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Star Trek Online - 2010
Despite there being a wide variety of Star Trek games throughout the majority of both console and PC generations, Star Trek Online attempts to set a high standard, and furthermore, meet the demands of the rather-picky Trekkie community. STO was released earlier this year, and I've spent the last month or so playing through the game and am now at the halfway point of available ranking. Consider this a semi-review and discussion area. I am likely to assume that there are not many STO players on GTP, but I'd love to share information if there are people who are interested.
Set 30 years after the events of Nemesis, and after Spock entered the spacial anomaly that created the new Star Trek (2009) universe, the Federation finds itself in an increasingly hostile situation. The Kingons are acting out and on the move against the Federation, the Romulans are without a homeworld and are seeking revenge, and there are plenty of other mysterious forces at work behind the scenes... Let alone the Borg. An early attack on you and your ship places your character, a basic Ensign at the command of your own Starship. From then on, you are on your way to exploring the universe and the goodies that are contained within it.
** Full disclosure: While I do enjoy Star Trek, I'm not a hardcore Trekkie. I understand there are some issues with the story and the tech involved with the game, but I am not all that picky about it. Pashaw.
STO being an MMO, obviously you get to do the basic stuff that you see in any other game. Character creation is very deep, allowing you to customize nearly everything about the way in which your character looks within the major races that make up the Federation (Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Trill, etc), as well as some eventual choices that you can buy into later (Klingon and Ferengi so far). You can also create your own race entirely on your own, that is, if you care. I can't really fault the system, it allowed me to create a human character who looks surprisingly similar to myself. There is also a nifty tool that allows you to create your own uniforms, as you are not entirely locked in to the typical outfit as seen in Voyager or TNG. In the end, you are left with a choice of becoming a Tactical, Engineering or Science officer. That choice will dramatically alter the way in which you will be playing the game, and ultimately within each choice, you are able to specialize in multiple things. As a Science officer myself, I've chosen to deal more with the medical aspect of the game, healing my comrades when we fight together.
In addition to creating your avatar, you are able to customize your starship as well. At the beginning of the game you are handed a pretty basic Crusier-class starship, and you're able to switch out different parts between the three variants that exist within that class. You can change hull materials, lighting arrangements, paint jobs and colors, and even the style of bridge within the ship. As your rank increases, you are eventually able to choose from three different types of ship:
* Escort: The tanks of the sky. These bad mamajamas pack a lot of firepower and rather study hulls, obviously they are meant to obliterate anything in their path. Low crew capacity, however, can make things difficult in trying situations.
* Cruiser: These are your well-known ship variants, your Constitution class (original Trek), your Galaxy class (TNG), etc. Overall, the Cruisers offer a solid balance between firepower and protection, offering up the largest crew as well.
* Science: These are the secret gems, frankly. Although hull strength is much lower than that of an Escort or Cruiser, Science ships are able to pack in some rather hefty shield arrangements along with weapons that are a shade more powerful in the right circumstances. Fast, maneuverable... A solid choice when equipped properly.
Between the three ship classes, you are also given the opportunity to switch between bridge officers that offer various power-ups to increase your chances of winning in any battle. Obviously an Escort would play more heavily toward Tactical officers, Cruisers to Engineering, and Science to... Science. In my current ship (the USS Virgil), for example, I am allowed to have one Engineering officer, one Tactical, and two Science officers to aid me in my attacks. The number of attacks that each can perform are dependent on their rank as well.
The officer mechanic is an interesting addition to the game, acting much like your basic party mechanic in any other MMO. Those officer choices effect your performance both in space and on the ground, where specific offers that make up your away team are meant to perform specific duties. Currently I operate with two Tactical officers, one Engineering and one Science on my away missions. It offers a different balance any way you do it, and while you are able to switch out your officers when on the go, rarely do I change from that core group of people.
Its pretty important to point out that STO is essentially two different games, one in space, the other on the ground. Generally speaking, the ground game is like your typical MMO. Run around, shoot things until they die, collect your stuff, and move on. Things are shaken up through the ability to control each of your team members, switching out weapons and armor, as well as your personal kits (changing your overall abilities). Strategy is largely dependent upon your choice of an away team. While I have my own preferred style (big weapons, long-distance attacks), I've seen plenty of others who play entirely differently. Ground missions are generally pretty basic in form, asking you to find a specific piece of technology or attack a specific race that has infiltrated your general area, causing a problem. Out of everything, I would say that the ground game is the weakest point of STO. Granted, I have not played a wide variety of MMOs before, but this tends to be the general consensus.
Where the game typically shines is in the space exploration and space combat. Overall, this is what people like most about Trek, and this appears as the place where Cryptic spent most of their time working. Ships are well-detailed from all races and variants, combat is often an entirely different experience in every instance, requiring the player to change their tactics every time. All of that being said, space combat can be exceedingly frustrating when you're getting your ass handed to you. Walk into the wrong sector in space, get up against the wrong race and the wrong class, you're going to get your ass handed to you. Hard. Currently, the Romulans like to wipe the floor with me. But, that depends. Switching your weapons in and out, along with bridge officers, and other add-ons can radically alter the way in which your battle turns out. Shields, beam weapons, projectile weapons, specialty consoles, can turn any runabout into a bad-ass. You just have to have the right stuff.
Generally speaking, STO is a lot of fun when you're doing the right stuff at the right time. There are many points where I find the game way too tedious, sometimes far too difficult, and other times just downright mind-blowingly-awesome. One mission stands out in my mind, involving time travel, a special ship from the past, and heavy voice acting from Nimoy. The game is ishy for those who fell in love with WoW just a little too hard, pretty awesome for everyone else. I'd definitely recommend the game as a "Try It" thing, but I'm not sure if the $50 price tag (in the US) is totally worth it. With the significant amount of updates that have been included since I've started playing, the game has overall gotten better with time. Given more of that, I imagine it will grow further and further. I, however, am uncertain how long I'll be willing to shell out my $15 a month to play. But for now, it is a pretty reasonable time-sink. Give it a try if you're interested.
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Just a bit of a character profile: (Will update with more info, photos later)
Commander Brad Ijsseldijk
Race: Human
Birthplace: Earth, Europe
Class: Science Officer
Ships:
* USS Zinn: Miranda Class Cruiser
* USS Chompsky: Constitution Class Crusier
* USS Huxley: Aurora Class Science Vessel
* USS Virgil: Horizon Class Research Science Vessel
I'm going to try and see if I can't have someone get it for me for my birthday coming up.
