With the new Trek film coming soon, my anticipation for this game has been high. The story – which bridges the original JJ Abrams Star Trek movie with his upcoming sequel – is officially part of the new Trek canon. That means this game is officially part of the movie continuity. That alone made it worth checking out for me.
“Well,” you say, “that’s all good and fine, but is the game any good?”
In a word…
Kinda.
There’s plenty for a fan of Abrams’ Star Trek to love. The story is part of the official canon, the actors from the films (most notably, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto) provided the voice work and Michael Giacchino provided the soundtrack. That alone made it a worthwhile adventure for me.
The game’s villains are the Gorn, which is infinitely cool for Star Trek fans. As far as the story goes, it’s a fun tale, although it does have some similarities to Wrath of Khan (the “Helios” device is pretty much the “Genesis” device, from a plot perspective).
It’s obvious the creators wanted this to feel like the Abrams interpretation of the Star Trek universe. For the most part, I think they succeeded admirably.
So yeah… as a Star Trek experience, it works. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
So how does it play as a game?
Honestly, if it weren’t Star Trek, I’m not sure it would have kept my interest.
The graphics aren’t overly impressive, certainly not matching the beauty of games like Dead Space or Bioshock. The gameplay is basically a standard cover shooter mixed with elements of (very mild) exploration and a few mini-games.
The game is clearly designed to be a two-player experience. If you’re playing it alone, your partner’s AI can get a little… frustrating. I played as Kirk, which meant Spock was my computer-controlled partner. He did his job, I suppose, but the entire time I felt like the game would have been much better with a human player controlling him.
All in all, the game was fun for me, but that’s almost entirely because it’s Star Trek. If you’re a fan and you really want a new Trek fix, this game provides it pretty well. I definitely had moments where my inner nerd was happy.
However, if you’re not a Trekkie (Trekker?), you’re probably better off getting Injustice: Gods Among Us (review coming soon!) or Bioshock: Infinite.
At the end of the day, I had a lot of fun playing this game, which is really all that matters. I’d rate it a 7 out of 10. That said, if it weren’t Trek (with the actors’ voices, the movie’s score, and a good story), that number would likely have dropped to a 6.
Yeah, I’m a tool. I admit it.
Shut up.
–Brandon
If this wasn’t enough information, you can check out Brandon’s other review of Star Trek: The Video Game over on his site, Books From Hale.
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