 Good game, great potential |
| Review Date: March 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Hotchkiss, |
Well, having played this game for upwards of 120 hours, I felt it was time to write a review. This game has great potential. In particular, I have been very impressed by the speed and ability of the developers to respond both with updates (engineering reports, release notes, and dev blogs) and in terms of fixing bugs. This is a developer that listens to their players (at least the ones who are constructive).
Potential, Needing Polish
The game definitely has rough edges and bugs at time of writing. If I were to compare and contrast with my experience in preceding MMOs, I'd say the bugs were not enormously game breaking in most cases. There's definitely some need for more variation in the content and improvements in key areas like NPC AI. However, overall it captures the feel of Star Trek - the uniforms, the ships, the environments, it all works pretty well. I have a list a mile long of things they could improve, but then I do in most MMOs, and unlike some, what the developers have indicated already shows that they are working hard to improve on most of those things. One big area they are working on right now is diplomacy, something very few other games ever even entertain (given the fairly vocal feedback that shooting things all the time doesn't really fit well with Federation policy); another is adding Klingon NPC content. If I were to be critical, I'd argue the game should have been given another six months of development before launching, as a lot of the bad press derives from beta bugs, inadequate initial server hardware, and unpolished content. My advice would be to try it and see whether it meets your desires, having received a bit more polishing up.
Technical Details
Graphically the game is fairly demanding; it follows the Bioware style of stylised realism, where what you see definitely doesn't look realistic (though it's not cartoony either), but you don't really end up caring. The engine is certainly capable of some very nice visuals, if you have the hardware to run it on. The sounds are all fairly well done; nothing seems enormously out of place for Star Trek, and indeed in some places you could close your eyes and imagine yourself on the set of the shows and movies. In terms of latency, ping, and other Internet-related phenomena, I play from the UK, the game is run on a single set of servers on the US East Coast and I can't say I've had a real problem with lag; indeed given that distance I've been very impressed when I compare to other MMOs.
MMO Style
The core design of the game isn't going to appeal to everyone - as various MMO developers have paraphrased over the years: "some will get this game, others won't" - it is mostly definitely a niche game as it stands. Given the relative success of some niche games e.g. EVE, this should not be misconstrued as unsuccessful or badly designed - it just may or may not appeal to your specific search for 'that MMO'. If I were to pick an MMO to compare to, it would be Guildwars; STO has fairly heavily instanced content. Typical teams can be of 5 people; fleet actions can contain up to 20 people.
This has upsides and downsides. The upsides are that no area tends to get too unplayable, either due to graphical lag or network lag, and there is none of the usual MMO rubbish of camping spawns waiting for your turn to kill 10 over-farmed boars. The downsides are that you need to actually have some social skills to develop contacts, and it's currently just that little bit too awkward to organise teams for cooperative play, though the game does offer an open team system for those wishing to just join up with others; that said, the community that I've observed at European play times is fairly mature and helpful by MMO standards. The sector maps are usually alive with traffic between solar systems, so in core gameplay systems you're unlikely to ever feel like there's nobody about. The instancing also helps with immersion - each mission experience is intended to give you that feel that you or your team are participating in a Star Trek episode of the shows.
Combat Gameplay
Right now, almost all the game consists of combat - there are some scanning missions but they are trivially simple; it is to be hoped that these will be expanded on, as a blind monkey could complete most of them.
Space combat is suitably impressive, following a Blizzard tenet of 'simple to grasp; difficult to master', particularly in PvP. The game is 2D with pitch up and down i.e. full 3D world with 2D concepts overlaid, much like EVE and other more general space games - those wishing for full six degrees of freedom will be disappointed, as testing showed that the majority of players just can't cope with it. As a person who works in CAD and is completely familiar and comfortable with games that do full 3D, on the one hand I'd liked to have had it, and on the other, I only occasionally notice the lack of it - ships with poor turn rates spiralling up to reach something directly above them is the most jarring aspect, but it's fairly easy to live with.
