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. AFryer123
    Jun 9, 2012
    7
    When I first saw this game I was truly excited, the possibility of commanding my own starship with my own crew overwhelmed me, that was back when it was still pay to play. When I heard it was free to play I signed up to play, after playing the demo a few years earlier I new what I was getting into and I thought I would love it. I created my character using on of the best character creatorsWhen I first saw this game I was truly excited, the possibility of commanding my own starship with my own crew overwhelmed me, that was back when it was still pay to play. When I heard it was free to play I signed up to play, after playing the demo a few years earlier I new what I was getting into and I thought I would love it. I created my character using on of the best character creators I have seen in an MMO (Especially creating my own alien) I eventually settled with a trill captain an prepared to go boldly where no gamer has gone before (Pardon the pun) I delved straight in. I started playing through the story. A disappointing affair to say the least. When a brand says Star Trek, one expects much more than the general 'go in and slaughter them all' attitude in most MMO's, I was expecting diplomacy and exploration
    instead I got caught up in destruction and espionage. All that aside the foundry is a fantastic feature, the ability to create my own missions is fantastic (although I haven't quite grasped it) and again the system for character creation is great. Then their is Klingon play, it's underdeveloped and I found it horrible to play, the ability to play as 'the enemy' got me exciting but it was horrible, Cryptic have put next to no thought into the Klingon side. So in short Star Trek Online has potential, but it trips up on many hurdles, it has not stopped me from playing it and quite enjoying it.    … Expand
  2. gracjanski
    Feb 4, 2018
    9
    I read a lot good stuff about STO in contrary to the "professional tests" and I am a trekkie, so I decided to try it out as a confederation officer.
    The idea to write the solo game in episodes is genius. No more hundred of open quests but one story for about 30-60 minutes, like an episode of the series. In an episode you explore the universe, fight against other ships or fight on the    I read a lot good stuff about STO in contrary to the "professional tests" and I am a trekkie, so I decided to try it out as a confederation officer.
    The idea to write the solo game in episodes is genius. No more hundred of open quests but one story for about 30-60 minutes, like an episode of the series. In an episode you explore the universe, fight against other ships or fight on the ground. In addition there are some classic quests also. The density of the story in an episode is perfect. There are many hints to all series and I advise you to check some internet fan sites to read about some backgrounds of the Star Trek world to understand more or to remember some content.

    The gameplay is really good, i was surprised. The abilities, skills and item system is complex. Fighting is very motivating, because there are many elements to understand and it gives you a lot to think. Even after many hours of playing you will find many improvements in your build. I was expecting a game for the masses, but it is not. But unfortuntately the difficulty is too low and leveling is too fast.
    Music is good.
    The game is f2p, but there is nothing necessary to buy in the shop. I wanted to buy something, but suddenly the game was deinstalled...look below:

    The bad sides of the game are because of the miserable launch: Especially as a confederation officer you will have some boring missions in the beginning: The worlds are very boring, the missions very linear. The 2nd season is already better. As a clingone you dont have such boring mussions and overall the clingone part is much better in my view.
    You need to load too much, because the worlds are too small, especially the universe should be bigger.
    You can play this game alone, but for a MMORPG it is a problem I think. A pity, that Atari didnt look at Guild Wars, that has a great solo part, but it connects players better to play together. In STO there are some contents for groups, but I didnt do them.
    In the later seasons you get really great episodes, but they are the same for clingones, confederation and romulans. This was a problem, because I wanted to continue with my clingone, but my confederation was further.
    The next problem was the technique. In the new 8ths season, where I ve been there were new bugs for the whole game and it destroyed my motivation for the game, because other games are waiting to be played.

