Star Trek: Legacy

Star Trek is one of the most popular space “”sci-fi” franchises around. While Star Wars tends to occupy itself with huge battles and survival, Star Trek focuses more on exploitation of the universe (although it does have its fair share of conflict and space battles). Star Trek has had numerous books, television shows, movies, comic books, and games based on this franchise. Now the developers at Bethesda have developed a new Star Trek game that encompasses all five Star Trek television series timelines.

Star Trek: Legacy gives players the opportunity to play as all five captains (Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway.) of the popular Star Trek television series. In order to not give away too much of the plot, I will keep spoilers to a complete minimum. The story starts with Captain Archer as he attempts to help a female Vulcan scientist named T'Uerell. As the story goes on you will have to figure out a mystery that will span from Archer all the way through to Picard.

There are three game modes that you can participate in. First off is the story mode which I very briefly outlined for you above. You will have to go fight the Romulans, Klingons, and even Borg ships to uncover what is transpiring in the story. Next up is the skirmish mode, which allows you to command either a Federation, Klingon, Borg, or Romulan ship. There are two modes to play in here, either a pure death match or a co-op wave which allows you to take on waves of enemies. Last up is multiplayer mode where you and up to four friends can either play a deathmatch or a co-op wave mode.

There are a couple of things wrong with the story mode. The first is that as you progress in the game you will have to ability to buy various ships in the game. The problem is that even before you know what your mission will be you will have to choose to buy a ship, so you could buy ships that are completely worthless for that particular mission. Also another complaint is that as you progress through the game into later chapters it gets harder and more expensive to get some of the ships you need to complete the missions with.

One thing that will irritate a lot of gamers out there is the serious lack of mid-mission save points. The reason why this is such a bothersome issue is that some missions might take up to an hour or so to complete because there are a lot of things that you will have to do on each mission. At times the missions get really difficult towards the end and if you mess up just one little thing you will have to start all over from the beginning. In this day and age where it is hard to allocate enough time to play a hour long mission without mid-game save is simply unacceptable.

Since you will be doing a lot of fighting in this game it is only natural that the combat is discussed. Unlike many other plane fighting games out there, Star Trek battles require more maneuvering in order to get the kill. Since your ships are so big it takes a while to get it turned around to get the correct angle to fire those phasers and torpedoes, so the majority of the time you will be trying to turn your ship around, but it gets easier as the game progresses. Also during the mission you will have access to the engineering screen which allows you to prioritize the field repairs on a ship, in order to make sure your ship doesn’t get destroyed.

One thing that I really enjoyed in this game is that you can direct the secondary power to three different places to help give you an edge in a particular area. First off you can boost the engines to let you get to some place faster. Another one is the weapons, which means each shot fired is more powerful. The last thing is the shields, which help prevent enemy fire from breaking through. This is one thing that was always shown on the television series and I was happy to see that it is available here as well.

The graphics for this game are both good and bad. First off the level of detail on all of the ships is really good, especially the ones that are under your direct command. Another good point is the lighting and detail for all of the phaser fire, warp stretching, and shimmering photon torpedoes you fire at your enemies. The small effects in this game make it seems like you are in the series.

Now that we have talked about the good, let’s discuss the bad. First off there is a lot of dead space not used in the game this is bad for many reasons but the main one being it is hard to tell how fast you are going because there is nothing really to gauge it against. Next up is the really lame explosions that just break up the ships in huge pieces that look out of place, and this really makes the game not look “next generation.”

The developers did a really good job with the audio for this game. One of the main reasons why it is so good is that they were able to get all five captains from the television series to reprise their roles. This gives the game a large sense of authenticity and makes it more fun to play as you hear the familiar voices issue various commands. The developers did a really great job of with the sound effects and the music for this game. It is very hard to tell that these things were not taken directly from the "Star Trek database." Players will enjoy all of the sounds, from laser fire to the music that will keep them going through all the missions, until they see the credits roll by.

Star Trek: Legacy is rated everyone 10+ for fantasy violence and mild language.

Gameplay: 7.1
The gameplay remains fun and the challenge the AI gives you will give you a run for your money. What I really dislike is the lack of mid-mission saves, because one false move means you get to replay the entire mission.

Graphics: 6.9
The graphics are pretty decent asthe ships are decent; but after that the rest of the game is just really bland and generic.

Sound: 8.5
Having all of the television show’s actors reprise their captain roles is a real treat and they deliver the lines really well. The sound effects and music also complement the game and feels like it belongs in the Star Trek universe.

Difficulty: Medium
Star Trek: Legacy will be slightly challenging for you in the beginning of the game, but as you go though the game it will get easier.

Concept: 8.2
I really like how the developers tied all five Star Trek series into this one game and it actually having a fluid story. Another nice treat was having the ability to control all of the various ships that you get to see in the television shows.

Multiplayer 6.8
This game offers a decent multiplayer where up to four people can go at it on either a deathmatch or co-op wave mode. It is a shame that the multiplayer isn’t more in-depth.

Overall: 7.2
Star Trek: Legacy is a decent Star Trek game for the Xbox 360. If you are a fan of the series and would like to try a game that spans the entire Star Trek television series then you will want to check this game out. A few flaws prevent this game from becoming a sure-fire hit, but fans of the series will eat this game up.