The simplistic aspects of the space combat form from the following principles: ships have 4 shield quadrants around their ship (again, the 2D nature means left, right, front, back, missing out dorsal or ventral). Taking fire reduces shields, with energy weapons playing the major role in reducing shields, and torpedoes generally aimed at massive hull damage once shields are down. The more complex aspects of space combat come from the plethora of bridge officer powers and choice of weapons, consoles, and other slotted items in your ship such as engines and deflector dishes. These offer heavy customisation to support your preferred gameplay, and observing those more capable in PvP than I, some players can pull off impressive feats. There's still a fair bit of balancing work to be done on some powers, but that is an ongoing exercise in any MMO.
Ground combat feels a bit clunky - it is worth considering however that very few games combine both space combat and ground combat, particularly in the MMO setting, so I have an element of tolerance for the fact that they had to develop two entirely different forms of gameplay and then merge them into a single coherent game. Part of the clunkiness is actually what every MMO suffers from - when players are used to singleplayer FPS games with smooth movements and instant responses, transitioning to the latency of an MMO coupled with more tolerant but slower controls takes a bit of getting used to. It's also more noticeable due to the setting, with rapid fire gun effects and so on, compared with hitting some NPC with an axe, or throwing a fireball. However another part is the current ground engine, and one can only hope this will improve with time.
Ground combat feels a bit more chaotic, because in space, all use of your ship's capabilities is at your command. On the ground, your bridge officers use their powers as they choose (unless you tell them not to) which can yield anything from satisfying heavy firefights to chaotic confused battles where you wonder what's going on. In deference to the desire of most players not to get killed/vapourised by the first shot, players and most NPCs are equipped with personal shields and more rapid healing effects than the shows. The remainder of the combat follows the same basic rules as space, with the change of 4 shields to a shield bar, and flanking damage if you're... well... flanked. Powers range from shield recharge & healing, to beaming in turrets, to manipulating forms of energy and other Star Trek-like effects to produce holds, crowd control, and so on. Vapourising only occurs if you combine specific effects to first Expose a weakness then Exploit it, which can yield some quite satisfying results. Weapons are nicely varied, both visually and in terms of effects.
All in all, the game holds promise. It would not take much to polish the existing content and add more variety, particularly in regards to non-combat which few games cover, and this game would have lasting good gameplay. If you have some social skills and can cope with instancing, then hopefully you'll find a capable, mature, and helpful community (your individual mileage may vary ;) |
Star Trek online
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Nicholas Montalvo, Georgia |
This game has proven to be worth the long wait.
I recommend it to all Star Trek enthusiasts.
The away teams could be a bit better but the ship battles are awesome!!! |
Boring, clunky UI and no Trek vibe at all. Read a lot before buying.
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Marty Watson, Near Roanoke Va. USA |
Complaint one. This game is based on the alternate history of the Federation which was established in the latest movie (which I hated). I should have thought of that. Assumption of something else is my mistake. The game has none of the long established atmosphere of star-fleet and no feel of any of the long history, wardrobes or weapons from past shows and movies.
Complaint two. Massively multi-player means something totally different to me. The game keeps local player counts low with several schemes that make the game experience frustrating. I am unimpressed with the online experience. I am very disappointed.
Complaint three. Was this game originally designed to be played on a PC? I thought it was but it is as clumsy to control as any "console ported to computer" game i have ever bought. This game was beta like forever and a day and this is what I get? I feel ripped off.
Complaint four. Why are the graphics so bad. I expected more modern standards. No eye candy here. Room based content with transitions keeping the action broken up. Mostly distracting and a generic rendering at best. Rip off.
This Trek fan is very disappointed and I'd love to have my money back. |
servers are ALWAYS overloaded
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| Review Date: March 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Pim Fortuyn, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
| buyer beware. i purchased this game last month and my first month is set to expire in a few days. i have attempted to play the game on at least ten occassions and only twice was i able to. star trek online has recieved a much larger response than they anticipated so the servers are always overloaded. sometimes it won't even let you logon, other times you can log in but after it loads you are unable to move and the screen flashes "server not responding". i contacted their billing department to see if they'd extend my membership another month to compensate in the only fashion allowed via placing a "ticket" and i still haven't recieved a response and its been well over a week. |
Worth putting up with the warts if you're a fan
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| Review Date: March 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Paul, outside Chicago, IL, USA |
Yeah, there are problems. As MMORPGs go, they clearly don't have the development budget of Aion, much less World of Warcraft. There's a certain amount of repetitiveness, and the way everything is instanced (even starbases [this game's equivalent of towns]) makes the game feel a heck of a lot less populated than it is. Plus, there's not much endgame to speak of. Many parts of the game are simply underdeveloped (Vulcan has only a small area with nothing to do, the Andorian homeworld is clearly intended to be a place for players to duel but right now you can't).
