Star Trek Online

 PC
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 743 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 373 out of 743
  2. Mixed: 111 out of 743
  3. Negative: 259 out of 743
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  1. Maitrify
    Jul 16, 2022
    0
    Incredibly archaic game. Graphics from the late 90s, mechanics from MMOs earlier than WoW. No cross-faction gameplay except for end-game content. F2P but everything is micro-transactions similar to SWTOR. It's also pretty obvious which things are new/recently developed versus stuff that was introduced in the first year. Nothing has been updated to the level that the new content is at.Incredibly archaic game. Graphics from the late 90s, mechanics from MMOs earlier than WoW. No cross-faction gameplay except for end-game content. F2P but everything is micro-transactions similar to SWTOR. It's also pretty obvious which things are new/recently developed versus stuff that was introduced in the first year. Nothing has been updated to the level that the new content is at.

    Just . . . horrible.    … Expand
  2. amazing666
    Jun 29, 2021
    0
    i wouldn't recommend this game to anyone yeah its really good game if you can get in and stay in, the game has lots of bugs witch support are not interested in fixing, i spent a lot money playing this game and we get a patch we have to download before playing so i download then i get a black screen every time i try to get in game, id being playing star trek online for over a year, thei wouldn't recommend this game to anyone yeah its really good game if you can get in and stay in, the game has lots of bugs witch support are not interested in fixing, i spent a lot money playing this game and we get a patch we have to download before playing so i download then i get a black screen every time i try to get in game, id being playing star trek online for over a year, the support say its my computer that's the problem and they cant fix the problem i have to buy another computer to play, my computer was new when i started playing its a gaming computer 16gb quad core with 2gb graphics card, they wont give me my money back as its there patch that locked me out i didn't change anything on my computer, if i was you i wouldn't play or spend money on this game… Expand
  3. Dirkstorm
    Jun 9, 2021
    0
    I generally dont write game reviews. As a rule I figure people will figure it out themselves in no time but twice now Ive seen things bad enough that I feel people should be warned in advance.

    Ive been gaming since before most people knew what a computer was and Ive only seen worse ONCE in the history of gaming. I literally have code in the very first MMO type game that only military    I generally dont write game reviews. As a rule I figure people will figure it out themselves in no time but twice now Ive seen things bad enough that I feel people should be warned in advance.

    Ive been gaming since before most people knew what a computer was and Ive only seen worse ONCE in the history of gaming. I literally have code in the very first MMO type game that only military and DARPA researchers had access to.

    Iv'e watched this game for a few years on and off while playing others that are far more stable and less greedy/grindy. Its not getting better, its getting worse, a lot worse. Let me explain and be very specific.

    The game looks pretty good at first. Seems fun at first.

    Then the big picture kicks in and it really starts to suck.

    MASSIVE amounts of crashing completely, often in the middle of something you spent hours on.

    Huge SLOW load times and data hog. Constantly updating the same stuff again and again.

    Worst of all is their credit card transactions are not reliable and the zen points you pay for just randomly disappear and all you get back from customer service is LIP SERVICE.

    Even when they document that a bug did occur and they have other victims they dont replace what you lose. As far as I am concerned they are nothing but a big organized rip off that should be shut down for credit card fraud. This game has turned into a total rip off the way Evony was before it was deservedly shut down.

    These people should be sued. Ever since they got the STD (space disease known as Discovery) its been a total cash grab of pay to win credit card commandos, you get lousy ships unless you pay AT LEAST 30 dollars per ship and they have to spend at least 100 dollars more to get the gear to configure it.

    ITS NOTHING BUT SCAM AFTER SCAM AFTER SCAM. All while pushing the preaching virtue signalling hype from that brainwashed idiot Abrahms.

    Even if you can avoid paying money, suffer through the lag and slow loads and bugs, you still have to avoid huge parts of the game that are nothing but JJ-verse trash with bad voice acting often by original crappy cast and all the constant pushing of their thinly veiled political agenda along with the stupidest looking ships in the history of all of star trek.

    STO SUCKS. Disco Sucks. STO = STD = A predatory blight on the gaming community.    … Expand
  4. StarDustDrake
    Mar 4, 2020
    1
    While I initially liked the game because of the overall gameplay mechanics in space battles and I have nothing to say against ground base combat mechanics, mainly because I really don't care, I uninstalled the game only 60 hours in. Out of that 60 hours, only 2-3 hours went to progression in campaign, the rest of those hours went to restarting missions because of bugs, doing same thingWhile I initially liked the game because of the overall gameplay mechanics in space battles and I have nothing to say against ground base combat mechanics, mainly because I really don't care, I uninstalled the game only 60 hours in. Out of that 60 hours, only 2-3 hours went to progression in campaign, the rest of those hours went to restarting missions because of bugs, doing same thing over and over again to get a chance to advance only to find out that during the delta quadrant voth campaign you get stuck on ridicelously hard mission. and thats hard on normal, not elite. without a tier 6 ship you might as well not attempt that mission. it's insane.

    Oh and guess what? t6 ships are fleet only, but all the fleets are big guys so you can't actually contribute to them, or zen only, which again you have to farm months just for 1 ship. that alone won't quarantee your passage through the mission, as youtube guiodes all show that it takes enourmous amount of time just to be able to actually get some progress on the mission.

    At this point it's only factors ledft are PvE, PVP arenas and patrols. oh...and guess what: you start a patrol, they add some random guy with you . you can't kick him. and if you leave you will be kicked from map. so you end up contesting for exp and loot. hell no.

    thats the point i uninstalled the game. was stuck, tired of bugs(skipped half ther missions because they got stuck at some point or you couldn't even start them), and quite frankly when you take out the story, the game is so linear it's not even worth a try.    … Expand
  5. TLRoff
    Jan 31, 2020
    0
    This is not a good game. It is a cash grab aimed at star trek fans. It's has bits and pieces that are amazing, It even has some fantastic story, but the level of greed and outright dishonesty is a blight on the IP. Space combat is all about gear and to get great gear all you have do a bit of grinding and give them money. I could have been a fantastic MMO but for cryptic studio's it wasThis is not a good game. It is a cash grab aimed at star trek fans. It's has bits and pieces that are amazing, It even has some fantastic story, but the level of greed and outright dishonesty is a blight on the IP. Space combat is all about gear and to get great gear all you have do a bit of grinding and give them money. I could have been a fantastic MMO but for cryptic studio's it was never about making a fantastic MMO. It was about making fantastic amounts of money, and still is. I have a life time membership to this game and I deeply regret aver spending the money on it. It stopped being "fun" years ago. I also strongly suspect that one the US Government finally gets anti loot box laws passed this game will likely shut down, along with it's owning studio as they will no longer be able to sustain them selves via micro transactions around buying zen to buy keys to open loot boxes.

    Space combat is all about gear and face rolling the keyboard. There is no real skill involved at all.
    Once there was some skill involved but power creep and feature creep put paid to that long long ago. It's sad really. I could have been so much more. If "Star Trek" were not part of the title, this game would have failed years ago. It's really beyond bad.    … Expand
  6. Ricewynd
    Mar 10, 2019
    1
    Star Trek online is a sad, abused relic of a dying age. A creation followed with much interest during its initial announcement back in 2005 had the unfortunate curse of being born during the great MMO craze in which every online game was "like World of Warcraft but......" followed by some gimmick a marketing company had sworn was the real reason behind WoWs success.
    Star Trek Online was    Star Trek online is a sad, abused relic of a dying age. A creation followed with much interest during its initial announcement back in 2005 had the unfortunate curse of being born during the great MMO craze in which every online game was "like World of Warcraft but......" followed by some gimmick a marketing company had sworn was the real reason behind WoWs success.
    Star Trek Online was therefore born devoid of any true originality as much of the new and experimental concepts behind it were dropped in favour of the same bland safe option being pumped out by every other MMO at the time.
    Nine years of development and now within a market to which WoW is no longer King, would expect to see some of these older concepts realized as many other MMOs experiment with gameplay and features in an attempt to keep themselves relevant. Star Trek Online has proven to be unique is doing the exact opposite.
    Nine years of development have not been kind to Star Trek Online and the game now represents a Frankenstein's monster of star trek-ish concepts lumped together into a game so riddled with bugs it makes Fallout 76 seem a well-polished game by comparison.
    The game is unapologetically top heavy, with end game users expected to shell out up to $120 for high tier ships and ship packs, some of which are only obtainable through a loot box system, in order to stand a fair chance vs the end game enemies or compete in PvP and PvE tournaments and events.
    That said, the premium end game content is accessible to anyone and though users who opt to keep their free ship may suffer a nail-biting frustrating experience each time they are forced into combat, it does showcase an array of masterfully created maps, photorealistic characters and well-written dialogue that is only let down by the voice actors themselves (more on that later).
    This is in stark contrast to the games early and mid content in which first-time users can immerse themselves into an experience so laden with bugs, graphical glitches and popping artefacts one could be forgiven for believing they were playing a pre-alpha build.
    The graphics of the early content is more reminiscent of the PS2 era, missions and quests are frequently bugged and often have to be replayed multiple times in order to complete, several cutscenes are either missing or distorted beyond all recognition, NPCs frequently switch between bad lip sync and static mouths depending on camera angles opting instead to simply bob their heads to the words as if they were rocking out to a particularly heavy metal anthem.
    The remainder of the game represents a rollercoaster of ham-fisted bugged experiences overlayed by consistent connection issues with at least two disconnections per hour considered the average.

    Various characters from the Star Trek franchise are shoe-horned in without context, in several cases replacing previously existing NPCs to which the players bridge crew will still often refer to, the dialogue never having been changed due to, what I can only presume is, laziness on part of the developers. Such issues are often frequent and NPCs throughout the game will frequently refer to events that have not happened, characters that do not exist or referring to the player character as the wrong faction, species and gender.
    The addition of characters from the television series, as voiced by their original actors, is designed as a nostalgia fest for fans, but comes over more as a rather cringy attempt worthy of a fan film, with the only real difference being that fan films typically have higher production values than Star Trek Online.
    Players are forced into missions which revolve entirely around these characters, the most significant example being the Dominion player opening quest line which features a who's who of characters both main and re-occurring from the Television Series Deep Space Nine, most of these characters feature little relevance to the plot other than to deliver exposition to the player and many are clearly phoning in their performances.
    That said special credit must be made to LaVar Burton who's ham-fisted performance where he delivers each line of dialogue in such a monotone way you could be forgiven for believing him to genuinely be on the other end of a phone reading off a card. His special mission encompasses exactly 5 minutes of gameplay and during its debut STO ran an add campaign showcasing a series of podcasts LaVar Burton was in, in which he proclaimed his character 'Geordi La Forge' was gay and it was only because of "the oppression by white men" could the audience not see this.

