Something I didn’t see in the demo at E3 was the main thing I do not like. Each ship or station emphasizes its existence as an object with an ugly oval line that looks like a magic marker outline in the particular team color. It is overdone. Thickness varies relative to object size it surrounds though, so smaller ships aren’t overwhelmed by it. Dec 08, 2000 Star Trek: Away Team Interview. Also, the team is still on target for releasing a demo sometime soon. IGNPC: You're taking the Star Trek license into strange new territory, breaking away from.
Star Trek: Away Team should be a great game. It offers exotic worlds to explore, a cast of human and alien characters, and a great license. The action is patterned after the successful Commandos series and even incorporates sound into the art of stealth. So why is Star Trek: Away Team yet another example of how to ruin a perfectly good license, like so many previous Star Trek games? Simply because something went wrong with the design and implementation of the game's action.
The first major mistake made by the designers is the abuse of the established mythology of Star Trek. Any 'Trekkie' worth his or her tricorder knows the Federation is the good team that keeps the galaxy honest. However, the manual begins with a communiqué from Admiral Nolotai to Starfleet Command, basically suggesting a new paradigm shift from the tried and true values of the Federation by forming a '...special crew for a new time. A team prepared for the most extreme missions, capable of entering places that our conventional forces cannot go.'
This team, it continues, will command a starship, the USS Incursion, with masking ability used to assume the form of any known ship. In fact, the missions are mainly prowling around, subduing guards, achieving the objective, and getting out unnoticed. Underhanded sneakiness replaces the usual Federation roles of conduct. A new time indeed!
The crew's maiden mission involves discovering why Romulans are attacking a Klingon science base. The basic tale of mind control unfolds predictably with special appearances by the Borg. There are a variety of tools, lethal and non-lethal, for helping the team bypass enemies -- more than 20 skills and weapons in total. The game is kind enough to list what items and personnel are needed for the next stage, leaving you to decide which of the 17 crewmembers will join the party.
A wide variety of choices and customization options are available to fine-tune the group. Unfortunately, the characters are dull. Even the bio paragraphs in the manual can't help generate interest in them. It would have been nice to give each character an individual personality, even infusing each with likes or dislikes. Character development helps any game -- part of Balder's Gate's charm is that not all characters get along with each other and let you know exactly how they feel.
Gameplay suffers a bit from execution and graphics. At 1024x768 resolution, everything is tiny. Computers, items, and control panels are hard to make out, making for moderate pixel hunts. The cursor does change when an item is found, but it still takes an effort to identify what it is. On a larger scale, there are some serious questions about the action. In Commandos, for example, there is a perverse joy in sneaking up behind a Nazi and dispatching him. Star Trek: Away Team is missing some semblance of motivation; these guys haven't been wronged; they're just doing their job.
Finally, there isn't enough surprise in the game. It is commendable that sound is an integral part of the equation (crouching produces the least sound when sneaking up to apply the Vulcan Neck Pinch), but there have to be more elements. You can scan the entire playing area and pick out the best plan of attack, leaving little to chance. A 'fog of war' might have added another facet to the game.
Besides a storyline straight from the television series, under-whelming character development, and repetitive gameplay, there is no humor in the game. The word's 'away team' conjures up Ensign Redshirt getting clobbered by a local monster or falling into a trap. Unfortunately, the game takes itself way too seriously and misses the opportunity to insert subtle Trek humor in several places that would have lightened the mood in anticipation of a more serious situation later.
Sadly, the games that capture the true feel and style of the Star Trek universe are few and far between. Star Trek: Away Team is more of the same uninspiring gameplay that makes the license unappealing to game developers. Its failure to adhere to simple precedents or develop surprising action involving interesting characters empties yet another promise of a quality title. This is a lukewarm title that fails to stir any emotions. Star Trek fans would do best to set phasers to 'Avoid.'
Graphics: Extremely tiny items are annoying. Being able to see the entire playing field wrecks any surprises. Representation of Star Trek gear and ships is decent.
Sound: Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn lend their voices to the game. Weapons sound fine, but nothing noteworthy.
Enjoyment: Sneaking up behind a Romulan just isn't as exciting as hunting Nazi's. Computer falls for most basic tricks. Ho-hum action matches a yawn-inducing storyline.
Replay Value: Players can join cooperative games and control the same characters, but silliness ensues. Playing through with different characters is still just as dull.
