Video Game Review: Star Trek Online

Are you a Trekkie? Have you seen every episode ever at least 7 times? Do you have fights with friends over how long a red shirt can survive in an episode? If you can't answer those questions, fear not because Star Trek Online does not require that kind of fan devotion.

Star Trek Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) that will be officially opening on Feb 2, 2010. Those that have pre-ordered the game will be able to play from Friday on through. Given the number of fans the universe of Star Trek inhabits, expectations are high.

The first question you might ask is the first thing I addressed here. Is it a uber-fan targeted game. And the answer is no. It is not focused on any 1 Star Trek series or movie, nor is it restricted to information and actions that only the ultimate fan might know. The MMO is actually more casual gamer based, and something anyone could enjoy from die hard fans to those with even no knowledge of Star Trek, if such a thing were possible.

With that main question out of the way, what is STO like? Is it similar to other MMO's? Is it worth the time? Is it a complete fiasco like Star Wars Online?

I would say that STO (Star Trek Online) is a decent MMO. In a way it's kind of like jumping into an episode of Star Trek, any of them, for a while. You really get the feeling that you are part of the Star Trek universe.

STO is similar to most MMO's in that you can modify characters in a dozen differnt ways. You can have aliens of your own creation, make a 8' gaint Vulcan female character, or a tiny Bajoran for that matter. You can select from a host of clothes and hairstyles, even adjust the length of fingers and/or scars and skin color if you wish.

There are 2 main character races in the game, Klingons and Federation. If you have pre-ordered the game and taken the option to sign up for the lifetime subscription (a limited time offer as of now) you also have the option to create a Borg character - so expect that to be an option in the future along with Romulans I expect. So far I have only played the Federation side of the game.

Once you create a character you go through a tutorial that places you right in the middle of the action. In STO you are told up front that this is the universe outside of the latest revisioned movie, you are in the original universe where Jame T. Kirk is Shatner and all the television shows are derived from. (We are told this by Leonard Nimoy's Spock no less) Thus you are in the middle of another Klingon-Federation war, with the Dominion, Romulans, Borg, and everyone else involved as well.

Within minutes of starting the game you get to become a Captain of your own starship. Don't worry that you are starting as a Ensign (the lowest rank officer) since whoever is in command is automatically Captain. The logic of this upgrade in position makes sense and feels organic.

The initial battles, on ship and in space, are pretty easy. Just enough to keep you busy enough to pay attention to what is the next button you want to mash. The ground game, where you get to roam with an away team and fight phaser to phaser or hand-to-hand, is decent but hardly the kind of battles you get in say WoW. Then again, the focus of the game is really not the ground game. It's primarily about space.

Focusing on the ground play for a bit, you get an away team that is initially just 1 other character. The character is similar to pets in other MMO's or NPC characters you have limited control over. They can heal you in battle, set up turrets and provide additional firepower, and other similar background tasks. So far the ground game is decent but not thrilling.

Space on the other hand is what it's all about. That is where the game excells. Even in the initial levels of the game you get the feel of running around and fighting the good fight just like James T. himself. The controls do take a bit of getting used to as a fight in space is 3-dimensional. So you can fly over, around, and under other ships in space. I only did it onece, but you can also bump inot another ship, though other space items like asteroids are not collidable.

There a lots of GUI controls when you are in space, but they are organic in that their use is logical, the size is not too large to interfere with the game, and the information is easily understood at a glance.

The graphics of flying through space are superb. You get a feeling of really being out there. That space is huge. And you get to do this via an over the shoulder view of your ship. It really works well. That alone would make this game worth the money.

But like any new MMO there are detractions. They aren't so much in the gameplay as in other places. The pacing of some missions are slow. Flying through space takes time (when you are in a planetary system or in the Warp zone to another galaxy). You don't just instantly pop up against whatever, you need to find it. When in a planetary system with gas and asteroids, it can take a couple of minutes to find what you are looking for if you are moving at less than top speed.

Another issue is the specializations. There are 3 - Tactical officer (warrior class), Science (magic user class), and Engineering (support/ranged class). You can be any of the 3 and you will have a set of bridge officers that will have at least one of each of these titles. This allows you to focus and enhance certain aspects of your ship and crew on the ground. But at least early on, you don't get a feel for what effect that really has on your ship or in ground battles. Yes there are buffs and weapon specializations, but the need for one or the other isn't clear early on.

The biggest issue I had is the rank and promotion system. You get skill trees instead of skill levels used in most MMO's. That system was a fiasco in Star Wars Online. In STO it's not too clear exactly what you want to take on as a skill, how high you should make it go, and what benefit you are getting from choosing one option over another. But you must take on new skills becuase your characters rank, and thus ability to gain more ships, better crew, improved weapons, ect are based on rank.

Overall playing STO is kind of like being the star of your own television show. You are the Captain in charge, you set the course to travel thru space and fight the good fight. It's the kind of game that I would not want to play for 3 days in a row (but likely would like all MMO's I own), but surely would play 3x a week for a few hours each time.

These are just the early impressions of playing the game for about 8 hours. This is very early in any MMO and so there is much more to evaluate. But as MMO's go, this is a great start and an indication of a solid game that is worth the time investment any MMO player knows goes with building a good character.

Review of first 5 levels of Tabula Rasa

There are many Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games out there these days. There is the now classic Everquest, the hugely popular World of Warcraft (WoW), the movie and book inspired Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO), and several others as well. In the near future this genre, once thought a fad, expects to add 3 more major titles and one has just opened for the holiday season. I will discuss the MMO that just went live – Tabula Rasa.