    The rest of the game is Star Trek by name only, it is sad to see the game in such a sorry state as it has become clear the developers are only interested in pursuing the creation of end-game content and over-powered 'premium' pay-to-win packs for the small percentage of players who will buy them.
    Recommend you avoid.    … Expand
  7. Camalus
    Sep 28, 2018
    1
    Would be a much more fun game if there wasn't a network of botters using the game as a place to make money by selling in game credits on the black market, not only do they lower prices on the exchange by offering prices well below cost, they have multiple accounts, old accounts are sold for cheap and people can pretend to be your friend while trying to mine you for info, and whatever theyWould be a much more fun game if there wasn't a network of botters using the game as a place to make money by selling in game credits on the black market, not only do they lower prices on the exchange by offering prices well below cost, they have multiple accounts, old accounts are sold for cheap and people can pretend to be your friend while trying to mine you for info, and whatever they can beg from you. I had one of these people shadow me for 8 months and Its really very disgusting what people are capable of while hiding behind the internet.. Its a free to play business model so there is no entrance barrier which allows for ultimately infinite accounts for any given player. Heres how this works, they bot the dilithium the in game currency that can be traded for zen, the paid currency, they then use the zen to buy lockbox keys and sell them on the exchange for EC (electronic credits) the in game currency that cant be traded for paid currency. They then bundle the EC on sites like ebay or sites they set up themselves and sell it for pennies on the dollar basically. They not only sell EC they sell the starships, keys, whatever else they can get their hands on. The game is more of a farm for thieves so beware there are a bunch that like to hang out in Earth Space Dock and you will never know which fleet leaders are botters just looking for your free dilithium contributions. Best advice I can give is stay away from this game at all costs there is no way to know who's who in a game that has no entrance barriers and old accounts are used to fake tenure (as new accounts have a number added after them, old accounts do not have a number). Steer clear its a trap. the game is fun but you are best to avoid it entirely.… Expand
  8. tigirius
    Aug 25, 2018
    0
    Before I begin, let me tell all the folks here that I am a founder (supported the game pre-beta did testing galore), and I was also one of the original lifetime members. In my time playing this game they gave false hope by making changes to the game that supported new skills and new ships which was fine until I found out that all of these were behind a pay wall.
    Cons:
    No exploration.    Before I begin, let me tell all the folks here that I am a founder (supported the game pre-beta did testing galore), and I was also one of the original lifetime members. In my time playing this game they gave false hope by making changes to the game that supported new skills and new ships which was fine until I found out that all of these were behind a pay wall.
    Cons:
    No exploration.
    RNG boxes for ships.
    Bugs that have existed in the game since beta have never been fixed.
    Excuses fill the forums as to why these things were never considered.
    Game content is basically on automatic mode which means it's not really high quality.
    Several time sinks taking months to complete such as advancement in reputations crafting etc.
    The last straw, was the forced inclusion of the failed show called STD (aka Discovery).

    Instead of supporting their player base those in charge have been slowly milking them for all they are worth. Every DLC that comes out includes boxes for which you have to buy RNG keys. You don't get enough of the box currency to do anything meaningful like building up a proper set of skip specific items such as console weapon combos. Those in charge are interested only in your money and nothing else.

    If you talk about the precious (aka ST Discovery) you will be attacked by the forum mods. They will call you a bigot and ban you for speaking your mind. That's equivalent to AT&T deciding that they will cancel your service because you said a naughty word. I wouldn't waste your time.    … Expand
  9. Myselfandyou
    Jul 1, 2018
    1
    This game started pretty nicely, with many promises of an actual decent star trek videogame. Unfortunately that feeling only lasted for about 1-2 years until the game become f2p. The game as in 2018 is a complete mess, filled with bugs, broken content, terrible broken animations, broken mechanics and abilities, lag, rubberbanding, etc, etc, you name it... and its a total embarrasement forThis game started pretty nicely, with many promises of an actual decent star trek videogame. Unfortunately that feeling only lasted for about 1-2 years until the game become f2p. The game as in 2018 is a complete mess, filled with bugs, broken content, terrible broken animations, broken mechanics and abilities, lag, rubberbanding, etc, etc, you name it... and its a total embarrasement for the star trek franchise. I never played a game so broken in 20 years. Its a shame that CBS will never care about the franchise to avoid cheap and crappy companies like pwe/cryptic (who avoid completely quality control and bug fixing, and they keep releasing broken content as a regular rule), as long as they care only about $$$. The worst part is, the community of this game. Filled with rich kids and fanboys that keep giving pwe/cryptic money without even expecting a minimum quality control on the product. Ridiculous. I will never recommend this game to anyone, unless it is my worst enemy. lol. The only positive aspect of STO is that it has a great free to play model, but everything else.. oh my, run from it like a plague, seriously.… Expand
  10. TVMA_Doc
    May 8, 2018
    0
    Buggy game, but latest patch brought bugs to an entirely new galaxy. Patcher has glitched, wasting 620 GB of data and costing me $200 in overages with Comcast. PWI refuses to guarantee a fix, give any sort of reparation (even in game items) or apologize in the least. Widespread according to support forum.

    Use at your own risk. It could cause you MASSIVE data overage fees!
  11. Shawndroid
    Feb 26, 2018
    4
    The game is fine. I'm not a fan of MMO games in general, and missions seemed to be go to this location, press the action button, repeat. I also don't like that you can't pause the game when life interrupts.
  12. jamess1
    Aug 4, 2017
    1
    Long time star trek fan...watched the original series as it came out,and really loved DS 9 20 something years later.

    This "mmo" is an insult to star trek.Its easily one of the worst MMO's in the last 20 years.Its actually worse then matrix online was.Its actually worse then Pirates of the Burning sea....I think even star wars galaxies AFTER the NGE was better than star trek online....    Long time star trek fan...watched the original series as it came out,and really loved DS 9 20 something years later.

    This "mmo" is an insult to star trek.Its easily one of the worst MMO's in the last 20 years.Its actually worse then matrix online was.Its actually worse then Pirates of the Burning sea....I think even star wars galaxies AFTER the NGE was better than star trek online....

    ...free to play (install)...hell, they should have to pay people to play it.    … Expand
  13. Molvanian
    Dec 24, 2016
    0
    It's hard to find a game more deserving of a 5/10. It's fun, but it's marred with so many hundreds of flaws. Broken animations, lazy design, boring missions, tedious missions, bugs that haven't been fixed in EIGHT YEARS of being reported.

    It's obvious the owners do NOT care. It just pumps out new content, including new, pointless things to spend real money on, and leaves the old stuff    It's hard to find a game more deserving of a 5/10. It's fun, but it's marred with so many hundreds of flaws. Broken animations, lazy design, boring missions, tedious missions, bugs that haven't been fixed in EIGHT YEARS of being reported.

    It's obvious the owners do NOT care. It just pumps out new content, including new, pointless things to spend real money on, and leaves the old stuff an unsupported slog.

    That being said the game DOES have it's charm. There ARE good sections, areas with good pacing, the space combat IS fun. But there's so many bad things that COULD be fixed, could be fixed in a couple months... that just... aren't... that I can't give this game a higher grade. I honestly think the 6.2 it has at the time of writing is too high.    … Expand
  14. Lightangel
    Nov 10, 2016
    0
    BEWARE! Do not try the PC Version on Windows XP! After 6 Years (!!!) this is STILL THAT buggy, that it destroys your Windows Installation!!! (Corrputs install/uninstall Programs Manager). Problem is solvable, but NOT funny!

    Should be detected as Malware/Crapware by Anti-Virus Software!
  15. wakefield2
    Feb 23, 2016
    2
    Do you like star trek? do you like exploring the galaxy in your starship? discovering new species? settling diplomatic disputes? well than this is not the game for you!

    First a recount of my latest encounter with this games support: After playing this game for years and having beyond hundreds of hours into it, a glitch in the game deleted one of my ships and with it all of my gear,    Do you like star trek? do you like exploring the galaxy in your starship? discovering new species? settling diplomatic disputes? well than this is not the game for you!

    First a recount of my latest encounter with this games support:

    After playing this game for years and having beyond hundreds of hours into it, a glitch in the game deleted one of my ships and with it all of my gear, after contacting support and going back and forth for several days they ultimately told me there was nothing they were willing to do to help me... nothing at all.

    The bottom line is this is a dying MMO with nearly no effort put into it, there is NOTHING to do in the end game, which will only take you about a weekend to reach max level. The whole game should just be put out of its misery and cryptic should learn how to re-evaluate how the currently treat the long term players and supports of this game, especially that still pay money to play a free to play game... They are an inept company that doesn't care about its customers
    If they didn't have the star trek IP they would have gone out of business when Atari dumped them and part of me wishes they had...

    The game play is weak, pretty much all you have to do is spam the space bar until you win, the writing and acting in the game are some of the worst i have ever seen, almost every "new" mission involves either time travel, and let me sum up ALL of the games story lines in one phrase - "The iconians did it" - This hardly mentioned in the show race is apparently responsible for every single event that has ever happened in the galaxy and has become Cryptic's all purpose excuse for poor writing and zero imagination every story line just leads back to an : it was the iconians moment...
    There is nothing that makes Star Trek so wonderful and enjoyable in this game, no interactions with crew members, no dramatic writing, no exciting moments, no diplomatic responses to anything... simply power up shields - hit the space bar and pew pew to victory...

    I think my time with STO has come to an end, I recommend if you are a current player you get out before what happened to me happens to you and if your considering playing it please don't, or at the very least don't give them a single penny of your hard earned money it isn't worth it and Cryptic/Perfect world simply doesn't care about any of their players and sadly I don't think they ever will.    … Expand
  16. Vertigo_7
    Nov 8, 2015
    2
    The only positives this game has going for it are the ship models. The negatives start with the developer itself, Cryptic, known here after as Craptic. Craptic is just a horrible developer company with really bad customer service. They have 0 QA, their marketing deliberately misleads players in effort to get them to spend real money for their underwhelming video game items, and theirThe only positives this game has going for it are the ship models. The negatives start with the developer itself, Cryptic, known here after as Craptic. Craptic is just a horrible developer company with really bad customer service. They have 0 QA, their marketing deliberately misleads players in effort to get them to spend real money for their underwhelming video game items, and their customer service teams are basically paid to tell the customers "sorry, can't help you" when they run into a problem with STO.

    The game itself is fraught with bugs, some of which have been around since the game launched. Not that I'm expecting perfection, but at least some effort towards remediation would be deserved.

    Graphically, the game is unimpressive. STO has decent ship models but that's as far as it goes. The effects and animations are pretty lousy, like something I would expect from a 1990's video game. Game play is on par with the animations, unlike other MMO's, there's no strategy or tactics really to using abilities. You can just use ingame macro abilities to cycle every active ability you have as soon as its available and you've got a game where all you're doing is pressing a single key repeatedly.

    Bottom line is, for me, that Craptic isn't worthy of getting my hard earned cash. The only reason that STO has a player base at all is because its Star Trek, and not even close to canon Star Trek at that. Really do wish someone else would come along and make a real Star Trek game. It'd be better than this crap...    … Expand
  17. dmathismathis
    Oct 2, 2015
    1
    WARNING! this game (Star trek Online) has massive amounts of bugs in it. The game is constantly crashing computers/pc's, logging off players, missing items, support staff or lack-there-of not being of any help. EVERY week, there are issues w/ the game. At least once a week. The game becomes too repetitive due to the fact that its memory fails, so you will have to repeat the sameWARNING! this game (Star trek Online) has massive amounts of bugs in it. The game is constantly crashing computers/pc's, logging off players, missing items, support staff or lack-there-of not being of any help. EVERY week, there are issues w/ the game. At least once a week. The game becomes too repetitive due to the fact that its memory fails, so you will have to repeat the same missions, over and over again in order to advanced. Do not spend your money......I doubt these issues are going to get fixed anytime soon. Furthermore, do not play on a laptop. A fellow gamer made the mistake of playing Star Trek online on his Laptop and burned out his video card. Due to certain episodes being un-neccessarily long. Unfortunately, Arc/perfect world is running this franchise. Unless you absolutely need your Star trek fix, don't bother w/this game. Im beginning to regret ever starting it. Star trek online is more trouble than its worth… Expand
  18. Pendra
    Jun 28, 2015
    4
    Medicore game with some fun aspects. The space battles are good, but they just can't get the ground right. The AI is replaced by massive amount of HP. This means the enemies are dumb punchbags. I literally fell asleep multiple times while playing PVE. The PVP can be more fun, but hardly no one plays that mode.

    The foundry can be really fun, but the interface has major issues and it can    Medicore game with some fun aspects. The space battles are good, but they just can't get the ground right. The AI is replaced by massive amount of HP. This means the enemies are dumb punchbags. I literally fell asleep multiple times while playing PVE. The PVP can be more fun, but hardly no one plays that mode.

    The foundry can be really fun, but the interface has major issues and it can be hard to find the better stuff.

