Space, the final frontier.  These are the voyagers of the starship Kreygina.  It’s continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds.  To seek out new life and new civilizations.  To boldly go where no gamer has gone before.  Before we continue, I would like to point out that this is not an official review, but my thoughts on the game.

Star Trek Online is an MMORPG that takes place in the Star Trek universe. The game takes place after the events of the last Star Trek movie.  Spock has failed to save the Romulan home world from destruction, and the Klingons have moved in trying to control what was once the Romulan Empire.  It’s up to you to protect the Federation and it’s interests.  Are you up to the task?

I really can’t compare this game to other MMORPGs out there for the simple fact that I haven’t played any – until now.  This is my very first MMORPG.  The reason I picked it up is simple, it’s Star Trek!  The game offers 2 character slots for either a Federation or Klingon character.  You must be at least a level 6 to access the Klingon character.  Each have their own unique missions and ships.  It’s similar to the way that World of Warcraft offers Horde and Alliance factions.

It should be noted that I am a Trekkie.  I love to watch Star Trek and know quite a lot about it’s universe.  I’ve watched every series of Star Trek except Enterprise.  When I was growing up, I always wanted a good Star Trek game.  There were many games out there, but few were what I was looking for.  When I heard about Star Trek Online, I wasn’t sure what to think. All I knew was that I should hope for the best.

When I first started the beta, I was a bit skeptical.  Even after play a few missions the first night, I still wasn’t sold.  I decided to give the game another shot a few days later.  It was then I really started getting into it.  The game picked up and I found myself hooked.  Finally I had found a game that satisfied my Star Trek craving.  While it’s always nice to play as your favorite characters from the show, it’s great working your way up the ranks.

I ended the beta with a level 12 character and a new ship.  The characters were reset once the beta was over though.  I eagerly awaited the head start to begin 4 days later.  When the head start began, I made it my goal to reach my previous level in no time.  After the last 4 days of playing (close to non stop) I am now a level 18.  It seems like it was easier to get missions done and level up this time around.  I’m sure it was because of the previous experience playing.

Star Trek Online has plenty of ups and downs to it.  I’ll cover the things that I personally liked and disliked about the game.  As I said, I’ve never played an MMORPG before, but I will do my best to not look like a trekkie defending a Star Trek game.

What I liked:

The Star Trek Universe: Cryptic does a good job at making it feel like the Star Trek universe. From the sound of phasers or red alert, to the Klingons, Romulans, and Borg (OH MY), you knew that it was Star Trek.  Cryptic also does a great job at recreating the Universe itself.  It was quite something for me to see the memorial and wrecked ships at Wolf 359 or go to places like Deepspace 9 or K7.  Players are put into a universe that is not only recreated well, but theirs to explore.

Ship Combat: Star Trek Online is one of the few Star Trek games to do ship combat right.  After a few battles, I had a strategy and was ready to roll.  Compared to a game like Star Trek Legacies, the combat in this was a dream.  It might take a few battles to get the hang of things, but once you do, you’re good to go.  Players have the option to upgrade weapons, shields, and more.  It’s probably a good idea to upgrade as you meet and fight new enemies.

Weapons and Items: I found myself excited when I would pick up new weapons and items from drops.  There’s a variety of weapons and items that have their own use for either away missions or your ship as.  As you advance in level you’ll find better items and weapons.  Some might be helpful, but others will just be useless.  One thing I found amusing was the Tribbles.  Not only were they in the game, but they ate my damn food and multiplied like in the original TV show.

Playing With Friends: If there’s one thing that can be said, it’s better to play with friends.  I personally enjoyed playing with people I knew.  It helped make the overall experience more pleasant than it already was.  You’ll also find that missions are easier to complete when you’re working together with people you know.  There was no voice chat in game with the beta.  My team and I used skype to keep in contact.

