I’m a lifelong Trekkie and anyone who doesn’t believe me is invited to watch The Wrath of Khan with me while I recite every line by memory. I’ve gone to the cons. I’ve adorned a Starfleet Uniform. I can even recite Hamlet in Klingonese. So you can imagine my excitement when Star Trek Online was first announced and my utter disappointment after spending a month with the game.

But that doesn’t mean that everything in Star Trek Online is bad. In fact, several things are done very well while others are simply unfinished.

Star Trek Online takes place in the year 2409 of the Prime Timeline, not the alternate timeline created for the 2009 reboot. This puts it 22 years after the destruction of Romulus and 30 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis. Without going into details, the Klingon and Federation Alliance has dissolved and there is now open warfare between the two factions. To make matters worse the Borg have returned. How all this will ultimately play out is anyone’s guess, but it makes for good cannon fodder.

Character and Ship Customization

Like most other MMOs, Star Trek Online begins with you creating your character. This is easily the best aspect of the game, as the character creation mechanic is easily the deepest in almost any video game, MMO or otherwise. You have several established alien races to choose from but if none of them meet to your liking you can just as easily create your own alien race. This is where the creator truly shines as you are given almost limitless options to customize your alien.

You’ll also have the opportunity to customize your own uniform, though the options here are far less in numbers. Understandable, considering that having people running around in hot pink uniforms with neon green hotpants would just be stupid.

Starship customization is also well done. Rather than designing your own ship, though, you select from several starship options that all fall into a particular category. This way each vessel can look unique while still carrying the same basic design shape of a particular class. Additionally, you have a few options for customized paint jobs which are nifty for yourself, but for the most part aren’t noticeable on other ships.

You also have the ability to customize your starship’s bridge, which you can then enter and run around in. While it’s definitely a cool idea and I can see several uses for this in the future, as it stands the bridge has zero reason for existing apart from the initial “cool” factor that quickly wains.

Exploration, Or Lack Thereof

If you’re not aware, Star Trek is based largely on exploration. Naturally, you’d think Star Trek Online would have a refined, well designed exploration mechanic. Sadly, you would be so, so very wrong.

Unlike other MMOs, which has everything existing in a single big ass world, Star Trek Online is broken up into bite-sized chunks. While it sounds like a good idea in theory, in practice all it does is rip you out of the game with a loading screen. While slightly annoying, it would be forgivable if not for the fact that in every sector block there are solar systems — all of which require loading screens.

We’re not talking about quick loads, either. We’re talking about old school loading screens — the kind where you could go to the bathroom, grab a can of cola and come back to still find the damn thing loading.

Apart from the technical issues, the exploration itself is a joke. There are only a few “uncharted” areas in the game, each of which have randomly spawning systems to explore or anomalies to scan. The reason why this exploration fails is because A.) The missions are in no way different than they are in the rest of the game. B.) Once you’ve visited a planet, you have no way of returning.

That’s right. Once you’ve visited a planet and completed a mission you have no way of going back to that planet unless another mission is based there. In fact, there are only a few planets and space stations you can visit regularly, including Vulcan, Risa, Qo’nos and Deep Space Nine. Strangely enough, Earth isn’t explorable, though the spacedock in orbit of Earth is a major hub.

This is a damn shame when you realize that each and every planet you visit is gorgeous in one form or another. Even Vulcan, which is notorious amongst Trekkies for looking like ass, is pretty to run around and explore. So… why can’t we explore these “unexplored” worlds more? And moreover, how come we’re only given a small section of the planet in which we can explore? It’s like the first Mass Effect where we have all these worlds but only given a small patch of land to run around and, you know, explore. How come that during explore missions we can’t even be allowed to explore the whole planet? I shouldn’t be able to run from one side of the explorable area to another in under two minutes.

Damn I say “explore” a lot.

Missions, Combat and PvP

You get to take part in both space and ground combat and is quite simple — which is good, since 85% of the missions, referred to as “episodes”, involve little more than you moving from point A to point B while going pew pew on anything that isn’t wearing a Starfleet uniform. The other 15% are divided between talking to a bunch of people to get answers for an arbitrary and pointless quiz, and running around an uninhabited area of land scanning plants or ship wreckage.

Space missions are about the same, though it’s more 60/40 Combat vs. Scanning. You’ll also have the occasional space mission where you’ll be asked to deliver a bunch of resources (Medical Supplies, for instance) to a planet. These missions are found primarily on exploring missions and are generated randomly, but if you get two of them during one exploration mission it can actually cost you more to finish these missions than it would for you to quit.

The combat is also simple. Too simple. The ground combat boils down to little more than pressing “C” to crouch and then striking the “1″ button until your enemy is dead. Your other number buttons allow for special attacks, but rarely will you need them. Space combat can be summed up in two words:

You can set only a certain number of weapons to auto-fire, but apart from that you’ll find yourself striking the damn spacebar more than any other key in the game.