    The way PWI manages the game is terrible. The GRIND is awful and the lockbox gamble business is scam.    … Expand
  19. Bynr
    Apr 22, 2015
    0
    I wish to revise my rating from a 3 down to a 0. With the elimination of daily events, exploration clusters, easily puggable queues, and most recently simpler, solo dailies all of which rewarded reliable amounts of dilithium (in-game currency), there is nothing left of value here but Star Trek franchise nostalgia and name recognition of NPCs. These changes were inaugurated with the permaI wish to revise my rating from a 3 down to a 0. With the elimination of daily events, exploration clusters, easily puggable queues, and most recently simpler, solo dailies all of which rewarded reliable amounts of dilithium (in-game currency), there is nothing left of value here but Star Trek franchise nostalgia and name recognition of NPCs. These changes were inaugurated with the perma banning of one of the most prolific, intelligent, and outspoken player leaders as to remove resistance in advance (JKName). The devs seem only able to focus on ship sales via gamble boxes and even introduced a crafting system that included gambling and is the only means of obtaining highest level gear. The PvE queues have been made more difficult for less reward, the end game grind has been increased 10 fold since "Delta Rising", and the devs admit they have no idea how to make ground maps interesting. Five years in and Andoria is still a wasteland and nothing of meaning can be performed from your bridge. Did I mention zero exploration? The entire plotline revolving around Dyson Spheres and Iconian super beings disgusts me. The universe is too vast and underdeveloped to be presenting the players with demi-god adversaries that require canon races to evolve thousands of years technologically in days to compete with. Stupid design led to gear inflation/power creep and stupid writing has led to plot inflation. We're all Dr. Who now, time-traveling kings of space-time. Way to make the universe small!… Expand
  20. usersname5532
    Oct 14, 2014
    3
    This game continues to sicken me with every new expansion. The developers are putting out mediocre game cause the items are generally bugged. The company that manages the game is so money hungry and greedy it's just insane not to mention customer service means nothing to them. If you don't mind forking out thousands of dollars on a 'free to play' game then by all means or don't mindThis game continues to sicken me with every new expansion. The developers are putting out mediocre game cause the items are generally bugged. The company that manages the game is so money hungry and greedy it's just insane not to mention customer service means nothing to them. If you don't mind forking out thousands of dollars on a 'free to play' game then by all means or don't mind spending months online hours a day doing the same thing over and over go for it...if you a real gamer just find something else.… Expand
  21. vsector
    Sep 10, 2014
    3
    I'm a fan of Star Trek, so it saddens me to see the license squandered on such a carelessly built game. There should be a limit to corporate greed, but Star Trek Online is, unfortunately, not the utopia the Federation is based on.

    The story, the heart of main quest lines, is entirely forgettable. The plot points is interesting though cliche (war, shadow enemies, putting down    I'm a fan of Star Trek, so it saddens me to see the license squandered on such a carelessly built game. There should be a limit to corporate greed, but Star Trek Online is, unfortunately, not the utopia the Federation is based on.

    The story, the heart of main quest lines, is entirely forgettable. The plot points is interesting though cliche (war, shadow enemies, putting down rebellions), but poorly executed in game. The story is conveyed in a large block of text below a character portrait, with few animations, facial expressions, voice acting, or cutscenes to breath life into the story.

    Star Trek Online does provide a possible source of engagement: bridge officers. But they also squander it. The bridge officers lack personality, distinctiveness. The same text is repeated just with different portraits. This is partially mitigated by the Romulan expansion with a single permanent crew member, but the game is better served simply having a fixed crew for all missions for the sake of story then allowing the user to select their own after.

    The combat, particularly the ground combat, is a tedious affair. Moving 4 feet, engaging 10 enemies, then move another 4 feet, then engaging the SAME set of enemies. Repeat this for 8 more times before the 1st objective is complete. Then 2 more objectives to go! Nevermind the ground combat's mechanic complexity does not even extend beyond mashing attack and occasionally tossing out a special.

    The scenarios are uninspired; go here scan this, go here kill this, go here protect this. All missions will follow these same patterns; the only difference is order. Playing the game is an exercise in patience; the equivalent of chopping digital trees ad nauseam. Time spent on these missions is wasted.

    But the game breaker is the lack of polish. Icons do not line up properly with their description. Targeting is not fluid. The overall map does not relay where the next mission objective is. Numerous graphical glitches kill immersion. AI path finding and combat is broken. The list goes on.

    Yet, there is still something to love. The space combat IS fun. The details on the ship, even if not in anything else, is great. The concept of bridge officers is interesting. It's unfortunate these features were not fully fleshed out.

    There's still something here for Star Trek fans. But for anyone else, their money and time is better spent elsewhere.    … Expand
  22. siamoinballo
    May 7, 2014
    4
    Sconsiglio questo gioco perché nel complesso è assolutamente penoso. Con una grafica grezza e approssimativa, durante l'esplorazione a terra e nei combattimenti ci si sente come dei manichini impagliati, mentre in quelli spaziali si ha l'impressione di guidare una lavatrice di plastica senza alcuna consistenza. La crescita del personaggio è oscura e di difficile comprensione. RaggiungereSconsiglio questo gioco perché nel complesso è assolutamente penoso. Con una grafica grezza e approssimativa, durante l'esplorazione a terra e nei combattimenti ci si sente come dei manichini impagliati, mentre in quelli spaziali si ha l'impressione di guidare una lavatrice di plastica senza alcuna consistenza. La crescita del personaggio è oscura e di difficile comprensione. Raggiungere un amico nella stessa istanza per giocarci insieme avviene con la stessa probabilità di una vincita alla lotteria nell'arco di un'intera vita di un singolo essere umano. Durante i caricamenti l'ambiente scompare e per qualche decimo di secondo si vede il personaggio galleggiare nel vuoto dello spazio. Indicibile la nausea nel vedere la propria navicella infilarsi dentro un pianeta o rimbalzarci sopra come un cassonetto. In generale, il gioco non si distingue o addirittura scompare nell'enorme panorama videoludico dei multiplayer di massa, e questo è il difetto peggiore considerando che con un brand del genere si poteva fare sicuramente di meglio. Manca la traduzione in italiano. Un vero aborto.

    45/100    … Expand
  23. yeribach
    Apr 23, 2014
    3
    It's been a game with a very good premise, based on one of the favourite and most succesfull sci-fi franchises, but sadly it falls flat trying to stay genuine to the IP it represents. The game as of late has been gaining more and more generic sci-fi feel than actual Star Trek, the newer content is heavily grind focused and most of the development efforts seem to go into more and moreIt's been a game with a very good premise, based on one of the favourite and most succesfull sci-fi franchises, but sadly it falls flat trying to stay genuine to the IP it represents. The game as of late has been gaining more and more generic sci-fi feel than actual Star Trek, the newer content is heavily grind focused and most of the development efforts seem to go into more and more starships, rather than places to use them in.… Expand
  24. aala
    Apr 23, 2014
    1
    It originally started as a good concept but the game still feel better. It seems STO or Cryptic don't care about it's player base especially starting season 8. It has ground and space combat but their is no end-game content. The company stated they will not make end-game content. Additionally, admittedly the game elite mode is easy mode which I fail to see how it makes sense.It originally started as a good concept but the game still feel better. It seems STO or Cryptic don't care about it's player base especially starting season 8. It has ground and space combat but their is no end-game content. The company stated they will not make end-game content. Additionally, admittedly the game elite mode is easy mode which I fail to see how it makes sense.

    Exploration and ground combat is a joke. Any skills a player gained, the company has limited it to only 4 in which players will possibly be forced to use 4 skills out of 100 with the new reputation system.    … Expand
  25. Northstaroner
    Jan 12, 2014
    0
    The customer service is the worst I have ever seen. I got robbed by players in the game and all I got from customer service is "sorry" We are unable to nothing. another words go F your self you dumass customer who spend over $500 in the game. Never would I recommend this game too any one EVER. Thanks for NOTHING Customer service Incident: 140102-000​911
  26. ThePathOfDawn
    Dec 4, 2013
    1
    Pardon me, but Cryptic. I am a huge fan of ST, particularly Voyager. I was wondering how will they achieve the meaning of ST exploring. Well... They didn't. Such a small effort was put in this that it makes me sick. They made a single player shooting game. This is an online game with almost 0 multiplayer options. Although this is a mockery to star trek, after I haven't played a whilePardon me, but Cryptic. I am a huge fan of ST, particularly Voyager. I was wondering how will they achieve the meaning of ST exploring. Well... They didn't. Such a small effort was put in this that it makes me sick. They made a single player shooting game. This is an online game with almost 0 multiplayer options. Although this is a mockery to star trek, after I haven't played a while this game, I wanted again to drive the intrepid few more times. Well I couldn't, because Cryptic banned my account for some reason and wouldn't give me it back. Pathetic as they are, they even don't respect their players.

    I'll give it a 1, only because I can't give a 0 to something that has"Star Trek" in it's name.    … Expand
  27. OriKlein
    Aug 17, 2013
    4
    I shall be concise.

    I have been with the game since alpha. I quit it a year ago. I have a founder life-time account. I have spent $1,961 on the game. Yes, I was a sucker to do it. Learned my lesson the hard and painful way. As a free game, it is somewhat reasonable. Decent graphics, decent space combat and ground combat. But the game never went anywhere and never will. Eventually,    I shall be concise.

    I have been with the game since alpha. I quit it a year ago.
    I have a founder life-time account. I have spent $1,961 on the game. Yes, I was a sucker to do it. Learned my lesson the hard and painful way.

    As a free game, it is somewhat reasonable. Decent graphics, decent space combat and ground combat. But the game never went anywhere and never will.
    Eventually, it is a repetitive treadmill grind at best. Now it's becoming more so than ever.

    It is not worth your money!!!

    Cryptic Studios mistreat their customers and treat their players as cash-cows to milk. The game has bugs which were never treated. Indefinite customer complaints which were ignored. Broken promises which are repeated since beta. The list goes on.
    There is just not enough room here to begin to detail how poorly the game is hang together by spit and gum and how horribly they manage their community and abuse their players.
    Lets not even mention how they trample and pee over the Star Trek franchise, incase you're an actual fan.

    Thus my suggestion: if you want a free ride, go on and enjoy it. But never spend a dime on it. It doesn't deserve it and it will only make you regret it.

    Post scriptum:
    Worthy of note that the Community is also rife with douchebags and whiners.    … Expand
  28. TUHD
    Jun 9, 2013
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The lore itself is done well. With the addition of Legacy of Romulus you gain a new faction and new ships, and the addition of (finally!) warp cores/singularity cores.
    However, the core of it hasn't changed... a lot of the same old lot grinding, with plenty of bugs which are years old and plenty gamebreaking new ones. Also, with Perfect World having taken over, nickel&diming is the rule, not the exception. If you want to compete in end-game PvE or PvP paying real money is a near-must. The last and best equipped tier of ships (Tier-5) for the level 50's can be bought with dilithium, fleet credits and/or Zen. However, the amount of grinding necessary for the first 2 options is incredible, and while you can get Zen through trading dilithium for it, the grinding necessary for it is just IQ-killing. Making you often just pay for the 'last' ship, or keeping on the lesser strong ship from level 40.

    Also the Zen-bought ships have the thing that they have at level 40+ always an very handy console or special ability which you actually don't want to ignore.

    Last but not least: Cryptic has recently restricted the amount of stuff you can keep in your mail without an announcement about it, pissing off a lot of long-term players. Also the NPCs have gotten some 'special' attacks that you cannot see nor react on which can, depending on the category of the ship you're flying and the current health of your ship (let's say around 50%), kill you outright in one shot while they have gotten a major upgrade in damage resistance making fights very tedious and long.