Tabula Rasa is a new idea in the MMO genre. This computer game is similar to standard MMO’s in that it has thousands of players from around the world on at any time. Player can customize avatars, receive fetch missions, and kill lots of computer controlled baddies. But there is a major twist in the now common theme in this game. Unlike the majority of MMO’s in this one you are in the not-to-far future.

The game takes place after an alien race called the Bane has attacked the Earth. Relatively small portions of the planet’s population are able to escape, with the aid of an ancient benevolent race of aliens, and we are fighting to regain our home planet. That’s the simplified back-story.

There is a huge amount of shooting in this game. In many ways it is a FPS (first person shooter), but it never feels to individualized. While soloing is possible there are times when a team makes life easier, but I’ll get to that.

In terms of installation, expect to spend about 2 ½ hour to get everything and to be up to date. The software downloads relatively quickly; you only need 1 CD, but the updates after that will take quite a while. You can spend part of that time creating an account so you can play the game (which is not mentioned where to go for the account or that registration is separate of the installation process). You can also get a chance to read the relatively average sized rules guide. I would have preferred a larger book, with bigger fonts, but it’s not terrible. The booklet is also not that informative, but with MMO’s they never really are.

Once you’ve set up the game and gotten an account you can jump right in. There are only 4 serves so far, and all the US servers (3 of them) are moderately full. You may need to try more than once to get a connection. It took me 2 tries and about 3 minutes to get in, which is not terrible (I have a cable connection). From there you create your first character.

Character creation is simple and easy. Note that the last name you use will apply to all other characters you create on that server. There is a decent about of diversity in skin tones, facial looks, and size of your character. I am upset that there was only 1 option for hair for African Americans, braids (at least for a male character). I doubt every Black guy in the future will have braided hair; some of us will also not be bald. Another option in there would have been nice. That aside the system was fairly decent.

And then you are in the game. The tutorial is decent, and you figure out the basic shoot and duck basic that is essential for the game. In very little time you will be in the middle of a firefight (with support thankfully) and that will answer more questions than most anything else. Experience is easy to get overall, with little questions about kills. Helping others is fine, and indeed often welcomed. Before you know it you will be out of the training area and in the game world proper in no time at all.

One thing that you should keep in mind, always look for some form of cover if possible. Cover reduces damage you take and is critical when you have multiple enemies (which are normally the case). While initial enemies are dumb enough to stand in the open, further up the line they are getting various types of cover and attacking in groups large enough to kill you if you just stand in the middle of a clearing.

There is a lot of tactical thought to this game that you do not always find in a FPS. Cover, flanking, weapon types, inherent weaknesses, and back-up are all critical in this game. There are several types of weapons in the game from the start. There are EMP weapons for mechanical targets, fire, cold, bullets, electricity and more. Thankfully you have an easily identifiable and selectable weapon array. You can switch on the fly between 5 weapons of your choice. I advise picking up an EMP, and at least 2 pistols. I prefer the rifle, with longer range, but the shotgun gets a lot of use too.

You will need to pay attention to range, as it affects damage (as does moving and shooting or crouching). Targeting is simple and range is included in the target information. The HUD interface is pretty simple, though not quite intuitive. You won’t be lost on what ability or weapon you are using, though you may wind up switching weapons by accident. Also be aware of overheating your weapon and reloading. Once you forget you will know it and probably not encounter the problem again, with proper attention.

The crafting system takes work, seeking the proper ingredients for an item. I have yet to get everything I need to make anything yet. But that is more random luck than anything else it seems. The abilities are useful but not a major item for me so far.

Gaining the first 5 levels of the game should be pretty easy, taking around 3 hours of play. Leveling the character is pretty straight forward and decisions on what class you ultimately will take on does not occur until level 5. Thus you have time to figure out what you like and prefer without locking in at the start. As you progress you ultimately start to lock into certain types of class but you have several options along the way.

Money is based on kills, and looting. There is no huge shortage on that end. And you should easily have enough money after a mission or 2 to afford all the ammo you will need (buy several thousand at a time, it gets used up fast) and still have plenty left over.

Missions are the basics you would expect, and most are of average difficulty. Occasionally you will have a mission or 2 where you need to make moral choices, but at least the early effects of these choices are not significant. EXP rewards for the completion of missions is good as well. Death has not been a major issue, but these are low levels.

The biggest problems with the MMO at this time are the lack of servers and glitches. The game is buggy. My system has 250Mb or disk space and 2 Mb Ram and I am still glitchy, running about 95% of CPU. There are geometric pixel flashes, and problems viewing water. This is at normal settings. Lag is occasionally bad, but not deadly depending on what you are fighting and where. Some of the missions are bugged as well.

All of the technical issues are known and being worked on. It’s nowhere near the initial issues WoW or other games had when they first went live. Considering all that is happening on the screen at one time, it’s no surprise at the difficulties. A lot more his happening at any given time than most raids on other systems. Expect that there will be down time as well because there are matches being made on an almost daily basis right now. Most are short and take about 20 minutes to 1 hour.

Overall this is an enjoyable MMO, with several differences that make the game look interesting. It’s playable and definitely different each time you play, even in the same area. The early levels are straight forward and fun. There is a lot of strategy for those who want it, and enough explosions and shooting for those who don’t. The community is intelligent and mature.

As long as you have patience, and willing to ride out the initial starting problems (that happen in every MMO for the first month or 2) you should have a nice time, and enjoy a very different change of pace.

I would not recommend the game for young players (under 15). Everyone else can have a great time.