Plenty to do: Whether it be a patrol mission or going back in time, there are plenty of missions to keep you occupied.  The variety of missions and ways to explore make Star Trek Online a lot of fun to play.  On top of the regular Missions, Star Trek Online offers players PVP where they can test their skills against other players.  You can battle as either a Klingon or a Federation officer.

Random Fun: If you know me and watch HBG’s live broadcast, you know we like to have fun past the limits of what the game provides.  It’s no different with a game like STO.  Being in a game with plenty of other people led to some interesting times.  When you’re not looking for missions, why not start a dance party at spacedock, or even greet users beaming down to places like Memory Alpha.  With most people being real players and not NPCs, there is fun to be had.

What I disliked:

Repetitive Mission Structure: While there were some excellent missions, there were some that are either boring, repetitive, or just uninteresting.  It seems there is a simple formula for the missions in this game.  You’ll notice a lot of missions are like this “ship combat > away mission > ship combat > done.”  Cryptic is planning on adding more missions and such as time goes on so I’m sure you really won’t have to worry about this.

Planets: While Cryptic did a good job at recreating the Star Trek universe, there was a lot I found to be amiss.  It seemed that a lot of things on planets were really out of place.  Worlds just seemed poorly designed and thrown together.  Some worlds were really bland and I found myself saying to my team, “this planet doesn’t look like it belongs in Star Trek.”  This was not the case for every planet though, but most fell victim to this

Star Trek “Offline”: During the beta, the servers were up more than they are now.  While it’s only been for the headstart, the servers have gone down close to 4-6 hours each day.  I know you’re thinking that is not bad and I should take a break, but I hope this problem isn’t long term.

Leveling up and Skill System: The leveling up in Star Trek Online seems a bit easy.  The skill system provided doesn’t really give you anything too exciting either.  The problem with an easy leveling system is that by the end of the first month, many players will reach the highest level leaving not much else to do.  I’ve been playing the actual game for 4 days now and I’m already a level 18.  I would have been higher than that if it wasn’t for all the server downtime.  Hopefully they will do something about this or make it more of a challenge as you get to higher levels.

Away Mission Combat: It seems like the developers put more time into the space combat than they did with ground combat.  While I’m not saying it’s terrible, because it’s not, you’ll just notice that control on foot is a little odd and the run control is awkward.  Once you start running you can’t stop, you’ll need to wait until you become fatigued.  Your bridge officers can often more of a nuisance than they are a help, but still come in handy from time to time.  Plenty of times I caught my crew spinning in circles rather than doing what they were supposed to.  Overall, I’d rather keep my battles in space, but I do love my Bat’ leth.

Broken Missions: Not only in the beta, but the head start as well, there were broken missions.  You and your team would complete a mission only for it not to count.  You and your team would do the mission over, but it still wouldn’t count.  Some of this has been fixed with little patches, but there are still a few broken missions here and there.  I found it ironic that a mission called “Breaking the Planet” was broken.  Nothing you can do, it was a beta!  This is why we played it, to help find stuff like that.

Despite the issues, Star Trek Online has provided me with well over 40 hours of fun.  I think it’s the Trekkie in me that got hooked as opposed to the gamer.  I feel it’s a game most Star Trek fans can appreciate. It does a good job at putting you in the Star Trek universe, and making you a part of it.  No longer are you working for Captain Picard or Kirk, but for yourself.

The game is good and I recommend it for any hardcore Star Trek fan.  It’s a great way for fans to pave their own legacy in the Star Trek universe.  While it might not be a perfect game or MMORPG, it’s a game that most will enjoy.

Editors Note: The game was played during the beta and head start.  I played as a federation tactical officer, and created a Klingon character, but did few of those missions.  Again, this is not an official review, but rather my personal take on the game.  Thanks to the folks over at cryptic for sending a game key. Without it, this look at Star Trek Online would not have been possible.  Look for our full review on Star Trek Online in the coming weeks.  It should be interesting to see how opinions change and how the full version differs from the beta.