    To sum it up: nickel&diming, grinding, still a lot of bugs (including some really old ones). Positive is that Cryptic seems to treat the lore with respect and they are willing to introduce new stuff to make it come a bit more closer to how Star Trek should 'feel like'. Too bad the cons against this game are starting to overwhelm the pros....    … Expand
  29. dmcimo
    Jun 3, 2013
    1
    This game has become a scam, STAY away from it at all costs. I used to play with Cryptic Studios owned it and now that Perfect World Entertainment owns it they make it impossiable to connect/link your account to Perfect World Entertainment site and when you try to make a new account to USE your Cryptic account they say your email is attached to an already game account WITH THEM...then theyThis game has become a scam, STAY away from it at all costs. I used to play with Cryptic Studios owned it and now that Perfect World Entertainment owns it they make it impossiable to connect/link your account to Perfect World Entertainment site and when you try to make a new account to USE your Cryptic account they say your email is attached to an already game account WITH THEM...then they offer no help to solve the problem and want you to rebuy everything 4 times the prices and reown the game again. SCAM SCAM. keeping away from now on… Expand
  30. duckteller
    May 21, 2013
    1
    It could have been a solid 6 star game but unfortunate the Zynga-isme business model detracts at the very least 5 of those stars which then just barley grants this game a single lonely star.

    Lets start with how STO earned it's 6 starts before then rapidly losing 5. It's a pretty descend MMO thou without any doubt somewhat dated and lackluster. One of the biggest complaints (a side from    It could have been a solid 6 star game but unfortunate the Zynga-isme business model detracts at the very least 5 of those stars which then just barley grants this game a single lonely star.

    Lets start with how STO earned it's 6 starts before then rapidly losing 5. It's a pretty descend MMO thou without any doubt somewhat dated and lackluster. One of the biggest complaints (a side from the Zynga-isme which we'll get to in a bit) is that the game is compiled of a series of endless instances which in turn means you'll spend a good amount of time going through loading screens which truly can break immersion.
    As a PvE experience you going to have a good time if you're a Trekkie as a Sci-Fi fan you'll be happy too if you can glance past the countless bugs and hiccups you are sure to encounter during your missions.

    Now lets get to what this game has degraded to since it took up the infamous Free 2 Play business model. Rumor has it that the executive producer Daniel Stahl once upon a time was a intern at Zynga Inc. and Oh Boi did he pick up a neat trick or two. You can now describe STO in a few simple concepts *1. Narly gambling (lock boxes) *2. Endless grind (time-gated reputation system) *3. The Ultimate MMO Power Trip (starbases provides insane value both in terms of time spend and real world moneys).

    PvP is straight up Pay to Win and since there isn't much else to do once you reach end-game you are going to have a bad time luckily you can choose well at least as a federation character to stay clear of any PvP mischiefs.

    My hope is that the future of gaming will be about creating great game mechanics and giving players unforgettable experiences and the period of how to manipulate game-play and thus players for maximum profit will became a brief and shameful footnote in development history.    … Expand
  31. AdderTude
    Apr 2, 2013
    4
    I enjoyed the expansive universe and the varied missions, as well as the different officers you could have. Basically you could be whoever you wished in Starfleet or the Klingon Empire. Another plus is how the story unfolds in "episodes" over an entire arc involving one enemy race as the primary antagonist, the game's equivalent to a regular season. However, the combat suffers from theI enjoyed the expansive universe and the varied missions, as well as the different officers you could have. Basically you could be whoever you wished in Starfleet or the Klingon Empire. Another plus is how the story unfolds in "episodes" over an entire arc involving one enemy race as the primary antagonist, the game's equivalent to a regular season. However, the combat suffers from the same repetitive tactics in every single mission/episode. The biggest frustrations came from battling the Romulans. Every single space battle that happens, the Romulan ships always pull the cheapest maneuvers to instantly destroy your starship, the most used one being where the Romulans hold your ship still with a tractor beam before unloading a massive volley of heavy plasma torpedoes that quickly overload your shields and destroy your ship in one shot. That would be fine if they used it a few times, but the AI seeks to *abuse* that tactic as much as possible in every single mission's space battle (all within the Romulan "season"), causing the mission to be nearly impossible to complete even though the difficulty of the mission is the same as the level your character is at when you attempt it. The ground battles are nearly the opposite. The ground missions are generally very, very easy compared to the space battles if your away team has good synergy between the skills you've given them to use in battle.

    Another issue I have is the exploration. Whenever I'm between missions, I wanted to explore some random world to feel like a true explorer, as was promised from the first looks of the game prior to its release. Instead, I'm forced to stay in space to either 1) run an errand for a new race, 2) fight a battle, or 3) answer a distress call. Afterwards, there isn't even an option to explore the world, at least as far as I knew after scanning the entire UI for the option.

    So, here is the bottom line.
    Pros:
    + huge universe to explore
    + visiting familiar places from all of the TV series before Enterprise
    + varied missions
    + the TV-series-like feel of the story missions

    Cons (in minuses):
    - AI repeatedly abusing cheap maneuvers in space battles to get insta-kills
    - ground battles are too easy in comparison to space battles (PvE)
    - no option to explore random worlds

    The abusive AI in the PvE space battles were way too much for me to continue playing the game any further and I stopped playing. If I ever go back to it, I hope the AI has been improved to where they stop spamming the same one-shot-kill tactic in every single space battle (as the Romulans).    … Expand
  32. SgtBarrett
    Jan 13, 2013
    3
    GRIND GRIND GRIND!

    I was so excited to finally be playing the famed Star Trek Series online. But after 3 months, the games fees very 2D... Very shallow, and very unworthy of the Star Trek title. The game amounts to grinding for weapons and upgrades and then attempting to take on elite battles against NPCs or other elite human players just to find out that the past 3 weeks of grinding    GRIND GRIND GRIND!

    I was so excited to finally be playing the famed Star Trek Series online. But after 3 months, the games fees very 2D... Very shallow, and very unworthy of the Star Trek title. The game amounts to grinding for weapons and upgrades and then attempting to take on elite battles against NPCs or other elite human players just to find out that the past 3 weeks of grinding to upgrade your weapons was not nearly enough... I have repeated this trend in the game 20-30 times and have had enough. OK, that sums up space combat...
    Now for ground combat. Is there anyone who does not think that diving behind cover should then allow the NPCs to continue to fire through the cover and kill you? Really? The engine is a hit or no hit engine without any critical hit areas defines on the body map of the player. So head shots mean nothing. Ground cover means nothing. Just grind grind grind to get a better weapon and hope that your skill set matches the mission you are about to take on for the 100th time...
    And wait! $200 for a lifetime membership to the game??? Really??? Good grief. I cant believe someone actually smoked crack and paid that much for this grind fest.    … Expand
  33. SensorGhost
    Nov 26, 2012
    0
    The S7 Update is the clearest indication that STO is a Pay to Win game. Every aspect of advancement at End Game requires an epicly slow grind. Comrade DSthal is Overlord of Grind and Dementing Returns. STO will never be the same, it is a fraud for them to claim to be F2P.
  34. peachybutt
    Nov 19, 2012
    3
    What an absolute waste of my time. Do you like varied missions? Do you like doing more than engaging in repetitive and mundane space battles over and over and over again without having the option to skip or use stealth to achieve objectives without resorting to combat? Well then look elsewhere, friend. Sure it looks pretty enough and has lots of customizing options, but that's where theWhat an absolute waste of my time. Do you like varied missions? Do you like doing more than engaging in repetitive and mundane space battles over and over and over again without having the option to skip or use stealth to achieve objectives without resorting to combat? Well then look elsewhere, friend. Sure it looks pretty enough and has lots of customizing options, but that's where the appeal ends. This is a Star Trek game for those who hate nuance, intelligence, or diplomatic solutions. This is only for those who want to fight over and over and over again. If you want real Star Trek, dig up Bridge Commander. You'll have plenty more fun than in Cryptic's piece of trash.… Expand
  35. Izdubar
    Nov 15, 2012
    0
    This game really had promise one it was out from under the thumb of Atari's negligence. But barely a year from being purchased by the Chinese game company Perfect World, the game has devolved into an asian cashgrab grinder. Expect to grind for months at endgame to (moderately) progress your character, unless you want to buy the in-game currency which everything now costs. The Season 7This game really had promise one it was out from under the thumb of Atari's negligence. But barely a year from being purchased by the Chinese game company Perfect World, the game has devolved into an asian cashgrab grinder. Expect to grind for months at endgame to (moderately) progress your character, unless you want to buy the in-game currency which everything now costs. The Season 7 update leaves even the Ferengi in awe.… Expand
  36. Ordish
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Uggg. Another game with great potential and a background story that is unique. Again we have another game with stale mechanics. If you made the graphics neutral you could probably swap this out for LOTR Online and have the same game. The linear quest lines have been dated for over a decade now. It is a shame the makers couldn't give this title some originality instead of just banking on the name.
  37. TheCommedore
    Jul 28, 2012
    1
    Now 2 years and 8 months since the game has launched and nearly 2 years since my initial review. In that time STO has not improved much. Failing in a subscription model Cryptic/PWE switched to a F2P model. Unlike many other F2P models, this one is a blatant cash grab and none of the transaction can be considered "micro". As far as content and systems go, nothing from my previousNow 2 years and 8 months since the game has launched and nearly 2 years since my initial review. In that time STO has not improved much. Failing in a subscription model Cryptic/PWE switched to a F2P model. Unlike many other F2P models, this one is a blatant cash grab and none of the transaction can be considered "micro". As far as content and systems go, nothing from my previous review has been addressed such as exploration, crafting PvP, factional systems, etc... leaving these important game systems in poor shape. In addition, the player-base has received word that the Feature Episode Series has been canceled, these missions were highly acclaimed by the player base. The only deep system the game has is the Duty Officer System, the new Fleet System was recently introduced but is indicative of the heavy grind found in asian MMO's where the reward is hardly worth the effort placed into it. From here, I will review the game's new season, Season 6 Under Seige. With $7 costumes to $20, you can only get per character, and lottery boxes with poor rewards abounding, the direction of economic model of this game will cause its ultimate failure. Season 6 took nearly 8 months to develop and while the system and generally the artwork are great, the poor content, rewards, and buggy aspects far out-shadow anything good. The monitization hooks abound in the Fleet System with some estimates saying the dollar cost of a fully functional Starbase is $1,500. The introduction of Season 6 came plagued with game breaking bugs to the Foundry, exchange, mail system, combat system to which Cryptic has been slow to respond to. In all, Season 6 has a good foundation that was poorly capitalized on by Cryptic. Even though this "shoot-em-up" version of the Star Trek Universe is F2P, I would recommend passing until the game could be fleshed out more.… Expand
  38. TheGrindeR
    Jul 13, 2012
    2
    Graphics are okay but unfortunatelly i don't remember the sounds. Starting with a very booring storyline, and when you complete, than you can just after leveling. The characters modelling are terrible. Contains a lots of loading screen and this is the worst in this game and every (which have) MMORPG games. When i play with an MMORPG games i don't want to see a loading screen looks likeGraphics are okay but unfortunatelly i don't remember the sounds. Starting with a very booring storyline, and when you complete, than you can just after leveling. The characters modelling are terrible. Contains a lots of loading screen and this is the worst in this game and every (which have) MMORPG games. When i play with an MMORPG games i don't want to see a loading screen looks like WoW. Have a lots of ship battles in the space and this is also horrible. This game have a booring gameplay, and if you not really like, not try this. Free to play but i don't want to play it again.… Expand
  39. Bobbo
    Jun 3, 2012
    4
    WOW game mechanics like linear progression, tank-nuker-healer, taints every opinion I have on a game; basically I loath it. I've been there, done that, and I don't want to do it anymore.
  40. tardacus
    Feb 25, 2012
    0
    STO is now F2P so i gave it a try for 4 weeks.
    The first 3 weeks of gameplay was interrupted by daily patches and daily server shutdowns to fix the broken patches.
    leveling was extremely fast,and boring doing the same cookie cutter missions over and over at each level.I reached the level cap in 1 week and thats when the real boredom started.After reaching the level cap there is nothing    STO is now F2P so i gave it a try for 4 weeks.
    The first 3 weeks of gameplay was interrupted by daily patches and daily server shutdowns to fix the broken patches.
    leveling was extremely fast,and boring doing the same cookie cutter missions over and over at each level.I reached the level cap in 1 week and thats when the real boredom started.After reaching the level cap there is nothing to do except a few STF missions which you need to do hundreds of times each in order to try to get the good gear that you need to participate in pvp.
    The game seems to be a typical low budget cash cow game. The community forums require a cash payment in order to gain access to them. some of the mission rewards called mystery boxes require a cash payment in order to open the box and receive your reward for completing the mission.
    A never ending stream of bugs and glitches seems to be the major features of this game.
    STO makes the same mistake that many other F2P games make, they seem to feel that since it is F2P that all the user can be treated as,and used as,beta testers to weed out and report the bugs and glitches that infest the poor quality patches and updates.If I want to be a beta tester I`ll go play a beta game. when I play a live game,either F2P or P2P, I don`t want to be the lab rat that tests the poor quality patches and updates.If they can`t be bothered to do a quality job creating and testing their patches and updates why should I have to be burdened with finding and reporting the bugs and glitches in their patches and updates.
    overall the gameplay reminds me of some cheap knockoff of an old NES type game.
    As with many other F2P games the customer service in this game is dreadful at best and non existent at it`s worst. This game is hardly worthy of the Star Trek name, I expected much better.
    If your just looking for another pointless low budget,generic grindy, cash cow game then you`ll love this game.Personally I wasn`t the least bit impressed with it.    … Expand
  41. Rattazustra
    Feb 24, 2012
    2
    It starts out with a character generation system outdated by much more than the game's actual age, goes on with a completely heart- and soulless tutorial, an interface that is not only confusing and uncomfortable to use, but also incredibly ugly and leads into mediocre gameplay and horrid graphics. I am incredibly relieved that this game is free to play now, for I could hardly stomach howIt starts out with a character generation system outdated by much more than the game's actual age, goes on with a completely heart- and soulless tutorial, an interface that is not only confusing and uncomfortable to use, but also incredibly ugly and leads into mediocre gameplay and horrid graphics. I am incredibly relieved that this game is free to play now, for I could hardly stomach how it must feel to have spent money on this. I'd have to get paid to play it and I'd have to get paid even more to recommend it without swallowing my tongue. Simply horrible and a shame even for the Star Trek franchise.… Expand
  42. raidet
    Feb 22, 2012
    4
    I decided to come back to this after buying on launch originally a couple of years ago. Originally I played for about 2 weeks before becoming bored with the repetitive and buggy experience. By now the game should be in better shape, right? First the good. The space warfare is fun. For a time. Now the bad. Over the course of the couple of years since launch it actually appears to haveI decided to come back to this after buying on launch originally a couple of years ago. Originally I played for about 2 weeks before becoming bored with the repetitive and buggy experience. By now the game should be in better shape, right? First the good. The space warfare is fun. For a time. Now the bad. Over the course of the couple of years since launch it actually appears to have become MORE buggy. How this has been accomplished I have no idea, but the situation is so bad I actually started to suspect some kind of corporate-espionage style sabotage. Over the course of my two days replaying, here is SOME of what I discovered.