People who downloaded Star Trek: Away Team have also downloaded:
Star Trek: Armada 2, Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Legacy, Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3, Star Trek: Elite Force 2, Star Trek: New Worlds, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
Star Trek: Armada 2, Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Legacy, Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3, Star Trek: Elite Force 2, Star Trek: New Worlds, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
Star Trek Timelines | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Disruptor Beam |
Publisher(s) | Disruptor Beam (iOS), Tilting Point (Android) |
Engine | Unity 5 |
Platform(s) | Facebook Platform, iOS, Android |
Release | January 14, 2016[1] |
Genre(s) | Strategy |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Star Trek Timelines is a strategy role playing video game[citation needed] developed by Disruptor Beam for iOS and Android devices, Facebook, Facebook Gameroom, the Amazon Store, and Steam.[2] On March 4, 2020 Tilting Point acquired the game from Disruptor Beam and created a new studio Wicked Realm Games to support the title.[3] The player is the captain of a ship and can form their ship's crew from characters from any era of Star Trek,[4] while steering the fate of the galaxy through diplomacy, science and force of arms.
Gameplay[edit]
Set after the events of Star Trek Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager's series finale, Star Trek Timelines begins as the player captains their first starship command to investigate an unknown temporal anomaly. Upon arriving at the anomaly, the player meets Q, who immediately explains that a full-on temporal crisis has begun throwing people, places, and objects from other timelines (including the Mirror Universe) into this one.
Star Trek Timelines lets players recruit characters from all eras of the Star Trek TV series, including The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise,Discovery, Short Treks, and Picard, as well as the Star Trekmovies, comics, novels, and non-canon sources. Players take on the role of Captain, in command of their first starship (a Constellation class starship.) Soon, players must recruit crew and build starships from across the timelines in order to aid Q by sending crew on Away Missions, engaging in Starship Battles, and completing main missions to progress the story and choose which game factions take further control of a galaxy in chaos.
The players are also able to form in-game groups called 'Fleets' and 'Squadron' sub units that are ranked in weekend events and collaboratively upgrade 'Starbases' to provide shared bonuses.
Away missions[edit]
One of the primary ways to progress in the game (including Starship Battles) an Away Mission is when the player sends a team of three characters out to complete a challenge. Each step of an Away Mission will require a character with the appropriate skill level and proficiency: diplomatic, scientific, medical, engineering, security, and command.[5] Certain characters will even be able to unlock special steps on an Away Mission for rare rewards. Each Away Mission has three levels of difficulty: normal, elite, and epic.[6] Common and uncommon characters are able to participate in special away missions called 'Cadet Challenges' to earn different currencies in the game.[7]
Starship battles[edit]
Starship battles are described as 'real-time conflicts between two starships and their respective crew'.[6] Before a starship battle, the player assigns 1-5 characters to a starship's battle station.[citation needed] Each character, when placed in a battle station, is able to temporarily increase the output of a ship. Currently, this is represented by three core stats: Damage, Accuracy, and Evasion. Players can collect schematics to build more ships to take into battle.[8] The gameplay of the starship battles involves 3D combat, Jon Radoff stating: 'We wanted to authentically and gorgeously portray all the things you would see out the window of a starship'.[9]
Credits, merits, and dilithium[edit]
Players can earn new crew and starships by playing the game or purchasing packs with real money. Star Trek Timelines uses dilithium as a premium currency. For in-game earned currency, players receive credits, merits, honor, and tickets, the first two being used to purchase packs from the Time Portal as well as items from the game's many Star Trek factions, such as the Dominion or the Terran Empire.[10] Honor is used to purchase special crew and items (such as Honorable Citations), many of which are unobtainable any other way. Tickets are used to play Cadet Challenges and Arena Battles, and they refill daily.
