Star Trek Online Review

Conclusions

The gameworld itself it suitably massive. The galaxy is broken down into sector blocks, each of which has several sub-areas to explore.

You navigate the galaxy map in what is essentially warp speed, travelling to instanced iterations of solar systems, nebulae and enemy contact points. If people are in the same neck of the cosmos and enter certain points at certain times then a few captains might get bundled together, which brings some welcome group play to the mix – something the game is lacking elsewhere.

Quests are gained by hailing incoming signals from NPC officers that let you choose your missions and you can go off from there. It beats running around finding people with grammar hats, though there is a small element of that too.

Using the galaxy map, Starfleet communications and just about every other element of the intricately constructed interface is very intuitive. We could sit here and write an entire page about how comprehensive and customisable it is, but instead, we’re just going to say that it’s the best MMO interface we’ve seen in a long while.


One of the largest issues facing MMORPGs these days though is that the quests are a monotony of ‘go here and do this and we’ll give you a wheel of cheese’. The fact is that this formula is difficult to break away from. Star Trek has done a decent job of doing so, partially because of the diversity brought to the table by ground missions and ship to ship combat.

The grind is also alleviated by the travelling system though. Having warp engines means that you can easily shoot around from location to location, where you can find different sections of a quest that involve different tasks.

One problem with this at the moment is that it seems that the developers have overstretched their coding abilities with this sort of area-linking and sometimes your mission progress can be suddenly lost and you have to start over. For some of the big missions that involve a lot of time and a lot of rewards, this is particularly infuriating. If this proves an insurmountable problem with the game that isn’t fixed quickly then the longer quests definitely need swapping out for shorter tasks.

The game is well paced in terms of levelling though and it took us around 25 hours of play before we were able to pilot a new ship. This makes achievements feel truly earned, while choosing ships to complement your character is a great customisation option. Vessels also look progressively more awesome as you work your way through the game too, though you’ll have to pay dearly for them after the first one.


Unfortunately though, the sense of achievement comes mainly from perseverance, rather than actual accomplishment. MMO fans would do well to get a group together and power-grind through the early sections of the game because, try though Stark Trek does, it does get samey eventually. The game lacks the charm and vibrancy of other, more popular MMOs and the world feels a bit sterile at times.

It’s not aided by the fact the game is so easy either. You barely have to develop things at all if you don’t want and can easily breeze through much of the game Sulu solo. That’s a shame, because the reality is that the game is far better played with a group and taking a team of four allies into a large ship battle can be incredibly enjoyable.

The fact that we have to give some hints on how to best spend your first 10 levels in Star Trek Online gives away the fact that it gets a little boring mooching around, doing the quests and reading the dialogue though. The customisation options may be deep, the combat may be fierce – but this is still an MMO like any other. Judging from the discussions we had with other players, it’s also an undernourished one that power-players can burn through all too quickly.

Star Trek Online isn’t the mythical WoW-killer that everyone has been expecting, but nor is it a totally awful game. Parts of it are quite good in fact and, assuming the content gets expanded in the future to cater to skilled players, there’s a lot here to keep fans interested. It’s just a shame that the game doesn’t do enough to stand out in the crowded MMO genre, because having a geeky license isn’t enough to ensure success anymore.

Score Guide