    1. Certain HUD tooltip elements don't deactivate on mouseover properly, instead flickering in a seizure-inducing manner. 2. The speed control slider moves up and down of its own accord at inopportune moments.

    3. Gas cloud texture maps are broken

    4. Away team members vanish without explanation on occasion

    5. Keyboard shortcuts for abilities sometimes don't work - and I mean don't work at all, not just a long delay.

    6. If you 'pin to taskbar' the game icon then try to launch the game from it, it will appear to work until the point of login, when the game will freeze at "connecting to account server". I noticed several people on the STO forums complaining about this and not realising it was related to the 'pin to taskbar' function. They were simply fobbed off or insulted.

    7. Planets sometimes appear as transparent circles, showing the starfield behind

    8. NPCs vanish (which is annoying when they are required to finish a quest)

    9. Invisible phaser beams from invisible enemies sometimes shoot you and your team

    Now I'm bored. **** game, forget it.    … Expand
  43. Chapy
    Jul 22, 2011
    4
    The space combat is new and fun but that is the only redeemable quality about the game. The ground/planet combat really just looks and feels incomplete, like it received no love from the developers. There also isn't enough built in emphasis on playing with others, something that is more and more common and necessary in MMO's. I also, and this might just be me, wanted to be a member of aThe space combat is new and fun but that is the only redeemable quality about the game. The ground/planet combat really just looks and feels incomplete, like it received no love from the developers. There also isn't enough built in emphasis on playing with others, something that is more and more common and necessary in MMO's. I also, and this might just be me, wanted to be a member of a ships crew and work as a team. That was not the direction they chose to go with STO where everyone is the captain of their own ship. I really think that was a mistake and that someone will strike gold when they figure out how to design an MMO around that style of gameplay.… Expand
  44. simph1
    Jul 21, 2011
    4
    I am an avid Star Trek Fan. I love this game. I played it in BETA. When the game was like 3 years away from being released... The graphics are good, Sound good... controls are excellent... The problem you will find with this game like myself, is the boring gameplay. Not that the gameplay is boring, but you get bored doing the same thing over and over and over again!
  45. MikeS
    Mar 27, 2010
    2
    Buggy, laggy, and not fun. Yet another game that imitates a MMO in order to charge a monthly fee yet offers no incentive or motivation to actually team up to accomplish a task. Why are there games that do more for multiplayer while not charging a fee? Cryptic excels at squandering potential when it comes to game design.
  46. RichardS
    Mar 25, 2010
    3
    Realism is key for me in games, as I am a hardcore gamer, and a Trekie to boot. To me, this MMO is a poor execution of everything Star Trek means to me. I have a list of things I don't like, most of which people have mentioned already. -scale of star systems: according to the game, it is only a couple dozen kilometers from a planet and it's moon/asteroid belt (!?!). Asteroid Realism is key for me in games, as I am a hardcore gamer, and a Trekie to boot. To me, this MMO is a poor execution of everything Star Trek means to me. I have a list of things I don't like, most of which people have mentioned already. -scale of star systems: according to the game, it is only a couple dozen kilometers from a planet and it's moon/asteroid belt (!?!). Asteroid belts don't orbit planets. In STO every planet has asteroids, it kinda got to me. No reason not to die. No economy. (WoW clone type economy doesn't count in my book) Repetitive everything. No reason to buy stuff, everything is dropped by loot or mission reward. No reason to socialize. Frankly, no reason to play. :( Things I liked: phasers and photon torpedoes.... ground combat the first few times.… Expand
  47. MarkS.
    Mar 14, 2010
    0
    Sadly, once your get past the eye candy what you are left with is a game troubled with mediocrity, at best, and outright disdain for gamers, at worst. Yes, the rabid fans of STO will defend it to the end but the simple truth is that we have been offered a shallow, poorly constructed, shell of a single player game. Perhaps it can be saved but I highly doubt it. If you read their forums Sadly, once your get past the eye candy what you are left with is a game troubled with mediocrity, at best, and outright disdain for gamers, at worst. Yes, the rabid fans of STO will defend it to the end but the simple truth is that we have been offered a shallow, poorly constructed, shell of a single player game. Perhaps it can be saved but I highly doubt it. If you read their forums things have gotten so bad that they are banning "I quit" threads. The question to ask is if this is for the benefit of the community are a desperate attempt to impede opinion. Thanks Cryptic for putting the final nail in the coffin of Trek games.… Expand
  48. LazaroR
    Mar 8, 2010
    0
    If you like the concept of City of Heroes in space, then go for it. Otherwise don't bother. Check their or the steam forums, they're full of all the issues this game has. I played for 30 days only to realize there was next to nothing to do once you hit the level cap. Add to that the lackluster way they inform you of what your skills actually do. And if your not psychic and you If you like the concept of City of Heroes in space, then go for it. Otherwise don't bother. Check their or the steam forums, they're full of all the issues this game has. I played for 30 days only to realize there was next to nothing to do once you hit the level cap. Add to that the lackluster way they inform you of what your skills actually do. And if your not psychic and you by accident put points into the wrong skills.....too bad for you, there is NO WAY to respec your skills.… Expand
  49. DanM
    Mar 8, 2010
    4
    This is a game that programmers and artists clearly loved, but that managers and executives cynically farmed for cash. Despite staggering beauty in spots, and a few nice visual ideas, the space combat, though modestly clever, gets repetitive, the ground combat is clumsy and jarring, the writing juvenile, and the rest of the game as deep as a TMZ gossip piece. The community is uninvolved This is a game that programmers and artists clearly loved, but that managers and executives cynically farmed for cash. Despite staggering beauty in spots, and a few nice visual ideas, the space combat, though modestly clever, gets repetitive, the ground combat is clumsy and jarring, the writing juvenile, and the rest of the game as deep as a TMZ gossip piece. The community is uninvolved in-game, the crafting system is crippled, and the complex, subtle Star Trek universe of diplomacy, discovery, and wonder, is replaced by killing, more killing, and trying to sell a limited inventory of items that no one else wants. Fun for 30 days, but less of an MMO than a desk accessory.… Expand
  50. GeneR
    Mar 5, 2010
    4
    This doesn't feel like a game that should be charging a monthly sub. The starship combat is tons of fun. However, everything else, particularly the ground combat, just feels like an unwelcome distraction, and I find myself praying that whatever random encounter I'm in doesn't lead to an away team mission. I even suspect that the space combat will lose it's luster in This doesn't feel like a game that should be charging a monthly sub. The starship combat is tons of fun. However, everything else, particularly the ground combat, just feels like an unwelcome distraction, and I find myself praying that whatever random encounter I'm in doesn't lead to an away team mission. I even suspect that the space combat will lose it's luster in 30+ hours. Also, low difficulty curve, high level variance, and lots of instancing doesn't leave this game very multiplayer friendly.… Expand
  51. mattw
    Mar 3, 2010
    0
    This game is so incomplete. You have 3 missions, all with a different skin on it. You have 3 ship type to choose from. There is a complicated amount of weapons/equipment that have stats that will mean nothing to most people. Ground combat, ai, the enviroment are all in need of reworking. Looks worst then other older mmos looked on the planets. This game has nothing new to offer, and This game is so incomplete. You have 3 missions, all with a different skin on it. You have 3 ship type to choose from. There is a complicated amount of weapons/equipment that have stats that will mean nothing to most people. Ground combat, ai, the enviroment are all in need of reworking. Looks worst then other older mmos looked on the planets. This game has nothing new to offer, and without the star trek name would probably not have made it past testing.… Expand
  52. HowieG
    Mar 2, 2010
    2
    The ground combat is not very good with some areas sporting eyeball blasting floor color schemes that leave you with a massive headache. Many quests are broken. The space combat is cool but repetitive and after about 10 battles you start wishing there was a way to bypass it. Speaking of space, it just doesn't "feel" like space. It's all far to small and planets and other objects The ground combat is not very good with some areas sporting eyeball blasting floor color schemes that leave you with a massive headache. Many quests are broken. The space combat is cool but repetitive and after about 10 battles you start wishing there was a way to bypass it. Speaking of space, it just doesn't "feel" like space. It's all far to small and planets and other objects seem tiny and much too close together. I don't like this game very much.… Expand
  53. John
    Mar 2, 2010
    2
    For a Star Trek game there is NOTHING about this game that is Star Trek but it's look. After 10 days of playing i had cleared ALL content on the federation side. Cleared all content in 10 days of an MMO, WOW! No diplomacy No exploration (what they have is a joke) Combat TOTALLY untrue to Star Trek. (ya. i was blowing up Negh'var Klingon Battleships in a 200 year old Miranda For a Star Trek game there is NOTHING about this game that is Star Trek but it's look. After 10 days of playing i had cleared ALL content on the federation side. Cleared all content in 10 days of an MMO, WOW! No diplomacy No exploration (what they have is a joke) Combat TOTALLY untrue to Star Trek. (ya. i was blowing up Negh'var Klingon Battleships in a 200 year old Miranda class.) I could go on listing massive issues with this game and its relation to Star Trek for a while. It really is that bad and i couldn't be more sad about this outcome. A game i had been waiting for for 10 years. A game I wish steam would give me my money back on. If you like mindless almost endless combat, this game is for you! If your looking for a Star Trek game, this one is FAR from it.… Expand
  54. JakeB
    Mar 2, 2010
    0
    This has got to be one of the worst MMOs ever created. Even the term "MMO" doesn't apply since it's so over-instanced that it might as well be a single player game. What little content actually exists in the game is bland, boring, shallow and extremely repetitive. The ground combat is an utter joke. Space combat is also trivially easy and gets boring very quickly. Furthermore This has got to be one of the worst MMOs ever created. Even the term "MMO" doesn't apply since it's so over-instanced that it might as well be a single player game. What little content actually exists in the game is bland, boring, shallow and extremely repetitive. The ground combat is an utter joke. Space combat is also trivially easy and gets boring very quickly. Furthermore the utterly disrespectful way in which the developers are treating their customers is enough for anyone (no matter how much they love Star Trek) to quit instantly. This game is a definite no-no even for hard core Trekkies.… Expand
  55. JoelT
    Mar 1, 2010
    1
    I love Star Trek, but I hate myself for having bought this game. I played the beta release and thought surely they'd iron out the bugs before the official release. I was wrong. There's nothing compelling or interesting about this game that makes me what to put up with the clumsy interface and lack of interactivity. I almost gave this game a zero, but gave it a one since it has a I love Star Trek, but I hate myself for having bought this game. I played the beta release and thought surely they'd iron out the bugs before the official release. I was wrong. There's nothing compelling or interesting about this game that makes me what to put up with the clumsy interface and lack of interactivity. I almost gave this game a zero, but gave it a one since it has a Star Trek theme. I was so ripped off by the purchase, but at least I'll not pay a dime for a subscription. Worst $50 I ever spent!… Expand
  56. JohnP
    Mar 1, 2010
    2