I also noticed something of a balancing issue. Enemies drop almost entirely too easily. In ground missions you can dispatch several waves of enemies at one time without any kind of help apart from your away team. In space missions, unless the enemy vessel is several levels higher than you (or a D’deridex-class Warbird), you’ll often find yourself tearing through them with only a few phaser blasts and a handful of torpedoes.

This isn’t to say that the combat mechanics are bad. They actually work quite well and are easy to pick up and use without much acclimation. The trade off for simple controls is that the game can get painfully boring after a few hours.

Should you die (and you will die), your only penalty is waiting fifteen seconds for a respawn. That’s it. No damage to your gear, no having to run through any kind of spirit realm to find your corpse, nothing. It’s a joke.

The Player-vs-Player is pretty good in small chunks, though (and this is a personal gripe) the overabundance of hold attacks can lead to one side slaughtering the other. I’ve been on both sides of it and neither has been particularly fun.

The Klingons

The Klingon campaign deserves special mention for being absolutely broken. First off, you can’t create a Klingon character until you’ve leveled up a few times. Secondly, the Klingon training mission is convoluted, poorly explained and it’s a real pain in the ass to even find, let alone complete. Third, once you’ve completely the half-assed Klingon tutorial (where you get your bridge crew) you find that pretty much all you can do as a Klingon is PvP.

In short: It’s not done. It’s nowhere near close to being done. While the Federation faction has the same bug issues any MMO has at launch, the Klingon campaign is simply not finished. Hell, some of the Klingon uniforms are missing textures, for cryin’ out loud.

I’m not saying it’s buggy or even broken. I’m saying it is not done. As it stands it feels like a bunch of gameplay elements that have been stapled together in a mad dash to meet the release date.

For that, I don’t blame Cryptic as much as I blame Atari for giving Cryptic almost zero time to complete it.

Prettiest. MMO. Ever.

Star Trek Online is far and away the most visually impressive MMORPG I’ve ever seen. Character models are rivaled by no other MMO, with intricate detail easily visible on each and every living being in the galaxy. Ship models are also greatly detailed, though with many of them looking similar to each other (even when customized), you tend not to notice it after a while. The planets, as mentioned before, are varied and gorgeous. All of them. They beg to be explored more than the square area we’re given.

Apart from Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, and Zachary Quinto as an EMH that sounds like Spock, the voice acting is… well, there isn’t much of it but the voice acting that’s there is pretty damn awful. There is a particular mission where you encounter the Guardian of Forever. This is… the worst thing I’ve ever heard. Here’s a brief comparison of the Guardian of Forever voices: The first is from the TOS classic “City on the Edge of Forever” while the second is from the game:

…what else is there to say? The other voice acting ranges from sufficient to this level of awful.

At least the music is good, though there aren’t any recognizable orchestral scores from Star Trek in the game. All the same, the music is excellent at does an excellent job of setting the mood for whatever mission you happen to be on.

Potential in the Future

While Star Trek Online is far from being a particularly deep game, there is still potential for it to be rather good with a little more time. All Cryptic needs to do is build on what’s good with the game while fleshing out the bad points. Much of what I’ve pointed out to be negatives in the game are things that can be remedied with just a little more polishing or, in a few cases, a do-over (read: Guardian of Forever). Add some depth to the missions that are already in the game, perhaps add some missions based on diplomacy and, most importantly, for the love of God FINISH THE KLINGON FACTION.

Even if Cryptic were to address every issue brought to them by the fans, Trekkies would still label STO a “failure” simply because it wasn’t what they wanted. If you read the Star Trek Online forums, you’ll find more than a few complaint threads written by people who expected this to be a full-on Star Trek simulation. Sadly their hopes were dashed when they realized that all they were given was a video game.

TL;DR

Star Trek Online has all the core components to make a great MMO, but Cryptic needs to take the time and put it all together and expand on it. While there are certainly many things that could, should and surely will be addressed, first and foremost STO needs more meat on its bones in terms of mission variety. As it stands you have either A.) Scan rocks or B.) Kill people. Sometimes you have C.) Kill people to scan rocks, but apart from that there isn’t much to do. There are some group instances that can be pretty fun (read: Crystalline Entity) but most people will get bored with the game long before they level up enough to access this content.

If you’re a die hard Trekkie, you’ll either love it or hate it. For everyone else, though, unless you’re willing to put up with the growing pains of any other MMO then you should hold off for a few months. But I have faith in Cryptic and will surely be checking back with STO come the holiday season.