The game has attracted a lot of people who don't normally play MMORPGs, so you end up in a lot of pickup groups with people who don't quite understand what's going on (e.g. they're still sitting at the spawn point reading the mission log while everyone else is racing from objective to objective, or go AFK with no warning).
The Klingons are a playable race, but are sorely underdeveloped. There's no PvE to speak of, so about all Klingons can do is PvP. The less said about the crafting system, the better.
There are two parts to the game: starship combat and ground combat. The starship part of the game is fun as heck and it feels epic in a way that regular combat in fantasy MMORPGs don't, probably because you know that there are supposedly hundreds of crew in each ship. It is oft noted that the ground combat is a bit anemic and it is, but I still like it. When I tried EVE Online, I kept wishing for something just like STO's ground combat system just to keep the starship combat from getting dull, and STO's ground combat does exactly that. Also, it's nice having a humanoid avatar instead of just a ship representing you in game once in a while.
Unlike most MMORPGs these days, STO has player housing... of sorts. Every player has a bridge on every ship and you can invite other players to your bridge, so it functions much like a house would in some other games. You can't really DO anything in your bridge except be there, but that's how I remember housing being in other games. It's a private space to be with your friends, or perhaps a place you can roleplay without being interrupted by non-RP people.
Overall, I still like it for one simple reason: this is the first game since Final Unity to make me feel like I am IN the Star Trek universe. You can visit Wolf 359. There's not much to do but fly through the endless debris of destroyed Federation ships, but at least it's THERE. Sure, there are no recognizable characters at Deep Space Nine, but it's THERE (the theme music from the show even plays as you approach the station!). You can fly the iconic ships from the show (well, ships of the same class, anyway). The ship combat makes the trekkie in me feel like I'm in one of those spaceship battles from one of the shows, as do the ground missions.
Oh, and largish group PvE (called fleet action in the game) has been an absolute blast, at least for me. Most of the objectives are still completable even if a lot of your group is running around in random directions doing random things because they didn't bother to read the mission log (Crystalline Entity encounter is the main exception to this), yet my pulse still races when a mob eats away my shields and starts pounding on my hull.
So if you're a trekkie/trekker, then definitely check out this game. If you're a MMORPG fan but not a fan of the shows, think twice before buying. |
Star Trek Online
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| Review Date: March 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: T. Barnard, |
I love Star Trek. I've played many space games especially online MMORPG's. This game is poorly produced. It seems unfinished. The ground missions are not well thought out or designed. They pretty much are eliminate bad guys in one area, move to next area and eliminate another group of bad guys. The space battles are better, but fairly short.
The graphics are substandard especially compared with other online space games like EVE-ONLINE. The economy is poor. Exploration doesn't really work. The game world is really small once you start moving around in it. After playing this game for a week, you will become bored very quickly. There are only a few different type of quests, and they aren't very compelling. I would pass on this game, even if you like Star Trek. If you really want to try it, get a free pass, that should be enough to convince you not to buy it. |
A must-buy for Trekkies and scifi fans
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| Review Date: March 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Simon Zaleski, |
While this MMO is far from perfect, I feel that it has lived up to my expectations and is a must-have for serious Star Trek fans. Unlike the Abrams movie, this MMO actually allows you to continue on in the world of Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, et al as we know it. It takes into account the effects of the latest movie on the "prime" timeline and allows you to be a part of the continuing story of the Federation and all of its allies and adversaries...or play as a member of the Klingon Empire, once again at war with Starfleet. You get to captain you own ship(s) and engage in all sorts of space and ground missions, and have a lot of flexibility in how you want to level up and develop your character and ships. You could be essentially an explorer, or fight other players, or provide security, or whatever you choose thanks to the many mission options available to you and the many ways you can set up your bridge crew and equip your ships and officers.