Development[edit]
Disruptor Beam approached CBS about a Star Trek game when they had been developing Game of Thrones: Ascent for a year. Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam, described the process of licensing Star Trek as 'very competitive'.[11] Officially announced in April 2014,[12]Star Trek Timelines is a 3D/2D game built in Unity 5. Its first live demo was at PAX East 2015,[13] and the first playable tutorial experience was later debuted at Star Trek Las Vegas 2015.[14]
On July 20, 2015 Disruptor Beam announced a partnership with John de Lancie for Star Trek Timelines. His involvement includes working with the design team and writers, as well as reprising his role as Q by providing in-game voice acting.[15]
The game was ported to Facebook in December 2016.[16]
Material based on Star Trek: Discovery was added after the series' debut.[17]
Reception[edit]
Star Trek Timelines has an aggregate rating of 4.1 on the Google Play store, and was selected as an Editor's Choice recipient.[18] On the App Store, it has a rating of 4.5.[19] An early review by Gamezebo regarded Star Trek Timelines as a 'labor of love' for Disruptor Beam, but cautioned that the game was buggy at this stage, and criticising the battles as largely running themselves.[20] A reviewer for Kotaku negatively compared Star Trek Timelines to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, criticising the energy system used in gameplay.[21] A reviewer for VentureBeat described Star Trek: Timelines as the 'best Star Trek game' in at least a decade, highlighting the diversity of characters available, that the missions felt similar to Star Trek episodes, and the spaceship battles. As a negative, he stated that buying expansion packs of characters and ships could get expensive.[22] A reviewer for Pocket Tactics found the gameplay 'a bit light', and the free-to-play currencies in the game as 'convoluted'.[23] As of March 2016, Star Trek Timelines had been downloaded a million times.[24] Golem.de enjoyed the exciting story, beautiful appearance and the use of characters from all versions of Star Trek, but describes the game as being based on the pay-to-win principle, saying 'The game uses virtually any situation to encourage the players to buy virtual items.' (Original quote: 'Das Spiel nutzt praktisch jede Situation, um den Spieler zum Kauf von virtuellen Gegenständen zu animieren.')[25] Meg Stivison described the concept of the game as being like fan fiction, and found the time paradox conceit explained various aspects of the plot well. Stivison criticised the need to repeat each mission several times to earn the correct item, saying that eventually 'all the fanfictiony fun is gone'. However, Stivison summed up the game as 'super fun'.[26]
References[edit]
- ^'Star Trek Timelines Launches Today!'. Disruptor Beam. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines'. Disruptor Beam. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Tilting Point acquires Star Trek Timelines game from Disruptor Beam'. www.venturebeat.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
- ^'Star Trek Star Trek Dev Diary #1 - Designing Star Trek Timelines'. StarTrek.com. 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^DevTalk - Away Missions in Star Trek Timelines. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
- ^ ab'Game Guide'. Disruptor Beam. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^Jones, Elton (7 September 2016). ''Star Trek Timelines': Top 10 Tips & Cheats You Need to Know'.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines Tips, Cheats and Strategies'. Gamezebo. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^'Unity Focus: Disruptor Beam's Star Trek Timelines'.
- ^Disruptor Stream: Star Trek Timelines Launch Edition. 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^Mike Minotti (2016-01-06). 'Star Trek: Timelines is a mobile game fans should actually care about'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^'Set to Launch Upcoming Social Game Star Trek Timelines' (Press release). Disruptor Beam. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^Kyle Alspach (2015-06-03). 'Disruptor Beam's Star Trek Timelines Demo at PAX East 2015 | BostInno'. BostInno. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Fans React: Star Trek Timelines at STLV 2015'. Disruptor Beam. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines'. www.disruptorbeam.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Timelines Available Now to Play on Facebook'. www.startrek.com.
- ^'Star Trek: Discovery coming to STAR TREK TIMELINES'. Disruptor Beam. August 4, 2017. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines, Apps on Google Play'. 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines on the App Store'. 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines Review: Going Not Entirely Boldly'. Gamezebo. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^Mike Fahey (2016-01-20). 'The New Star Trek Game Is Great at Fan Service, Bad At Being Fun'. Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^Mike Minotti (2016-01-20). 'Star Trek: Timelines is the best Trek game in years'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^Neumann, Dave (2016-01-15). 'Star Trek Timelines screws with the space-time continuum more than J.J. Abrams'. Pocket Tactics. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
- ^'Five things you should know about Jon Radoff - The Boston Globe'.
- ^'Star Trek Timelines im Test: Captain Kirk und Picard in Zahlungsnot' (in German). Golem.de. 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
- ^Meg Stivison. 'Fanfiction & Strategy in Star Trek: Timelines'. Gameindustry.com. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- Star Trek Timelines at Memory Alpha (a Star Trekwiki)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Star_Trek_Timelines&oldid=943920355'