    Kill five waves of ships in orbit to save a distressed vessel. Scan five anomalies in the system to send data to Starfleet. Scan five unmanned computer consoles in an abandoned facility to figure out why it's abandoned. Repair five breeches in the asteroid base so it can be inhabited again. Rewire five artifcats on the ground so they don't irradiate the pre warp culture you Kill five waves of ships in orbit to save a distressed vessel. Scan five anomalies in the system to send data to Starfleet. Scan five unmanned computer consoles in an abandoned facility to figure out why it's abandoned. Repair five breeches in the asteroid base so it can be inhabited again. Rewire five artifcats on the ground so they don't irradiate the pre warp culture you never meet. Kill five platoons of random enemy so they don't start a mining base on said planet. Ok, now use these few basic scenarios repeatedly only tweaking some script regarding motivation and ride that out to max level. Get to max level and waste into oblivion. This game offers one week of fun, 2 or 3 for casual players, until you realise you've been punked. Then you linger on because you're a trek fan and you just can't believe this is all there is.… Expand
  57. StuartF
    Feb 26, 2010
    3
    Initial excitement quickly turns to boredom once you realise that ship to ship combat involves little more than mashing the space bar to fire all phases and occasionally hitting an ability when things come into range. Planet scouting missions will leave you hunting for a tiny white dot in a space full of stars. Another disappointment from Cryptic.
  58. Jason
    Feb 26, 2010
    0
    50 dollars, for a game that takes 5 days to complete. NOT WORTH THE MONEY. all the weapons have almost the same damage, or the same. Ground combat is about the worst I have ever seen in a game. if you can even play it. Alot of the time your guys beam down 2 a planet inside the grpound and cant move. triggers for completing missions offten dont work, so you will find yourself do the same 50 dollars, for a game that takes 5 days to complete. NOT WORTH THE MONEY. all the weapons have almost the same damage, or the same. Ground combat is about the worst I have ever seen in a game. if you can even play it. Alot of the time your guys beam down 2 a planet inside the grpound and cant move. triggers for completing missions offten dont work, so you will find yourself do the same mission 3 times to activate the trigger for completion. 2D plain in space, where there is a floor and ceiling, really... WOW, cant get worse than this..?? right? Wrong. The PvP you will spend more time waiting than playing.. ALOT more. I waiting 2 hrs. once to get into a PvP..Then it stated, 35 people vs me alone. I died in about 30 seconds. Was that worth the 2 hr wait. not even close. This is probley one of the worst games I EVER played. We all know now why the life time membership, was pre-order only. This game deserves to be in the 5 dollar bin at your local Walmart.… Expand
  59. ChrisanneC
    Feb 25, 2010
    3
    "Tons of potential" That's the phrase heard a lot in STO amongst it's players in game or on the forums. The game does have tons of potential, if it was currently in closed alpha testing I could be very semi excited for this game. Unfortunately STO is another MMO game released long before it was ready. I saw in a recent interview where a Cryptic developer was gloating about how "Tons of potential" That's the phrase heard a lot in STO amongst it's players in game or on the forums. The game does have tons of potential, if it was currently in closed alpha testing I could be very semi excited for this game. Unfortunately STO is another MMO game released long before it was ready. I saw in a recent interview where a Cryptic developer was gloating about how they created a MMO in under 2 years time, there lies the problem in STO. It feels exactly like a game that was developed in under 2 years time and those missing 2-3 years of proper development can really be felt once you see how bare bones STO is. Maybe a year or two from now STO could reach its full potential, but sadly I doubt anyone will be around to witness it after another botched MMO launch.… Expand
  60. JimmyB
    Feb 25, 2010
    1
    This is the worst ive ever seen... I seriously dont know where to begin... The game is not even half done and yet they want full price for it? AND a monthly sub even though its not an MMO? Its sad to see good people pay hard earned money for this kind of crap. Cryptic should be ashamed of themselves. This could have been a good game with two more years in development, but as it is right This is the worst ive ever seen... I seriously dont know where to begin... The game is not even half done and yet they want full price for it? AND a monthly sub even though its not an MMO? Its sad to see good people pay hard earned money for this kind of crap. Cryptic should be ashamed of themselves. This could have been a good game with two more years in development, but as it is right now its just ridiculously repetitive and empty. Its basicly four mission that you do over and over again and then the game ends. There is NOTHING to do at higher levels. Now they are waiting for people to resub so they can release a 45 day patch. (we all know why its 45 days and not 29 days, dont we?) It feels like a beta product that you have to pay full price for while the devs are developing the game, and actually, thats exactly how it is...! Its crazy. Never again a Cryptic product. (I gave it a 1 instead of the 0 i was thinking of giving it because the space combat was fun for a week).… Expand
  61. JayC
    Feb 17, 2010
    3
    I loved the game until I reached the max level where there is sadly nothing to do. In total there's probably only two weeks of real gameplay in this game. PvP is severely lacking. The daily missions at end game, which there are too few, are by their repetitive nature boring. It's lack of depth leaves you wondering why you paid full box price for an incomplete mmo. Until they add I loved the game until I reached the max level where there is sadly nothing to do. In total there's probably only two weeks of real gameplay in this game. PvP is severely lacking. The daily missions at end game, which there are too few, are by their repetitive nature boring. It's lack of depth leaves you wondering why you paid full box price for an incomplete mmo. Until they add more content and complete this game, I would recommend against buying it unless it's under $20.… Expand
  62. JacobB
    Feb 17, 2010
    2
    Horrible game. Lacks depth, substance, a dynamic universe, re playability. The game has nothing going for it. Ground combat is clunky, space combat is lack luster. No risk for the reward. Absolutely nothing deserving of the score it has received from some of the other reviewers. They are obviously first time players as this game is not a MMO. You can find all the same features in this Horrible game. Lacks depth, substance, a dynamic universe, re playability. The game has nothing going for it. Ground combat is clunky, space combat is lack luster. No risk for the reward. Absolutely nothing deserving of the score it has received from some of the other reviewers. They are obviously first time players as this game is not a MMO. You can find all the same features in this game in your basic Game Spy Lobby game. There is nothing massive about restrictive instances and I believe Cryptic should be brought up on false advertisement charges for trying to pass the game off as a MMO. If Guildwars is not a MMO than STO is not either as they both use the same restrictive structure. I think I am being more than fair giving the game a 2, only because of the character creation and the alright graphics.… Expand
  63. Xextreem
    Feb 17, 2010
    2
    Worst game ever. Already beat the game. Nothing special on this. Don`t buy it wase of money. Crypt = money $$$$. Don`t fall in this crapy game its not even close to a "standerd" mmorpg. Its more Starfleet command 4 not star trek online. However if you buy don`t cry. The misions are at 1 point nice if you follow the "story line"but when hit the maxs level its all about pvp/patrol misions. Worst game ever. Already beat the game. Nothing special on this. Don`t buy it wase of money. Crypt = money $$$$. Don`t fall in this crapy game its not even close to a "standerd" mmorpg. Its more Starfleet command 4 not star trek online. However if you buy don`t cry. The misions are at 1 point nice if you follow the "story line"but when hit the maxs level its all about pvp/patrol misions. And let me say its real borring. I know i will go on the bad light but let me say this i have warn you. Don`t fall in this crap like i do. Even i have buy the Special edition and life time subscribe "yah stupid" so let me say don`t fal.… Expand
  64. DookS.
    Feb 16, 2010
    1
    STO is a poor game all around. No 360 degree movement in space combat making space combat a 2d snoozefest, the AI in the PvE portions of the game is awful, ai combat movement is limited, they rarely reinforce shields or take any defensive measures, difficulty(and there is very little of it) is attained my the usual mmo convention of adding more power the npc (ie. they're weapons do STO is a poor game all around. No 360 degree movement in space combat making space combat a 2d snoozefest, the AI in the PvE portions of the game is awful, ai combat movement is limited, they rarely reinforce shields or take any defensive measures, difficulty(and there is very little of it) is attained my the usual mmo convention of adding more power the npc (ie. they're weapons do more damage than my identical weapons) instead of actually developing a decent AI, instead artificially inflating damage and shield power but not making combat anymore interesting and less fun as the game progresses. Exploration is nowhere to be found(star clusters are a joke), Ground combat is more of the same old loot and dice-roll based combat, which was a fine system in the 1970's when rpg's were played on paper, but its become archaic and laughable in an interactive game. Graphically the game is a mixed bag, the 3d models look fine as do the back drops in space but the texture work is some of the worst i have seen, the ship damage texture is awful, and the death animations for space are embarrassing; the ships disappear and are replaced by a stock explosion, no ship parts or debris flying off, (reminds me of space invaders). The future does not look bright for STO if the first real "content" patch is any indication, badge grinding and raiding seem to be the focus going forward. Sad that no company has had the guts to break free of the eq/wow mmo mold. With STO, Cryptic solidifies itself as the shovelware king of the mmo industry with this timid, soulless and boring approach to one of the best sciFi IP's around.… Expand
  65. PeterB
    Feb 16, 2010
    3
    Trivial diffuculty, repetitive content, bugs and lacking server stability, canned copy and paste replies to support tickets totally missing the issue dominate, making it difficult to enjoy the game. After a week you have killed more Klingons and Romulans then aired on the show during the past 40 years. This got nothing to do with Star Trek, this is just a generic MMO grinder with Star Trivial diffuculty, repetitive content, bugs and lacking server stability, canned copy and paste replies to support tickets totally missing the issue dominate, making it difficult to enjoy the game. After a week you have killed more Klingons and Romulans then aired on the show during the past 40 years. This got nothing to do with Star Trek, this is just a generic MMO grinder with Star Trek skin. In fact it's not even realy MMO considering the first M standing for Massive. It's heavily instanced (Lobbies ~40 players, fleet action zones ~20 players and regular grinding zones 5 players).… Expand
  66. BobJ
    Feb 15, 2010
    1
    I have a feeling this game would have been so much better if not made by cryptic. Since it was though it was released far to early with a lack of content, boring quests, horrendous ground combat, and without any real fun factor. Also with all the instancing I don't think it should be called a MMO. I regret my purchase, Buyer Beware.
  67. JohnR
    Feb 15, 2010
    1
    I'm sorry I bought this game! At best this game is only half completed. It lacks any serious content. The developers must of thought everyone just wanted to do PvP or patrol mission. Not enough episodic missions to level with. Exploration mission are cheap on XP's. Oh and those new worlds you are supposed to boldly go and explore equate to nothing more than test planet patches, I'm sorry I bought this game! At best this game is only half completed. It lacks any serious content. The developers must of thought everyone just wanted to do PvP or patrol mission. Not enough episodic missions to level with. Exploration mission are cheap on XP's. Oh and those new worlds you are supposed to boldly go and explore equate to nothing more than test planet patches, with a real estate area equal to the half the circumference of the great forge area in WOW, or the area around the space dock in Theed if playing Star Wars Galaxies. There is no crafting system to speak of, unless to call scanning a cloud in space, or a cheap graphic to get an anomaly harvesting, and using the so-called harvested items to turn banal equipment into negligibly better banal equipment. It becomes mind-numbing after 12 levels because the templates used for missions both space and ground is so limited, nothing seems new, it all follows a very basic formula. I made the mistake of buying the digital deluxe version. Do not buy any version of this game, don't use it if they give it to you for free!!!… Expand
  68. KevinB
    Feb 15, 2010
    1