(Side note: Mike is a tard, the Xbox Live Arcade unplugged disc bought from a pawn shop works fine, you just have to go through NXE to get to it. Google it!)

Listen live below, get us on iTunes, Zune, or download the mp3 directly here

Show Notes | Topics | Related Links

WalMart tips and tricks!

Secret Santas

Star Trek Online talk

Pawn Shops rule for games

iPhone games are not real games

Qualitybeats84 (find him on Rejected Gamer, Twitter, and many other gaming places on the net) and Erik Estavillo team up for Balls and Anal the musical

AllGames rules for video game music

Listen live below, get us on iTunes, Zune, or download the mp3 directly here

Show Notes | Topics | Related Links

Cliff notes for the Interview (we jump all over the place):

*Erik, meet Binge Gamer
*Subpoenas the celebrities (Bill Gates, Winona Ryder, etc)
*Is a lawyer pulling the strings of Erik?
*Why sue instead of just putting the controller down?
*Erik’s mental illnesses
*The World of Warcraft Activision/Blizzard debacle
*The Sony/Playstation 3 case
*Erik, serious about these cases or not? What motivates him?
*”gaming world” versus the “real world”
*License agreements and clicking “I Agree” without reading
*The Microsoft/Xbox 360 case
*The Nintendo/Wii Homebrew Channel debacle
*Medications
*Gaming blog possibly hiring Erik?
*Counter suing the disabled
*Jack Thompson
*Morals and ethics
*Back to the celeb subpoenas
*Credibility

Random News Blips:

Coming soon: Star Trek Online

Also coming soon: Green Day Rock Band

Thoughts on the interview with Erik

Sonic/Sega’s All Star Racing including Banjo Kazooie

New Transformers game not related to the movie

Video Games Live will be on PBS! WATCH IT!

Greatest gaming eBay auction ever

This weekend is Easter weekend, which Christianity says is the weekend in which Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected three days later, presumably to pound a few shots of Tennessee Whiskey before wrapping his rather sore hands.

Of course, to twelve year-old kids, Easter is all about having Friday off of school and eating enough chocolate to permanently stain their teeth. For the BG crew, Easter is a chance to catch up on games we may have missed (*coughResidentEvil5cough*).

For you newcomers, here’s the color system:
Green for Xbox 360
Red for Sony PS3/PS2/PSP
Blue for Nintendo Wii/DS

Reports/General News:

• Will Wright, Creator of Sim City, leaves Electronic Arts – Gamasutra
• Batman: Arkham Asylum is as “close to perfect” as Eidos has ever come, says Eidos – VideoGamer
• Shigeru Miyamoto to be inducted into ELAN Hall of Fame – Joystiq
• Last week it was the SEC, now Take-Two is paying off stockholders – Gamasutra
• Xbox 360 gamers have unlocked 2.5 Billion achievements – VideoGamer
• Raven sez… Wolfenstein is NOT a WWII Shooter – Destructoid
• Mortal Kombat team claiming unpaid bonuses – Gamasutra
• Konami making a game on the Iraq War – GamePolitics
• Naturally, an Iraq War game has pissed people off – GamePolitics
• Yu Suzuki retires from “Creative Officer” position at SEGA – Gamasutra
• Cammie Dunaway promises E3 will be “all about the games” for Nintendo – The Feed
• Street Fighter IV national championship works to remind you how badly you suck at Street Fighter IV – Destructoid
• Court Documents say Midway will run out of cash by June – GamePolitics
• Majesco will remain on the NASDAQ listing – The Feed
• GIRL May Never Reach Mars! – VG247
• Nintendo on Wii price cut: …no. – Joystiq
• Ubisoft launches Assassin’s Creed 2 teaser site – ANIMUS
• Big Huge Leak at Big Huge Games – Shacknews
• Peter Molyneux retracts statement… to make an even more grandiose statement – VG247
• Nintendo considering Wii to DS VoD – Joystiq
• Tim Schafer sez… gamers worry about sales too much – Destructoid
• Nintendo? Yeah, it ain’t worried about sliding sales in Japan – EDGE
• Dragon Age: Origins DLC could span two years – MTV Multiplayer
• Realtime Worlds is hiring. Find work! – GamesIndustry
• Nintendo DSi launch bigger than Nintendo DS launch… in UK – MCV UK
• Analyst sez… Wii manufacturing costs are down 45% – EDGE
• Square Enix sez… Final Fantasy XIII needs to make gobs and gobs of green – The Feed
• Somehow, Someway, Midway got pulled into the Epic Games/Silicon Knights lawsuit – Joystiq
• Live in Germany? You ain’t gettin’ no Resident Evil 5 DLC, it seems – Destructoid
• No split-screen Co-Op in The Conduit, says SEGA – Nintendo Everything
• Harmonix won’t rule out Nintendo DS Rock Band – EDGE
• PlayStation 3 trumped Nintendo Wii in Japan – Punch Jump
• Producer of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is looking to bring Shadow of the Colossus to the big screen – GameDaily
• Fatal Frame IV probably not coming stateside – Joystiq
• Mah gawd! Xbox LIVE has an Amazon store! – Major Nelson
• PS3-to-Facebook integration coming sooner than you thought… though we’re not sure why – Joystiq
• BioWare is looking for Dragon Age beta testers – Destructoid
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena has DRM? Say it ain’t so! – Shacknews
• Killzone 2: 500,000 served and growing – Joystiq

