Star Trek: Legacy – Impressions

As many of you probably know 30-year birthdays are usually associated with milder crises and existential ponderings. Star Trek has reached its 40th anniversary which is not without its own crises. New films and series alike are on ice since the latest TV-series in the franchise, Enterprise, failed to attract a larger audience. It’s hard to see how Paramount will turn the tide but the 40-year anniversary has made Mad Doc Software and Bethesda decide to try and breathe new life into the sci-fi veteran with a new game.

Mad Doc Software has previously developed the solid RTS Star Trek: Armada 2 and it is now assisted by the developer of Star Trek: Bridge Commander. So this is clearly a group of developers who know how to piece together a good Star Trek game.

Pick n’ mix

Legacy doesn’t take place in one particular period in the Star Trek universe – it borrows elements from all the series and films and mixes them in one game. The result is a kind of all-star cast, where you’ll not only encounter famous captains such as Kirk and Picard but you are also able to command all versions of the Enterprise as well as a couple of the other famous spacecrafts. We’ve seen this before in other Star Trek games but the concept fortunately runs deeper this time. The game is definitely aimed at fans of the franchise and besides the famous spacecraft and characters it also includes highlights from the films and series. Among other things we got a demonstration of the classic space duel between Kirk and Khan from Star Trek II ("revenge is a dish best served cold").

The developers haven’t revealed any details of a background story, but if it’s supposed to cover all highlights from 40 years of Star Trek it’s going to be stretched thinner than Maris from Frasier. It is clear, however, that the singleplayer portion of the game spans from Enterprise over Original Series to Next Generation. The player will advance in levels to eventually end up as admiral commanding a fleet of ships. The game contains 60 spacecrafts in total and four playable races including the Borg.

A spacecraft for a controller

The gameplay in Legacy is pretty similar to Starfleet Command. You see the spacecrafts from the outside and maneuver them somewhat like submarines. You must constantly keep your strongest energy shields towards your enemy and you have to make sure to keep him within your angle of fire.

Legacy is more action oriented than Starfleet Command though. A lot of the tactical elements are cut and adapted to consoles, which makes the flow better and enables you to focus 100 percent on the combat.

With that said, you still have a range of exciting options at your disposal (including a cool warp function). You are also able to direct energy between your weapons, shields and your engines.

The graphics engine can handle much more extensive space combat. We were shown a spectacular battle between the Federation and the Romulans, interrupted by a Borg cube. The two fighting parts had to (unsurprisingly) join forces to destroy the newly arrived enemy.

Good looking models

A highlight in the graphics department is the damage modeling that Mad Doc has equipped the many spacecrafts with. There appears to be an extra layer under the ships’ exterior layer which adds visual depth to the already impressive ship models. You are actually able to see inside the spacecraft when for instance a torpedo breaches the hull. In terms of sound the developers still needed to get agreements in place with the actors from the various series.

The multiplayer contains elements from DS9 and Voyager besides the ships from the singleplayer portion of the game and supports up to eight players with four ships each. The developers are also considering adding downloadable historical missions and the pc-version should be very mod-friendly (taking note of the impressive Bridge Commander mods).

The demonstration and following test flight of Legacy was unfortunately too short for us to get a thorough impression of the game. The space combat seemed exciting but also very familiar given their similarity to Starfleet Commander. Nevertheless this is primarily a game for fans and they won’t be disappointed when they get access to highlights from 40 years of science fiction history. Star Trek: Legacy will come out this fall for pc and Xbox 360.


Source: Boomtown DK
English version by: Julian Henlov (Progrock)