We were happy to take part in the recent beta test of Cryptic Studios’ upcoming MMO, Star Trek Online, and wanted to make sure we give you our preliminary thoughts on the game prior to its February 2nd release date (Feb. 5th in Europe).
After getting the beta client up and running, and following a rather large patch, I jumped into creating my first character. The game’s user-interface and themes seem to have a lot in common with Champions Online, Cryptic’s other MMO in play currently. At the time we played in the beta, we were limited to creating a Starfleet character at first. Overall, the system is similar to the previously-mentioned Champions but far less flamboyant in your options… (cont.)
See the rest of our Star Trek Online preview, After the Break!
You can select uniform themes and colors, as well as customize your body shape slightly. It never gets too out-of-hand, although we were able to create a few aliens we thought Starfleet might have trouble replicating uniforms for.
Once character creation was completed, we were thrust into the game’s tutorial mission, which is actually a series of missions strung together that nicely teaches you the basics of both ground and space combat. My advice to you new players is to read what NPCs say to you very carefully. The journal where your mission information is stored can sometimes not be verbose enough and you might miss some important clues if you don’t pay attention while the task is being assigned to you.
The ground combat in Star Trek Online was fun – similar to Champions in terms of using weapons and abilities, but level designs seemed a lot better in the way of how they fit with the Star Trek cannon. It was really exciting to beam my away team down to an alien world for the first time in the middle of what we would call a violent dust storm (I know not what the planet’s natives call it – but I digress). The game makes good use of flanking and combat keeps you moving and seeking cover. Attacking an enemy’s side or rear will result in a lot of extra damage so you will find some real challenge in battle with the various types of things you will fight – be it a Gorn, Borg, or Orion Slave-Woman.
Your away team is made up of your bridge offers and other selected ‘red-shirts’, and you never really feel alone as the squad AI is fairly good in keeping to their respective roles. You will be able to recruit Tactical, Engineering, and Science offers to your crew, each with their own set of technical abilities. It is pretty cool to see your blue-shirted science officers running around in the heat of battle healing your team up – all on their own.
The real meat and potatoes of Star Trek Online will most-likely be the space combat. Like a slightly more ‘arcadey’ variant of the Starfleet Command combat system, you will have to maneuver your ships around constantly, making sure to use your shield and weapon arcs to their fullest. When you begin facing off against multiple aggressors with your friends at your side, things become very exciting – even sometimes rivaling the Borg space battle at the opening of Star Trek: First Contact in terms of ‘Oorah’-factor. Phasers and disruptors burn shields, torpedos slam into ship hulls… Life is good when it comes to Star Trek Online’s space combat system.
Outside of combat, exploring starbases and other various objects seems adequate in providing a place for players to socialize. It will also be nice to see if Cryptic is going to allow players to congregate on each others starships at some point. In fact, there are so many places Cryptic can take STO it will be very exciting to see where they leads us.
Still in beta, however, the game was displaying several bugs, the most annoying of which can be seen below. To preface, there are no official EVAs in Star Trek Online, yet this seems to happen a lot.
Again, this is still in beta, so hopefully all the issues will be corrected by time the game is released.
Overall, we had a lot of fun playing Star Trek Online and feel like it is definitely going to be worth picking up. Standby for our full review of the game after its launch!
Also, remember to weigh your pre-order options carefully – many retailers offer different bonus items!
