I’ve been lucky enough to have access to the Open Beta of the up-coming Star Trek Online and while that means I get to play the game a couple of weeks early along with a load of other eager ner-fans it also means that we’ve got to put up with the massive amounts of problems the system has at the time. As such hopefully all the problems I mention should be worked out by the time it’s released but as it’s coming out in 2 weeks time Cryptic has a lot of work cut out for them. Also bare in mind that I’ve only played around 15 hours of the game, that is but a drop in the ocean in this game.

 

 

Star Trek Online seeks to boldly go where other Star Trek Game (that I’m aware of anyway) has gone before, give you the ability to control both ground forces and ships. While previous games like Star Trek Elite Force and Star Trek Legacy have attempted to do them separately, respectively, neither managed to shine and where quite poor. It’s a tall order for Cryptic to manage to make both of these section fun, then open it up for a MMO, allow players to rank up, trade and upgrade.

 

 

First up the Ship, when you start out you’ll be given command of your very own ship, a light cruiser, Centaur Class if that means anything to you. It’s surprisingly tough and you’re given the option to customise they look of the ship both in colour patterns and type of ship parts you have, for example you can choose between three different saucer sections but keep the nacelles the way they are. This type of customisation is welcome especially at the beginning when everybody is controlling the same ship. As you progress through the ranks you’ll be given the option to upgrade to the next class of ship, the Cruiser Class, this is where the game starts to spread into multiple options and paths, you can choose between exploration types, scientific types or more combat ready ships.

 

 

 

Ship controls are surprisingly good, use the Q and E buttons to control prolusion with the W and S buttons controlling the pitch and A and D is your turning functions. Shields are controller down the bottom, separated in four parts that lose power as you’re attacked, allowing you to move emergency power to the forward shields. Weapons are placed on the front and the back of the ship and each type of weapon has a different firing arc. So Starfleet Phasers have a 250 degree arc, photon torpedoes only have an 80 degree arc, so you have to position your ship in order to get the weapons firing. You don’t even need to go mad clicking all the time, you can set one weapon on the front and back to auto-fire allowing you just to control the secondary weapons.

 

 

As I mentioned your shield is separated in four parts, lose enough power to the shields and you’ll start to lose structural integrally. The aim then is to either get power to the failing section of the shields or turn your ship so another section is showing to the attacking enemies. The shield system works for everybody else too so if you’re attacking an enemy you’ve got to weaken its shields and then concentrate your attacks on the failing section in order to cause damage to the ship itself, at the same time you’re going to be attacked so it’s a balancing act between attacking and defence which works. Coupled with special commands from your Tactical Officer, your Chief Engineer and your local Spock, erm, Science Officer. Means quite a bit of tactics come into play when you go against the larger ships.

 

 

 

The only downside of the Ship sections is the amount of other players around at the time. When I first joined the fight we had to destroy a couple of Borg Cubes, there was so many other players at the time that before I got to the Borg Cube it was destroyed so I had to turn around and find the second cube, which was destroyed just before I got to it. So I had to go through the first wave of Borg Spheres just to get a couple of rounds into the cubes so I could continue. After which they told me how to travel faster than I was going...thanks guys. So at times there are way too many people and you just swamp the enemy which numbers (which is the only advantage they have), it’s not just the first section either but anywhere the fun missions are. Hopefully they’ll fix this and make the “rooms” capped at a smaller number. Other times however the opposite is true, you turn up at a system and you’re faced against four warships and a horde of smaller enemies, you bravely plough in and your shields are gone in an instant as every weapon is focused squarely at you. To complete this mission you either wait around for somebody to turn up or go leave the system and find somebody else that wants to do this section as well. Two players aren’t really enough as I discovered on one mission we did just manage to complete but it involved many, many re-spawns. Hopefully they’ll either come up with a way to allow those wanting to complete a certain mission to get other players to join rather than getting your message lost in the discussion box either that or adjust enemy levels to the number of players in the system. Oh and occasionally the camera will insist on focusing on something completely counterproductive, you’re attempting to attack something right in front of you and the camera spins off into space, presumably on something important, I don’t know what but something must be out there.

 

 

Okay onto the ground section, first things you can customise your character as well. You can choose between a range of species, Human, Vulcan, Betazoid, Andorian, Klingon, a couple others I’ve forgotten or you could create your own species. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, some seem better than others however, how often will you need resistance to poison for example? You can then choose what you’re going to specialise in Engineering, Science or Tactical, this affects the skills you can learn and the type of equipment you can equip. Then you can choose what group of intergalactic society you’re going to be on, Federation and Klingons where the only available in the Beta but many other species like Cardassian and Romulan will open up in the release. Each offer different ships, different equipment and different missions (although I suspect they’re quite similar).

 

 

Ground based control are as you expect and skills are assigned to the number buttons. You’ve got a personalised shield that recharges when but being attacked and a health bar. You can switch between two weapons of your choice and while you can set attacks on auto-fire as with ship battles it doesn’t seem to work and you will be clicking quite a bit, firing primary waiting for the secondary to charge up, using specialized attacks based on your equipment like throwing grenades means that quite a lot is going on. Most of the time you’ll be accompanied by your officers who bring they own specialised attacks and you can upgrade their weapons and armour as you go as well. There is a known issue of the away team not beaming down with you to the surface causing you to fight alone unless you can remember the command code /fillteamsquad I believe it is. Should be fixed in the final version.

 

 

 

What probably won’t be fixed is the camera, it’s just awful in cramped conditions, like those you would find in a Star Ship, enemies will frequently run behind you to attack and lack of a quick turnaround doesn’t help matters. Ground missions seem a strangely solo affair as well. Most of the time it’s just you and your away team, fighting off the Klingons or the Gorn as you run around beaming off people (couldn’t lock onto them from the ship Chief?), downloading data and other such random tasks. While at other times you will get other players appearing beside you to help secure the area, it’s a bit confusing what section is going to get what. Some of the missions are damn right dull too, this goes for ship and ground based. Escorting a ship from one ship of the map to another at low speeds where nothing happens isn’t fun, nor is searching a barren planet for rocks fun.

 

 

 

I almost forgot, there is a ranking system. As you progress through the game, defeat enemies and complete missions you’ll be rewarded with skill points. You then use these skill points on the various, well, skills. Upgrade enough and you’ll go up a rank. There are a number of ranks within a rank as well. So while there are only five ranks for you to go through up to Admiral you’ll also have to work your way through the lower ranks, say lieutenant 3rd Class, or 8th Class. As for upgrades for your ship, your crew and yourself, well I’ve only just scratched the surface but it looks like there 1000’s of items out there to make your ship perform just the way you want it to.

 

 

Overall I can say I’m very impressed with the game, the Ship sections are genuinely fun and after release any issues with it will be sorted out. The ground sections are pretty dull however, a poor man’s Mass effect pretty much sums up the experience and you’ll be thankful when you get make to searching the stars. I’m not sure of the final pricing system of the game but going of the Beta if you’re a Trekkie or enjoy MMO’s then give this game a look, there is a lot going on in it and the good far outweighs the bad.