After a protracted beta test, Star Trek Online finally makes it out of space dock. So is it set to live long and prosper?
Initial impressions are promising, with Cryptic's usual flair for deep characterisation allowing you to define just about every aspect of your character. You can choose your species (including human, Vulcan, Liberated Borg or your own customised alien breed), career, gender and a wide range of body and head shapes. Each of these has two preset attributes and two more to pick yourself. After this, it's straight down to business, familiarising yourself with moving around, using standard WASD controls and the right mouse button to look around.
Set a few decades after the plot of Star Trek Nemesis, the universe is once again at war, between the Federation and Klingons (your two playable factions) and the Borg back to its usual aggressive tendencies. Missions usually involve picking a star system, planet or mobile target which triggers the attached events. These can be solo, group or public, but they're always linear in nature and if you return to them once completed, exactly the same events will play out. Successful missions are rewarded with experience points, currency or equipment, with points to be spent either on yourself or your crew of which you can unlock up to three other bridge officers to command as you level up.
The trouble is, whether you choose space or planetary missions, combat lies at the heart of them all. On land, this involves stabbing the number keys or left mouse button, whereas from the Bridge the Spacebar fires phasers and CTRL launches torpedoes. As for interaction, hitting the F key takes care of almost every object and although there are plenty of NPCs hanging around, disappointingly few of them could be communicated with. Ultimately, STO's concentration on combat seems to overlook half the appeal of Star Trek. Where is the exploration, the moral dilemmas, the sense of the unexpected? Perhaps hiding in some later mission but certainly not adequately displayed in the bulk of the game.
In fairness, as this review was based on the beta test, we're missing the human factor which can make all the difference between a good and a doomed MMO. However, it's hard to see how even a server full of passionate Trekkers will compensate for the linear missions and the fact that, impressive though the space battles are, there's precious little to do other than fight.
