winner Michael Giacchino (who scored both JJ Abrams Trek films). He fully scored the entire game with all new music and it is fantastic. Where the game design some times lacks in providing atmosphere the soundtrack makes up for it.
There is a decent story involving the Gorn. The Gorn are most famous for the infamously terrible TV battle with Jim Kirk in the Original Star Trek series, this game gives them some back story and expands on the species. The story itself is nothing special and isn't expansive like Mass Effect, in fact it is more akin to Arkham City just without all the superbness.
THE CON’S ::
- Co-Op is insanely glitchy
- Terribly uneven graphics
- Standard amount of bugs and glitches
- Uneven control response
I don’t play co-op very often although this game allows you to play in free standing co-op shoot ‘em up modes and it lets you play co-op through the story but there has been A LOT of negative response as far as the glitches in the online co-op goes.
The graphics are VERY uneven. At times the game looks pretty good with the main character models looking solid (cut scenes are usually fantastic) but often things look like PS2 quality or worse which is just unacceptable running on the PS3 hardware. Sometimes the set pieces are pretty sweet and look great other times it looks a little rushed.
Often times you will run into some bugs and glitches in the story but nothing game breaking. Your partners AI and the enemy AI is however……awful. And if you find yourself in a situation where you must keep moving or running you can up taking cover when you don’t want to (shades of Mass Effect sometimes).
VERDICT:
3 Geeky Glasses
I enjoyed playing the game but it wasn't the blow away game that some fans were expecting after so many years. It has its good moments and its bad. What it ultimately comes down to for you is how big of a Star Trek fan you are and how much graphics quality plays in to your enjoyment of a game.