Other reviewers have given very good guides as to what this game is like, so I will defer to their reviews when it comes to gameplay and just tell you that despite its flaws (and the game IS constantly being updated and patched) the combat system is engaging, the customization options are wonderful and varied, and the game succeeds in "feeling" like Star Trek. With the future of the franchise in doubt now that it seems Abrams & Co. are intent on creating their own timeline in which Trek as we know it will never have happened (except for the Enterprise series, I suppose) this MMO is a welcome relief. |
To Boldly Go Where No One Would Want to Go
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| Review Date: March 8, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Brad Williams, Portland, OR USA |
OK, the truth is that my driver was outdated and required the purchase of a new one to even play this game for the full effect.
That being said, I felt the game play was inadequate, the story lines weak and the interaction was barely enough to keep even a die hard Sci-fi fan like myself interested.
So, after waiting for 6 years in production, I sold this game after about a week of playing it every day.
What is the deal with Star Trek and no one being able to really and truly get it? I thought this would be the answer and I was wrong.
City of Heroes is a thousand times better. Will most likely go back to that. |
A Shallow, Boring MMO.
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| Review Date: March 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jeremy Burks, Philadelphia, PA USA |
Short version: It has nice graphics, but... all you do is fly around in space and blow things up, then land on a planet and shoot humanoids, leave, wash, rinse, repeat.
Well, what can be said? Unfortunately, nothing much good. The graphics are nice, but that's probably because all of the artwork was done before Cryptic got their hands on this game and ruined it. That's right, the first company that was working on this game went bankrupt and handed over all the artwork to Cryptic, for some reason. They did not, however, hand over their game engine. It is rather obvious and confusing, because a new player would think, "How can this game be so pretty and suck so bad?" Well, now you know.
Let's start with the game play itself. After the tutorial, which strangely enough has the Borg as your first opponents, you end up as the commander of the vessel you were serving on (despite your actual rank, which should be Lt. by now). You pick up some quests from the star base orbiting earth, then you fly out--very slowly--to whatever system you are sent to. You'll be lucky to know where that is at some point and will find yourself asking questions in chat. You enter the system, and either a) scan something floating out in space, whether it is wreckage, an asteroid, or an anomaly; b) blow up some enemy ships who either don't like you being there, or who are picking on some defenseless ship or science lab; or c) beam down to the planet to scan for anomalies or shoot enemies. That's it. That's all you do in this game, more or less. It is the same thing with very little variation, over and over and over. Aside from these story missions, there are patrol missions which function in almost the same way. There are also exploration missions that, you guessed it, function in almost the same way. You fly to a system, scan outer space, blow up ships, land, scan for whatever, shoot enemies, beam up, take off, wash, rinse, and repeat.
There is a real lack of interesting things to do in this game, but even less encouraging is the sloppy "Level Up" system. You gain skill points from blowing things up and completing missions, but you must spend these points to gain in rank. You start off as an ensign, and there are 10 grades to progress through to reach Lieutenant. Then there's Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, then finally Admiral. The problem with this? You probably won't have a clue which skills to put points into, as the context and information you get while mousing over these is anything BUT informative. And at the moment there is no option to re-spec, so you are stuck with whatever mistakes you make.
The PvP aspect of this game is pretty lame, as well. It seems Cryptic decided to steal WoW's Battleground Queue. You can queue up, then appear in space or on the ground against the Klingon Empire (you can make a Klingon once you reach Lt. Commander, grade 7, I think). But it seems that the system does not care about fairness, as it will start a PvP match with 1 vs 5. If you thought being raped by a rogue was bad, you haven't seen anything yet. But the funniest part about PvP is? You get money (something you don't get from any missions), experience, and everything you get from a regular mission aside from rewards, plus badges you can spend on high-end equipment. Whether you win OR lose, you get this. You can practically level all the way to the top just by queuing up for PvP, and many prefer to do this simply because a) it's less boring, believe it or not, and b) Klingons have no choice BUT to PvP, because it's the only way they can advance.
After about a week of playing this game I am completely sick of it. Frankly, Cryptic would have to pay ME to continue playing this boring game. |
Star trek... NEEDS MORE WORK
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| Review Date: March 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Roberta Karl, Boise, Id USA |
| needs more content.. especially in Klingons.. all ther is is repeatable PVP quests.. BLEAH!!! im sick of it already :( |
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