Announcements:

• PixelJunk Eden Encore will have more trophies. Rejoice! – PlayStation.Joystiq
• Most of “Chinese Democracy” hits Rock Band next week – Shacknews
• Final Fantasy VII hits PlayStation Network… in Japan – Gamasutra
• Resident Evil 5 Versus DLC went on sale on Tuesday, so you know – Joystiq
• Silent Hill: Shattered Dreams is now multiplatform – Gamasutra
• Stalin vs. Martians releases, appropriately, on 420 – Shacknews
• Fable II DLC Promises to Let You See Into the Future – Joystiq
• Monster Hunter is coming to the PSP – PlayStation.Blog
• Demigod is Golden, set for April 14th release – Shacknews
• Painkiller is back and ready to rock your freakin’ face off! – IGN
• Seasons One thru Nine of South Park now on Netflix – Xbox.Joystiq
• Prototype. June 9th. BUY IT! – Destructoid
• Wii Sports Resort out in June in Japan, US and Europe by July – Reuters
• Killzone 2 DLC set to hit by month’s end – Shacknews
• Twisted Pixel announces ‘Splosion Man – The Feed
• Assassin’s Creed 2 info is new, awesome – Destructoid
• Tales of Vesperia getting a prequel movie – 1UP
• F.E.A.R. 2 DLC to hit PS3 and Xbox 360 next week – Shacknews
• Xbox LIVE could generate $1 Billion annually, says In-Stat – GameDaily
• SEGA announces Bleach: The Third Phantom – SEGA America
• Want to play as Ben Stiller? Well, now you can in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – Destructoid
• Rock Band Unplugged to strike PSP on June 9th – MaxConsole
• Arcade classic Silent Scope heading to the iPhone… for some reason – Joystiq
• Nielsen sez… Wii the least played game console – The Feed
• Then Again, Neilsen also says they’re wrong – Gamasutra
• Darkest of Days is dark, presumably spans many days – Destructoid

Interviews:

• SCEA’s John Koller sez… Sony is exploring “all platforms” with Gran Turismo 5 – VG247
• Brad Wright on Stargate Worlds delay: It sucks – Gate World
• Sony is unimpressed with Nintendo DSi – GameDaily
• Gamasutra
• Venture Beat
• Tigon Studios’ Ian Stevens speaks to people, about things – Joystiq
• At last! We now know what the “i” in “DSi” stands for – GamePro
• Chris Taylor on, well… just about everything – The Feed
• Raven Software on X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Destructoid
• Jim Sterling Interviews the Voice of Albert Wesker, David Bowie D.C. Douglas – Destructoid
• Dead Space: Extraction is looking surprisingly good – Joystiq
• High Voltage thinks Wii-exclusive The Conduit is Game of the Year material – HDWarriors

Rumor Has It…

• LEGO Rock Band? Guitar Hero: Van Halen?! Yes, please, maybe. – The Feed
• A new PSP to be released by Christmas? Suuuuure – PocketGamer
• Grand Theft Auto V heading back to Vice City? – MaxConsole
• Ooh, Halo 3 and Fable 2 bundled with 360 Elite? Yessum, please – Ars Technica

Screenshots:

• Prototype is bloody, yet awesome – Shacknews
• Stalin vs. Martians is epic, glorious, and pretty damn awesome – Shacknews
• Six Days in Fallujah brings back old memories – Joystiq
• Champions Online is very awesome – Shacknews
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine is pretty nifty – The Feed
• Star Trek Online still looks freaking gorgeous – Shacknews

Videos/Trailers:

• Fight Night Round 4’s new trailer exclaims “PHYSICS!” – Joystiq
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game is mighty fine! – Shacknews
• Star Wars: The Old Republic is better than you – Joystiq
• Black Prophecy is black and prophetic – The Feed
• BioShock 2. That is all. – MaxConsole

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We hope you all have a great Easter weekend, whether you be off practicing religious ceremonies or just taking some extra time off work. Be sure to come back here on Sunday for an Easter-themed “Greatest Games You’ve Never Played”, which will prove that while a game may be based on the Bible, it doesn’t automatically make it bad.

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