    Another unfinished mess by Cryptic. Pointless skill trees, worthless itemisation, broken combat and just like their previous failed MMO Champions Online: Retarded game changing last minute decisions. Not to mention that this POS has a cash shop despite being a pay monthly game, and has purchasable content despite it's only just released. Why wasn't that content part of the game? Another unfinished mess by Cryptic. Pointless skill trees, worthless itemisation, broken combat and just like their previous failed MMO Champions Online: Retarded game changing last minute decisions. Not to mention that this POS has a cash shop despite being a pay monthly game, and has purchasable content despite it's only just released. Why wasn't that content part of the game? Because they are greedy idiots with no long term plan for this game.… Expand
  69. MadV
    Feb 14, 2010
    4
    I actually liked the ground combat better. I mean they put so much work into the character creation and if you know how to play right some of the battles are exciting. The ship stuff is boring and always the same. It's always taking place with a different skybox and you use the same set of abilities. You move to slow even with the abilities like evasive maneuvers to feel like I actually liked the ground combat better. I mean they put so much work into the character creation and if you know how to play right some of the battles are exciting. The ship stuff is boring and always the same. It's always taking place with a different skybox and you use the same set of abilities. You move to slow even with the abilities like evasive maneuvers to feel like it's got any form of action. Most of all I wanted the space aspect to take place from the bridge with a little more depth then a high end flash game that is ultimately is. Too many "i" people working on this, ruined it. It would have been great if the space combat took place from the bridge and the ground combat just had a little more variety.… Expand
  70. SeanM
    Feb 14, 2010
    1
    A disappointing and embarrassing attempt to recreate the TNG-era Star Trek universe in a massively multiplayer setting. Persistent, unresolved, showstopping technical problems with the servers and the client are the primary reason why I rated this game so low. Due to the promising space combat, I would rate the game a solid 5.5 if all the technical issues disappeared. But even that very A disappointing and embarrassing attempt to recreate the TNG-era Star Trek universe in a massively multiplayer setting. Persistent, unresolved, showstopping technical problems with the servers and the client are the primary reason why I rated this game so low. Due to the promising space combat, I would rate the game a solid 5.5 if all the technical issues disappeared. But even that very nice-looking space combat gets boring after a while, because the game is so repetitive. Highly recommended to avoid, especially if you are a Star Trek fan and don't want to ruin your opinion of the franchise.… Expand
  71. RalphC
    Feb 14, 2010
    4
    Game gets a 4 simply due to the storyline missions...of which there isn't enough and they are spread too thin. "Finished" the game in under 5 days /played. At max level, can only do "daily" missions, which are literally on a 24 hour timer...and of which there is *one* of. (The other, at the time of this writing is broken...pvp for feds) The klingon side, which would be the Game gets a 4 simply due to the storyline missions...of which there isn't enough and they are spread too thin. "Finished" the game in under 5 days /played. At max level, can only do "daily" missions, which are literally on a 24 hour timer...and of which there is *one* of. (The other, at the time of this writing is broken...pvp for feds) The klingon side, which would be the pvpers...is drying up as well. Last night's queues: 97 fed, 4 klingons. 75 fed, 2 klingons. 55 fed, 0 klingons. etc. This was for space missions....ground missions had 20+ feds waiting, and 0 klingons across the board. Cryptic blew it AGAIN. I will NOT be giving them any more money, ever. The "bait" of the 45 day patch is crap too.… Expand
  72. JimB
    Feb 13, 2010
    4
    Very fun Space Combat hampered by very simple difficulty. If you're not good at the "harder" levels of games in general, even you can be a god in STO's version of the galaxy. The developers have stated that they want to add a difficulty slider (like in Cryptic's STO template Champions Online), but like CO it will feel like a bolted on hack allowing you to choose between Very fun Space Combat hampered by very simple difficulty. If you're not good at the "harder" levels of games in general, even you can be a god in STO's version of the galaxy. The developers have stated that they want to add a difficulty slider (like in Cryptic's STO template Champions Online), but like CO it will feel like a bolted on hack allowing you to choose between stupid easy and pretty darn easy. The Ground Combat is generally simplistic, and again... easy. Coupled with endless bugs... it's pretty dismal overall. The remainder of the "decent" in this game is Character customization, which on a visual level is amazing, but in all other ways very shallow. There is no "Star Trek" in this game outside of looks, names and combat. No diplomacy. No exploration. Nothing Star Trek... just kill that, kill that and kill that. Where the bad really sets in is at a "server" level. They've made it so you don't have to choose a server by lumping everyone into the same "shard" (or cluster of servers acting as one)... but if this one shard starts having the inevitable hiccups that all MMO servers have periodically, it all goes down for everyone. It's a flawed design in a subscription service, and the people that sold the investors on it have done every subscriber a very large dis-service.… Expand
  73. PaulC
    Feb 13, 2010
    2
    I have played this for four days. Giving it a really good go , probably knocking up 25 hours play time, and I'm bored. So far it has been laggy (almost as bad as Champions) but mostly offers no reason that I have yet found to team up with another player. This could have been a single player game, for £30 it might have been worth it, a monthly fee for a single player experience I have played this for four days. Giving it a really good go , probably knocking up 25 hours play time, and I'm bored. So far it has been laggy (almost as bad as Champions) but mostly offers no reason that I have yet found to team up with another player. This could have been a single player game, for £30 it might have been worth it, a monthly fee for a single player experience is certainly not worth it. And the lag really does get to you. A quick flick to EvE or WoW and you are quickly reminded of how smooth and seamless multiplayer games should be. Not to mention they should be multi player! (durr) this game offers no reason that I have found in four days to intereact with other players at all. I love Star Trek, I don't like this game. I have cancelled my subs , but would love to be able to return in a few months with a better experience. At the moment your subs are paying for a Beta game to have the contents added that shouldbe there from the start - like any semblence of multiplayer for a start… Expand
  74. Josh
    Feb 12, 2010
    2
    Whilst the game is great for Star Trek fans, which I am one of them, it will slowly fade into the nether regions of "terrible games". Visually, it's a nice game. Content wise, it's a decent game. Long-term playability it's dismal. I've counted up about 4 different activities you can do and all the missions are a randomization of those activities. There is a lot of Whilst the game is great for Star Trek fans, which I am one of them, it will slowly fade into the nether regions of "terrible games". Visually, it's a nice game. Content wise, it's a decent game. Long-term playability it's dismal. I've counted up about 4 different activities you can do and all the missions are a randomization of those activities. There is a lot of positive reviews of this game because it's new. Give it 6 months and you'll find membership dropping and those positive opinions changing to "mediocre".… Expand
  75. EricT
    Feb 11, 2010
    2
    A good attempt at the franchise but they could have used another year of development for the ground combat system (Champion's Engine), and the space combat is only good because Cryptic didn't come up with it, its a dumped down direct rip of the combat system in Starfleet Command 3. Personally, I'll rebuild an old system and play SFC3, rather than pay Cryptic. As a trekkie A good attempt at the franchise but they could have used another year of development for the ground combat system (Champion's Engine), and the space combat is only good because Cryptic didn't come up with it, its a dumped down direct rip of the combat system in Starfleet Command 3. Personally, I'll rebuild an old system and play SFC3, rather than pay Cryptic. As a trekkie my expectations were pretty low, and even Cryptic was able to fly right under them without any effort, literally. Not good.… Expand
  76. JohnB
    Feb 11, 2010
    2
    Unfinished, NOT Star Trek as 90% of the game is nothing but fighting. No crafting, housing or anything else that people come to expect. Worst this is this is NOT an MMO.... it's a 3D chat room with avatars used to for groups to go into private instances aka Guild Wars or DDO. The game was released unfinished yet Cryptic has the nerve to not only charge $15 a month but also put up a Unfinished, NOT Star Trek as 90% of the game is nothing but fighting. No crafting, housing or anything else that people come to expect. Worst this is this is NOT an MMO.... it's a 3D chat room with avatars used to for groups to go into private instances aka Guild Wars or DDO. The game was released unfinished yet Cryptic has the nerve to not only charge $15 a month but also put up a micro-transaction store in which you have to pay real money for some of the things missing in the game! If you buy this you are falling for their ruse.... just say no and move on!… Expand
  77. DaveB
    Feb 11, 2010
    3
    Some really nice visuals, but the game itself is horrible. Every mission falls into 2 catagories - 1) fly a couple of patrols killing ships at each waypoint (about 90 percent of the time) and 2) going to a planet and playing a very badly designed 1st person shooter (about 10 percent of the time). The space combat is not 3d, and is so mindless you might as well be shooting at a block - the Some really nice visuals, but the game itself is horrible. Every mission falls into 2 catagories - 1) fly a couple of patrols killing ships at each waypoint (about 90 percent of the time) and 2) going to a planet and playing a very badly designed 1st person shooter (about 10 percent of the time). The space combat is not 3d, and is so mindless you might as well be shooting at a block - the ground combat is so buggy and mindless you just need to turn on autoshoot and walk forward an inch every 40 seconds or so. Stay far away from this one folks, your gaming money is better spent on something worthy.… Expand
  78. RodG
    Feb 11, 2010
    2
    Terminally slow ship combat, dire ground battles, sketchy quests combined with a buggy interface ruin what could have been a great game. On entertainment value alone, this game just doesn't cut it and needs a massive overhaul if people are expected to continue paying their monthly fee. It's a pity as the premise offered a great alternative to the likes of WoW.
  79. NickE
    Feb 11, 2010
    1
    The art is Beautiful and the ship models are very well done so the graphics people should be very proud, but that doesn't make up for the absolute lack of content, horribly buggy missions and constant server issues. This is NOT Star Trek by any means. It does NOT have any of the feel or immersion of ANY of the 40 years of the Star Trek franchise and has been a terrible disappointment The art is Beautiful and the ship models are very well done so the graphics people should be very proud, but that doesn't make up for the absolute lack of content, horribly buggy missions and constant server issues. This is NOT Star Trek by any means. It does NOT have any of the feel or immersion of ANY of the 40 years of the Star Trek franchise and has been a terrible disappointment for those that waited with baited breath for an MMO that would fill the love of Star Trek fans' dream of on online game. Save your money for something worth playing online.. STO is certainly NOT it. Once you get past the 'oh cool..it's Star Trek' honeymoon period, it reveals itself as a bland cookie-cutter semi-multiplayer game.… Expand
  80. JamesH
    Feb 11, 2010
    3
    The game fails to deliver in many many ways. But, mostly its just devoid of content. The combat system is 'ok' in space.. but, its basically rehashed City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online. Also, the developers have done a poor job of engaging the community. If you played SW:G at release... then, as bad as that was, STO is worse. If the game didn't have the Star Trek The game fails to deliver in many many ways. But, mostly its just devoid of content. The combat system is 'ok' in space.. but, its basically rehashed City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online. Also, the developers have done a poor job of engaging the community. If you played SW:G at release... then, as bad as that was, STO is worse. If the game didn't have the Star Trek IP... it would have no playerbase at all, in my opinion.… Expand
  81. JohnDoe
    Feb 11, 2010
    3
