While at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, I was invited to come over to Paramount Digital Entertainment’s meeting room for a sneak peek at two upcoming titles. These sneak peeks were both under NDA and, actually, I still cannot speak of the second title just yet. The first title, however, is now free to preview and you will know it as the upcoming Star Trek.
The game is focused on being a co-operative experience, and players will undoubtedly get two very different games by running through it as Kirk then Spock, or vice versa. Spock tends to be a bit more stealthy and agile whereas Kirk’s tactics focus on offensive actions. In terms of its storyline, the game will serve as a bridge of sorts between the 2009 Star Trek film from J.J. Abrams and his upcoming 2012 Trek film. It is being penned by BAFTA winning author, Marianne Krawczyk as well as the writers/producers of the 2009 Star Trek film: Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
The demo we saw began with Kirk and Spock hurtling towards the besieged Enterprise by way of portable thruster packs, all while avoiding mines encircling the ship. The sequence was very exciting and the Enterprise looked VERY good. Apparently, this is because the digital ship model used in the game is the same used by the film’s CGI folk! After crashing landing, the two began moving through the ship looking for survivors and and some kind of answer as to what has transpired while they were on an away mission.
As it turns out, the ship has been attacked and occupied by hostile, unknown aliens who can infect humans with a deadly toxin. The third-person combat and cover system looked really solid, with the two character’s play styles very apparent. In terms of character advancement, this is done primarily through the use of equipment and weapon upgrades. Kirk’s “Captain’s Phaser”, for example, can learn a vaporize heavy attack which can 1-shot many enemies into atoms.
At one point, Kirk became infected by the toxin and Spock had to carry him to sick bay to destroy the pathogens in Kirk’s bloodstream. This was a minigame of sorts, with Spock handling the carry and disease-killing duties while Kirk fired at incoming enemy troops. According to the developers, this kind of mini-game is dynamic and (for the most part) NOT a scripted event.
The overall feel of the game, characters, and dialogue definitely felt like it was pulled right from the Trek universe created by J.J. Abrams. It should be a very fun multiplayer/co-operative experience when it launches next year (hopefully) alongside the next film.
