Last year I was surprised and very impressed by Star Trek. And now a year later we had a chance to see the latest progression of the game, which is still a year away from launch. In this 3D demo we see Kirk and Spock heading to the planet of New Vulcan. After the destruction of their planet the Vulcan have resettled but now they are under attack by a new threat and the duo must investigate.
Star Trek is very much a two player game and you can play it with a friend or with a computer player, but something tells me it’s much more fun with a friend. Both Kirk and Spock are unique in their abilities and tactics. Spock is more about laying back and strategy, plus besides his blaster his Tricorder is a much used tool. With the Tricorder he can control devices in the environment but it also is essential for the games investigative aspects. When in investigative mode the Tricorder reminded me of Batman Arkham City detective mode, highlighting enemies or showing which way you should be heading.
Now Kirk on the other hand is all about combat. He goes head on into battle and at times finds himself in a bad situation. For instance there was a large jump needing to be cleared, and Kirk just went for it fell short and was now hanging on by a pipe. Thankfully Spock was there and could close the bridge allowing Kirk to climb up. And tis was all user controlled choices, so kirk could have waited. Another neat thing we saw in the gameplay this year is the call-ins you can make to the Enterprise. At the end of the demo Kirk and Spock were getting over-run by Gorn, yeah the Gorn are back, Kirk was able to call up to Scotty and have him launch torpedos down to a marked area. Taking out the Gorn and the landing pad they were fighting on.
The graphics of the game has some nice things, lighting looked great and had lots of JJ Abrams light flares galore. There were still some rough spots like environment destruction was basic and the pieces unrealistically blocky. And the animation at times were very stiff. Kirk and Spock had a stiff almost post-horse-riding walk to them.
Star Trek The Game still has a year to go before launch so I see many improvements still to come, but it looks like the team has a great story that will bridge the two Star Trek movies, and some great co-op gameplay action already in place.