    This is game completely miss what Star Trek franchise was about. It only looks like star trek on the surface under the hood it everything that made the shows great. And manages to mess up all the other things it tried to do to make it fun. Ground combat is a joke, the space ship combat could be fun expect that all the super hero powered ships seem to encourage button mashing spam. The This is game completely miss what Star Trek franchise was about. It only looks like star trek on the surface under the hood it everything that made the shows great. And manages to mess up all the other things it tried to do to make it fun. Ground combat is a joke, the space ship combat could be fun expect that all the super hero powered ships seem to encourage button mashing spam. The crafting is bad joke. And so just about everything else about this game.… Expand
  82. ScottS
    Feb 10, 2010
    4
    Space combat is something other games can look to take a bit from; not too complex to make you want to rip your hair out, but just enough to make you want more. Ground is boring to say the least; Nothing real ground breaking, for the most part I feel like I'm playing WoW back at level 30(lack of abilities and major difference in characters). The biggest killer is the fact that yet Space combat is something other games can look to take a bit from; not too complex to make you want to rip your hair out, but just enough to make you want more. Ground is boring to say the least; Nothing real ground breaking, for the most part I feel like I'm playing WoW back at level 30(lack of abilities and major difference in characters). The biggest killer is the fact that yet again if you buy it your paying $60 for beta. Zero foresight to at least make the first few weeks bearable. No content to ease leveling for Klingons. And to top it all off the NPCs in the klingon area feel like they dont even have a lootable. I collected more loot in the first 6 levels of the Fed area than in the next 10 levels in the klingon area. Tons of potential but im not paying for the next 3 months to wait for cryptic to release patches to bring the game to "release" status.… Expand
  83. AaronB
    Feb 10, 2010
    3
    Very linear and repetitive content. Many places where you will be forced to repeat "exploration" (aka either combat with 5 vessels, or hitting the f key on 5 things) missions, or defend sector missions because of a clear lack of content. Re-playability? Not unless you ant to do the exact same linear line of quests ad nauseum. Space combat is beautiful, other than the 45 degree limitation Very linear and repetitive content. Many places where you will be forced to repeat "exploration" (aka either combat with 5 vessels, or hitting the f key on 5 things) missions, or defend sector missions because of a clear lack of content. Re-playability? Not unless you ant to do the exact same linear line of quests ad nauseum. Space combat is beautiful, other than the 45 degree limitation on pitching your ship. this is not a problem other than a few places that turn into a corkscrew fest flying maneuver. (See Ponor system which is designed 90 degrees and you can see Cryptic's shortsightedness) Ground combat is clunky and abysmal in comparison. When Atari has Elite Forces, why not just use that?… Expand
  84. ivanr
    Feb 8, 2010
    2
    This game is a shame. It has no StarTrek at all. It is all combat, at space mainly, even the combat at ground is bad. I admit the space combat is fun to play, but all is space combat, no exploration, no diplomacy, no Star Trek at all. The skill system is useless. What is the point in having four officers with a punch of skills to level up, when you can only use five or six skills at This game is a shame. It has no StarTrek at all. It is all combat, at space mainly, even the combat at ground is bad. I admit the space combat is fun to play, but all is space combat, no exploration, no diplomacy, no Star Trek at all. The skill system is useless. What is the point in having four officers with a punch of skills to level up, when you can only use five or six skills at maximum? It has no sense to raise for example 2 space skills per officer when you can only use 5. The missions are mainly go there and get an object, or go there and kill those guys. The klingon faction is a waste of time, no fun missions, no content, just a bit of pvp with a painful difficult level. Stay away from this game please.… Expand
  85. Bobd
    Feb 6, 2010
    4
    Another great idea, another total fail by Cryptic. They keep repackaging their craptastic graphics engine and zero contentent PvE in every game they release. Seriously It is a shame they got to use the Star Trek license. As always Cryptic wants you to pay them to release old smelly code.
  86. BrianN
    Feb 6, 2010
    4
    The best thing going for this game is the character creation at the very start of the game. You can change almost everything about your character's face and body, even your uniform color scheme. From there it goes down hill. Ground combat is glitchy and dull. You spend the entire time pressing one or two buttons over and over. Space combat is similar but without a group of 4 NPCs The best thing going for this game is the character creation at the very start of the game. You can change almost everything about your character's face and body, even your uniform color scheme. From there it goes down hill. Ground combat is glitchy and dull. You spend the entire time pressing one or two buttons over and over. Space combat is similar but without a group of 4 NPCs following you for help. Instead now you press "fire all weapons" over and over while spinning in circles. Quests are dull and lifeless. Differences in quest types are very few. You're constantly fighting the same kinds of ships and ground enemies. There is little to no change in the game, and I played until level 30 or so. Ship tier customization is a joke. Personal class choices are a joke and don't really affect you in space but they do a little bit on the ground. The entire MMO is a cluster of instances with no real base. The way you travel is through a bland and near empty tactical map, traveling from one instance to another. Horrible game, horrible MMO, horrible score. It only gets a 4 because the game was fun for the first 30 minutes. What you see in 30 mins. is what the game is, just repeated over more dull levels.… Expand
  87. ChrisL
    Feb 6, 2010
    3
    This game is only skin deep and anyone playing more than a couple of days will realize it's value is very very shallow. It's sad to see such a great IP like Star Trek rushed out the door by a poor company like Cryptic, and you would have thought Cryptic learned their lesson after Champions Online bombed. We can only hope it gets better in the future. At the moment STO borders on This game is only skin deep and anyone playing more than a couple of days will realize it's value is very very shallow. It's sad to see such a great IP like Star Trek rushed out the door by a poor company like Cryptic, and you would have thought Cryptic learned their lesson after Champions Online bombed. We can only hope it gets better in the future. At the moment STO borders on fraud for how unfinished it is out of the box.… Expand
  88. AlbertS
    Feb 5, 2010
    3
    I am seriously, seriously disappointed. Cryptic Studious should be ashamed of this catastrophe. It's like playing a game thats in Beta testing stage and needs serious overhauls before it becomes enjoyable. They shouldn't be charging people to play this, they should be PAYING them to play! The lag, the bugs, the bland missions, the non-satisfying PVP!!! Maybe in a year or so it I am seriously, seriously disappointed. Cryptic Studious should be ashamed of this catastrophe. It's like playing a game thats in Beta testing stage and needs serious overhauls before it becomes enjoyable. They shouldn't be charging people to play this, they should be PAYING them to play! The lag, the bugs, the bland missions, the non-satisfying PVP!!! Maybe in a year or so it might be worth trying...but if your eager to play and you don't believe me: go ahead and try it, but you have been warned!!!… Expand
  89. BillM
    Feb 5, 2010
    4
    This is a mediocre game at best. Gameplay isn't that great, space battles become repetitive and boring after a few hours. Ground warfare looks like a bad Sega Genesis game and is bugged to all hell. I highly don't recommend this game. Wait until they offer a free trial or something.
  90. KajT
    Feb 4, 2010
    2
    Your generic quest/grind MMOG. The multiplayer elements are completely ignorable as it is solo game by design with co-op elements added in. Not really impressed as it just like many other MMOGs out there right now who have already perfected their genre. I guess if you're a fan of the new age star trek (enterprise, the new movie and such) this is for you, older trekkies will find too Your generic quest/grind MMOG. The multiplayer elements are completely ignorable as it is solo game by design with co-op elements added in. Not really impressed as it just like many other MMOGs out there right now who have already perfected their genre. I guess if you're a fan of the new age star trek (enterprise, the new movie and such) this is for you, older trekkies will find too many plot holes and retcons of the older series. TL:DR This game would be worth it if it were free, however the monthly fee is not worth it.… Expand
  91. DennisU
    Feb 4, 2010
    4
    Very disappointing to a die-hard Trekkie that really looked forward to this. Cryptic got one very fundamental and important thing completely and utterly wrong. Star Trek is about exploration. "To reach out to new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before." Star Trek Online is all combat, combat, combat, combat, more combat, and even more combat. There is no Very disappointing to a die-hard Trekkie that really looked forward to this. Cryptic got one very fundamental and important thing completely and utterly wrong. Star Trek is about exploration. "To reach out to new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before." Star Trek Online is all combat, combat, combat, combat, more combat, and even more combat. There is no exploration. Don't get me wrong. I thought the combat, especially the ship fights, was fun, if a bit unrealistic. One lone Federation ship cannot defeat 9 Klingon ships (3 at a time, but still), especially when those ships are warships. Sure, Star Trek is a bit unrealistic, but it has always had a tinge of realism that made you go "That could actually be our future." I did not get this feeling for a moment while playing Star Trek Online. The leveling system wasn't bad, and was a good tie-in to the actual ranks. The graphics were amazing, for what little actually had to be done. You are mostly limited to being in orbit of a planet when in space, while the "Sector Space" - the space where you pick what system you want to go to - was big but felt too much like a "Level Select" to me. Having to buy the Klingon and Ferrengi races (Note: I may not be understanding the method of obtaining C-Points correctly), and only offering the freed Borg as a perk to buying a Lifetime subscription, rubbed me the wrong way as well. All in all, Star Trek Online is an incredibly disappointing game that focuses far and beyond too much on combat and not on what Star Trek is really all about: Exploration. I will not be renewing after the free month.… Expand
  92. OpakB
    Feb 3, 2010
    4
    Ship combat is quite fun when you get the hang of the controls. The rest however needs quite a bit of work to be enjoyable. Ground combat is just plain boring. It should have been called Star Trek at war online. Its missing more of the "to boldly go" than the shows.
  93. MikeS
    Feb 2, 2010
    1
    Buggy, laggy, and not fun. Yet another game that imitates a MMO in order to charge a monthly fee yet offers no incentive or motivation to actually team up to accomplish a task. Why are there games that do more for multiplayer while not charging a fee? Cryptic excels at squandering potential when it comes to game design.
  94. puffymanpurse
    Feb 2, 2010
    4
    This game at it's present state is uneventful and drab. All of the naysayers of world of warcraft can go ahead and eat their hats. There isn't a game out or coming out that can top Blizzards MMO. They took what works and improved it 100 fold. Star Trek is another broken design with little reason to "go where no man has gone before". Save your money, or play wow.

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
9
#9 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 34
  3. Negative: 3 out of 34
  1. GameWatcher
    80
    This is as fine a[n] homage to one of Sci-fi's great franchises a[s] you can get in an MMO format.
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  2. Eurogamer
    60
    Despite all of these complaints, those hordes of starship captains are quite happy. They may not have many different things to do, and the missions and UI may be rather buggy, but there does seem to be enough content to sustain them - at least until the endgame - and even at its worst that content is knockabout fun with more instant appeal, and more suitability for casual, short-session, low-commitment play than most MMOs.
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  3. Vandal
    85
    It is one of the worthier options among the titles which try to compete with WoW, and the one that has convinced us the most to date.
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