Star Trek Online: Hands-on Impressions

Just bristling with Academy muscle

Recently we got our hands on a closed beta key for Cryptic Studio’s upcoming MMO Star Trek Online, and we’ve been exploring the galaxy since then kicking ass and taking comm-badges.  The beta test comes to a close tomorrow, so I thought I’d give you a few observations on how the game is shaping up so far.

Now since I was a kid I’ve been a fan of Star Trek.  Nothing fanatical, but I can tell you the difference between a deflector dish and a nacelle, so it was with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation that I booted up Star Trek Online for the first time.  The beta only gave access to the Federation races (Klingon allied races will be selectable upon the game’s release), so before long I was sculpting my own little Academy graduate.

The Federation includes all the races you’d expect; Humans, Vulcans, Bajorans, Andorians (with those adorable blue antennae), along with several others and each has their own advantages and stat modifiers.  Also, if you’re sick of seeing the same old faces, players can go ahead and make up their own species.  In typical Trek style, they’ll still end up looking human from the neck down (no Sheliak or gas monsters, folks), but this offers the advantage of allowing you to choose your own racial modifiers.  I don’t give it long before someone works out a way to troll with this option, but where would Star Trek be without oddly human looking species that are only seen once or twice?

Cinematic space panoramas? Yep, we've got 'em.

Skin colour and ear pointiness decided, players can then choose from three classes: Tactical (offence), Science (healer) or Engineer (support), all with unique skill trees.  Although your class will help define your personal style of play, you can also recruit up to three interchangeable bridge officers into your crew, who also gain experience and gain skills to help offset your weaknesses.  These bridge officers will accompany you on away missions, and will also bring their own field of expertise to your starship’s operation.

That said, apart from your ability to customise their appearance, bridge officers lack personality.  They’re only defined by their ability modifiers and can be hired and fired at whim, which lead me to think of them as a walking set of equipment, not so much a trusted colleague.

If you are looking for the Kirk-Spock-Bones kind of away mission banter, then you’ll have to team up with other players.  You can create ad-hoc alliances with other players undertaking the same mission as yourself, or start/join a Fleet, which is how Star Trek Online handles the clan system.  On many missions, working as part of a team (even a temporary one) is going to be essential in balancing the difficulty scales.

Space: The Navigational Overlay Frontier

What’s looking the best so far is space combat.  You’re given the command of your own ship in what some might describe as a laughably short time, but once you’re sitting in the big chair it’s up to you to take command of each situation you encounter.  Ship-to-ship combat works fairly closely with the Star Trek canon.  Players will have to maneuver their ship to allow for the optimal firing arc (wide for phasers, narrow for photon tordepos), while directing power to the shields in the areas that are coming under attack.  There are several preset power distributions, some geared for attack, others for handling and defence, that will give you the authentic “transfer power from secondary systems” experience.  Juggling your offence and defence against enemy ships (or even better, a human opponent) could turn out to be a major highlight of the game as a whole.

Ships are also fully customisable.  All it takes is a quick stop in at the Earth space-dock to instantly alter your ship’s appearance and capabilities.  The space-dock also functions as a communal hub for the Federation races, where you can acquire missions, chat and trade to your heart’s content.  Or, if you’re one very ambitious player we heard about, streak topless through the Admiral’s office.

Sometimes, shit just gets epic

Speaking of missions, while there was a good deal of variety when it came to the situations my character faced, Star Trek Online seems similar to many other MMOs where the base missions can be a little cut/copy.  Head to nominated location, meet person, fight some enemies who just-so-happen to be nearby, collect your reward.  Where STO does manage to distance itself, however, is that it cuts down a lot of the travelling and down-time inbetween.  Warp engines and teleporters make short work of reaching a mission’s location, and once completed you can typically just hand-in via the ship’s communicator.  This meant that acquiring missions at the space-dock was usually a case of acquiring two or three objectives, then heading out into the quadrant and not returning until you were done with all of them.

But while the day to day seems to be a little pedestrian, it sounds as if Cryptic has a lot planned in regards to world events, which is where I think this game could really come into it’s own.  While players can only choose from the Klingon or Federation factions, NPC invasions from races such as the Romulans and Borg have been outlined, which would presumably require factions to band together in a common goal.  It’s even rumoured that “fluidic space” inhabitants Species 8472 could turn up.

Also planned is the ability to engage in PvP battles, something that I didn’t get to try out in the closed beta.  However, if it’s based on the existing ship-to-ship combat then it could be very entertaining indeed.

Faux-Riker phasers some Borg

One thing I was disappointent with was the way death is handled.  If your character (or ship) is phasered into in the dirt, it simply respawns at a slightly previous location, happy, healthy and ready to jump back into the action.  In the several times I died I wasn’t once able to notice any penalty for my nooblike failure.  If this isn’t addressed in the game’s full release, then it will count as major points against it from my perspective.  If there isn’t a penalty for death, then you’re simply encouraging players to Leroy Jenkins themselves through every single encounter, which means that a lot of strategy and teamwork will be left to collect dust on the shelf.

Visually STO is very impressive.  Even the most boring of asteroid belts look great, and with just a few tweaks to the camera you can find yourself some cinematic moments worthy of the ST: Voyager opening credits.  I would have liked a little more variety on away missions, however, because while there are plenty of planets to explore, quite a few of them seem a little samey.  While I suppose beaming down onto a strangely familiar rocky surface is part of Star Trek lore in itself, I definitely felt that this was one of the areas that could have impressed more.

Overall, Star Trek Online is looking pretty good.  As with any other MMO, the real test of it’s success is going to be in it’s ability to grow and suppport a community, but game as it stands should be more than enough to entice people to give it a go.  There’s plenty to enjoy for a Trek fan, even if it’s just in the time honoured tradition of arguing about scientific canon.  Star Trek Online goes live on February 2nd, and I’d happily suggest to anyone that they get in on the action.  Check out all the details at the official site!