The Video Game review
J.J. Abrams has rebooted the Star Trek movie series in style, offering an enlightening insight into the early careers of Kirk and Spock. But transferring that relationship to a video game is no easy task – especially when the game in question is attempting to emulate the likes of Gears of War, Uncharted and countless other action titles, with a short deadline to boot. Does Star Trek: The Video Game boldly go where no other game has gone before, or does it simply retread old ground? Set phasers to stun, because you’re about to find out.
The good
With so many movie tie-ins content to get by purely on name alone, it’s refreshing to see how much effort has been put to make Star Trek: The Video Game as authentic as possible. The original movie cast are on hand to lend their characters a proper voice, and the script is especially impressive, with dialogue that manages to imbue the two leads with plenty of personality.
Star Trek has never really been about out-and-out action, but thankfully the game dials up the excitement to acceptable levels. Kirk and Spock are total badasses, dishing out punishment to the lizard-like Gorn without batting an eyelid. Hardcore fans might take issue with this, but everyone else will be relieved that the game isn’t as pedestrian as the TV show.
The bad
Sadly, Star Trek: The Video Game gets a lot more wrong than it gets right. The action is hopelessly second-rate when set against the games it clearly wishes to emulate. The cover-based shooting action is repetitive and soulless, and even those who have only a basic knowledge of the franchise will find it odd that Spock is so comfortable with an assault rifle in his hands.
Appallingly dumb enemies rob the game of any genuine challenge, gladly stumbling into your shots or failing to properly exploit available cover as you close in for the kill. This is counterbalanced slightly by the fact that your comrade (you can choose to play as Kirk or Spock, and the other becomes your teammate) is just as brainless. Put aside any notions of tactical smarts – you’ll spend more time saving your clueless colleague than you will planning any kind of strategy.
Elsewhere, being able to fly the Enterprise is a mixed blessing – the sequence breaks up the corridor-based blasting, but it feels awkward and under-developed, and you soon find yourself wishing it was over – very much like the entire game, to be honest.
The bottom line
Video game adaptations of movies have a track record of being pretty poor, and Star Trek: The Video Game does absolutely nothing to buck this unfortunate trend. Dull action, poor AI, ropey visuals and mind-numbing mini-games reduce what could have been an intriguing proposition to a vapid cash-in which won’t appeal to anyone – be they lifelong fans of Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi series or casual viewers.
