Engage!
Platform: PC
Publisher: Cryptic
FingerSports Rating: 3/5
As a newcomer to the MMO world, I’ve never played WoW, I’ve been offended by the box art on Guild Wars and I have no idea what Ultima online was like. I still can’t get my head around paying monthly for a game, especially when as a spectator these games appear to involve a lot of waiting around. And seem to require two monitors.
I ventured into Age of Conan, got bored quite fast and disappointed by the lack of variation. Even its ‘new’ combat system got quite old quite fast.
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning was enjoyable, but only really for the PvP content, all too soon the imbalances became crippling, the casting lag ruined half the classes and the dwindling player base left no one to fight anyway. A shame really, the big fights in the game were fantastic fun, and that’s all you can ask of a game.
I’m rather a sci-fi fan, I have loved games like the Homeworld series for their visual effects, and I can’t stop smiling about the X-wing games. (That’s a proper gamers flight sim!) To seem like a real old schooler, anyone remember Elite? It had a whole chain of offspring; to me I have a place reserved in silicone heaven for the Escape Velocity games. Eve online was again similar in concept, but for some reason Eve managed not to be fun. I found the combat stagnant, and ship control appalling. I have a joystick and like to use it (heh. Ahem). The descriptions I’ve had from people who stick at Eve were that it takes about a year to start being fun. This does not compute- I need a game I’ll enjoy right from the start, or at least pose a challenge that points you in the direction of fun.
So now, this presents a dilemma. I’m not really an MMO player, nor am I a ‘trekkie’, so why am I playing Star Trek Online? Well: firstly, I’m male and thus like spaceships. Secondly some friends play it and I’m not passing up on an opportunity to shout stuff over vent about having Klingons behind me (haha, I made a poo reference.).
Bear in mind I’ve been playing for a week, if there are areas I’ve missed it’s probably because I’m not there yet in the story.
Star trek online looks quite pretty, of course it does; there’s lasers and nebulae and planetoids and pretty shadows in asteroid fields. All of these are in the space part of the game. Shiny so far. In all honesty, any game these days that doesn’t look good is probably a flash title. Or an iphone app.
My initial impressions of the game were rather confused, there’s not much (if any) real tutorial, the skill system is not explained and even the level system is not very well explained. In fact, you work most things out by just going and doing. After just throwing myself into it, I’ve started to know how things function. The skills stack so even if you invest in rubbish early you can compliment whatever systems you want later.
That said, I haven’t noticed much variation from level to level. Since you only get new ship types ever 10 grades, each ‘grade up’ doesn’t seem to feel like an achievement. You can spend skill points as and when you choose, so you don’t even need to wait for a grade to get enhanced abilities. Very occasionally you do get the odd new skill, but every captain gets them. So there’s no class difference in space. Um, excuse me? So everyone’s the same- right. Why did you give me the option at the start? Oh right, it affects ground combat.
The away team ground combat however, is disinteresting. It looks, and plays like a poor mans Mass Effect (really poor.) I really can’t stress just how disappointing having to leave your ship is. The weapons chip away at opponents health, your team mates roll around like imbeciles and essentially there not much fun in it. You are presented with hoards of utterly useless enemies who take way too long to kill, then a handful of stupidly tough baddies who still don’t really threaten you. I may have been a little harsh on the environmental design, the worlds can be beautiful, with some really psychedelic landscapes making you at least pan the camera about to say ‘Huh, that’s odd’.
Now the space combat. This is the part of the game that some thought went into. Control feels manageable, the weapons look and sound just right, and the way damage is dealt through shields (or not) means you have to think about your own ships direction and facing, as well as the enemy vector. You can manage your power systems in a complex a manner as you want, giving ships real flexibility. You can continually adjust your shield levels, changing the power and facing as you need it. There are some really nice skills that you can pop just when you need that extra edge, and these are customisable too. And all of this is easy, and fun. This is no Eve online, you are in direct control of every movement and shot. There are autofire options but you don’t really need them, and dodging around asteroids and skimming the atmosphere on planets is easy and just plain cool.
I really can’t stress just how different the two aspects of this game are. Whilst all the away missions are irritating and disinteresting, the space battles are satisfying and rewarding. It was only after a good few days play that I got into a big fleet engagement, I was absolutely blown away. Literally and figuratively. A dozen players verses some fifty or so ships at once, a real melee of beam weapons and frantic use of the ‘emergency power to shields’ skill. The biggest ships are great fun to strafe, and helping out team mates is rather a smug feeling.
So, verdict? It’s early days for the game. There are some bugs being worked out that the beta missed, shocker there, and progression feels like a grind, and there’s not many choices in any kit or equipment. But, I’m only level 15. There might be a lot more, I just haven’t felt like there will be. I find it quite enjoyable-it is fun. There isn’t a large amount of wondering aimlessly in circles, good, but it’s not like the game doesn’t try that. The quests are often quite difficult to find what you’re after, and the maps can take too long to load (If at all). Whilst I’m enjoying it now, I struggled a bit to get into it, and am wondering how long it will hold my attention.
If you’ve got some spare time and think space ships and lasers are cool, you could do a lot worse than Star Trek Online. If they Cryptic add new content periodically, and increase the variation in the game, this could keep players coming back for some time.
