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Star Trek: Stattered Universe
by Jolex Del Pilar
Wednesday, January 28 2004
It seems these days the best Trek-based action is on the consoles, rather than TV.
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Title:
Star Trek: Stattered Universe
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Platform:
PS2
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Publisher:
TDK Mediactive |
Developer:
Starsphere Interactive |
#
of Players: 1 |
Genre:
Space Shooter
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
January 13, 2004 |
Grapevine:
In this game, combat is handled through the use of fighters. Yes, for the Trek purist in you, there wasn't a lot of fighter action in the TV series, but let's just suspend belief here. |
Lately, Star Trek has been in a slump. Five years ago, there was a pair of Trek licenses with their own series on TV. Though Voyager was universally loath by most hardcore Trekkies for it's subpar plots, Deep Space 9 was at least interesting though it's nothing compared to the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation during the Roddenberry years. I have nothing against Viacom, or Brannon Braga and Rick Berman (current Trek writers), but I just don't see the same quality of Trek that was present in the early 90s in terms of plot and character development, years when both Braga and Berman weren't leads. Let's face it, no one cares about the new "Enterprise" characters, at least not in the same way trekkies cared about Data, the lovable android who pursued humanity, or Geordi La Forge, the blind engineer with the "thingy" on his face. It's for these reasons, many Trekkies have turned off their tubes for Trek action and have turned to their gaming consoles.
Star Trek games, like their TV counterparts, are a mixed bag. While great games like Star Trek: 25th Anniversay will come along once in a while, you might get a game like Star Trek: Birth of the Federation too. TDK Mediactive's newest Trek effort, Star Trek: Shattered Universe seems to me to be one of the better efforts presented to gaming Trekkies.
First off, it does something interesting and new, always a good thing. The game takes place in the mirror universe from the original series (Episode 33 - Mirror, Mirror). This time Sulu, who now commands the U.S.S Excelsior, gets trapped in the mirror universe when his ship is caught in some sort of temporal vortex. Another interesting addition is in the way combat is handled. In this game, combat is handled through the use of fighters. Yes, for the Trek purist in you, there wasn't a lot of fighter action in the TV series, but let's just suspend belief here. Besides, simulating combat of big lumbering ships has been a pain in most developer's sides, and it almost always ends up feeling like fighter combat anyway. Why not just cut to the chase? Through 19 levels, Shattered Universe is teeming with action not seen since Captain Sisko conducted his war against the Dominion (Star Trek: Deep Space 9).
The game mechanices are actually quite simple, which should come as a relief to some Trekkies who are less action-oriented. Controls are handled by the trigger buttons, and analog buttons for aiming and rotating your ship. It takes very little practice to get into the swing of things. You won't get a chance to use diplomacy to solve your problems in this game, so just get used to the fact that your phasers will do the talking. You get a choice of 6 fighters (2 of which are available immediately). Each has their own weaknesses and strengths, and you have to decided which fighter suits you best. I sometimes played a level multiple times just to see which fighter best fit my style of combat. The levels themselves are designed with on-the-fly objectives in mind. What this means is that though you are given 1 or 2 objectives in the beginning of a mission, perhaps 2 more will be added during the duration of the mission. The missions themselves don't involve much serious thinking, just an attitude of general agression as swarms of Klingon ships attack you. You'll need to be quick on that boost button to get to certain locations. In some instances you'll be asked to come back to the U.S.S Excelsior to defend her, and if she's destroyed, the mission ends.
The combat can get hectic, often involving numerous capital ships.
There was a weird feeling the permeated my review of Shattered Universe, that I had played this game before, in another life and time. So I looked through my collection of games, and couldn't find anything. Finally, with the help of a friend, I was able to put my finger on it. Shattered Universe owes a lot to a Playstation game called Colony Wars. The game, developed by the now defunct Psygnosis, features nearly the exact same mechanics of Shattered Universe. Fighters, capital ships, and even the visual style are nearly exactly the same between the 2 games. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some former Psygnosis employees worked at Starsphere right now. Just a curious little aside for those who remembered Colony Wars.
The visual style of Shattered Universe is very colorful to say the least. While the colored lighting helps to lighten up the darkness of space, the actual ship models feature low polygon counts. Though that was probably done to maintain a constantly fast frame-rate, important for games of this style, it is still noticable to the keen eye. Also noticable to the keen eye is the various nods to the Trek Universe that the developers have put into the game. Some of the major ones include a duel with the M5 Multitronic Computer (Episode 53 - The Ultimate Computer), and of course the Doomsday Machine (Episdoe 35 - The Doomsday Machine). I thought it was nice that the developers actually took the time to research some Trek lore before they developed this title.
Shattered Universe isn't a game that will fit for most Trekkies. Those that preferred the slower paced, adventure, gameplay of Star Trek TNG: A Final Unity will probably shy away from this recent effort. However, for most of the general gaming population, and more action-inclined Trekkies, Shattered Universe is a pleasant surprise full of action, suspense, and most importantly, lore, that even the most jaded Trekkie can appreciate.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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