    ---->>>
    I was surprised very positively. This game is great, especially if you play as a clingone. If you are a trekkie this game is a 10/10    … Expand
  3. 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
  4. bobolous
    Jan 25, 2014
    5
    I bought STO when it first came out, and found it clunky, unpolished, and just not that fun to play. A few years later I have re-visited it now that it has the "legacy of Romulus" re-brand and plenty of time to improve. Once I'd worked out how to link my new download with my old STO purchase - and found little or no benefit to having paid £50-odd over what anyone downloading the free gameI bought STO when it first came out, and found it clunky, unpolished, and just not that fun to play. A few years later I have re-visited it now that it has the "legacy of Romulus" re-brand and plenty of time to improve. Once I'd worked out how to link my new download with my old STO purchase - and found little or no benefit to having paid £50-odd over what anyone downloading the free game has) I discovered how little improvement there seems to have been in the intervening years. My starship has twice got "stuck" colliding with other objects, in the second instance the game became juddered, jumped, became unresponsive, and left me open to being pummeled to death by Klingons because I couldn't steer, fight back, quit the mission. When I force close the program and log back in I'm still stuck in the same juddering mission unable to quit to the galaxy map. Missions are borked either by this weird stuck-and-judder problem I seem to get, or by the game's failure to detect that you've actually finished a mission, or by poorly written quest updates that you have to Google to deciper. When missions work, they are mostly very dry fetch or kill quests. My desire to see a living Star Trek universe was great, and at least there is plenty of Star Trek in the design. But the universe feels empty and restricted - small stations, limited freedom between linear quests. A bizarre combination of a quite lovely warp area map, let down by a flat, un-interactive galaxy map, add to the feeling of incompleteness. Much is made by some reviewers out of the ability to customize ships or appearance - but it seems to come at the expense of gameplay, which revolves around dull, repetitive, pillar-to-post missions. Some people seem to like the space combat - but we're not seeing it from a bridge so this immediately felt less Star Trek-esque to me. It's also restricted to a sort of deep plane (rather than the 3D of space) so it feels less like space combat than the original Elite! Combat consists mainly of Warcraft-style button pushing with a little scope for steering tactics (e.g. broadsiding with phasers to bring the shields down, then turning to face to unleash a finishing torpedo). STO could have been so good! But how long do you really want to spend being told to run from one person to another, then pushing "1" or "2" repeatedly while bad guys fall over, however attractive the scenery and backstory?… Expand
  5. antsal75
    Jan 17, 2015
    7
    I must confess, all the time I get frustrated with the game and curse it out, I keep going back to it. There is a lot good here, and a some not so good. First the good. There is a ton of content. even before you get to the other tuff like New Romulus or Delta Rising, the campaign is massive and takes easily into the hundreds of hours to go through, and I am still going through it all.I must confess, all the time I get frustrated with the game and curse it out, I keep going back to it. There is a lot good here, and a some not so good. First the good. There is a ton of content. even before you get to the other tuff like New Romulus or Delta Rising, the campaign is massive and takes easily into the hundreds of hours to go through, and I am still going through it all. I am currently Vice Admiral Rank. The ships are nicely rendered, though damage visualization is nothing special. Space combat is fun and you really feel like you are commanding a star ship. At levels up to Rear Admiral lower half you get a free, progressively more powerful ship. There are ships you can purchase with better stats, but to be honest, the only ship I purchased that was worth anything was the tier three Excelsior - and it was a bit of a rip off that the console that allowed free transwarp to pretty much everywhere in the galaxy only worked on this ship. The other ships, for the most part, don't have upgrade states enough to justify their cost (twenty-five to thirty dollars - only recommended once you get to tier 5 ships). One of the worst things about STO is the control system. It is very awkward. the only way to accurately control the ship is to hold both the left and right mouse buttons together and steer. The problem with this, is that many of the special functions (consoles) are activated by clicking them (hence, no more steering of the ship, a big no-no in a dog fight) or using alt-1, alt-2, ctrl-1, ctrl-2, etc. This is awkward in the extreme. Not so bad in earlier ships with only a few consoles, but when you have a dozen or so...well it really detracts from the experience. You can steer using WASD but with nowhere close to the finesse of using the two mouse buttons.

    Ground combat has much the same problem, as in ground combat you are in shooter mode. The direction of the mouse points you in the way to go and w or s moves you back and forth. you can also strafe using D or A and double tapping any of these allows for a defensive roll. Not bad, except the special abilities in class specific kits as well as shield and hypo boosts (healing potions for the D and D minded out there) are using the same button combos as in space combat. And you need them much more as in ground combat, no mater how good your shield or body armor is, you are crap. I am trying to dodge all this stuff in coming and by the time I am fumbling with the buttons to use a hypo or shield recharge, I am dead. And this happens a lot, far more than in space combat. Really detracts from the experience. And the cool down times between uses of hypos or shield charges makes the whole thing worse.

    The difficulty settings are normal, Advanced and Epic. Normal sees you more or less matched with equal targets and if you die, no chance of injury or ship damage upon respawn. Advanced sees a chance of injury and bosses that are ridiculously difficult, especially in Advanced or I can't even imagine epic. Not so bad in Space Combat, ridiculously aggravating in ground combat. I have died maybe 4 or 5 times in 52 levels of play in space combat, I have died at least a dozen and a half times in ground combat, and it seems the difficulty level spikes after you hit Captain. I would rather have an even shot in Normal while having the chance of injury upon death, than go advanced for the full experience and die 30 or 40 times cursing away as I go. And the awkward controls, in part, are a big reason for all the dying. Also, there is no real cover system in ground combat which would make for a slower but much more enjoyable and survivable game experience.

    Still despite these and other complaints, I keep going back, because it is a fun game. But ship combat was done better in STC III (if I could meld those two games together, wowsa!) and almost anything is better than ground combat. I will not go so far as to say that ground combat is impossible, just unnecessarily frustrating.

    Final analysis -

    Enjoyable with great Star Trek lore.
    Immersive role playing experience (Ah, I remember when I was in an old Miranda Frigate, now I am in an Odyssey class cruiser!).
    Enjoyable ship combat, crap ground combat.
    Buy a Tier 5 ship and stick with it, it is the one you will keep a long time. Otherwise you will spend hundreds of dollars and most of the pay ships are not much better than the free ones at the respective Tiers.
    A good game that could be far more with better controls.
    I am glad it is F2P, I would not have paid the subscription fee...just not worth that amount of money.    … Expand
  6. FieldMedic4077
    Feb 16, 2015
    7
    Star Trek Online is really only for fairly serious Trek fans. The type of fan that can overlook the game's many short comings, because underneath the grim is a title with a lot of content and some serious fun.

    Some notes: - Lack of development resources seems to lead to inconsistent polish and a patch work of quality. - Space combat is a ton of fun. - Ground combat is poor. So poor    Star Trek Online is really only for fairly serious Trek fans. The type of fan that can overlook the game's many short comings, because underneath the grim is a title with a lot of content and some serious fun.

    Some notes:

    - Lack of development resources seems to lead to inconsistent polish and a patch work of quality.
    - Space combat is a ton of fun.
    - Ground combat is poor. So poor it will drive some away all by itself.
    - Poor new player experience. Poor tutorial. Expect to do a lot of self learning and internet research.
    - Some currency grinding (dilithium).
    - Quests range from fully voiced and interesting to dull and convoluted.    … Expand
  7. 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
  8. PimN
    Feb 28, 2018
    7
    I only really started playing this game in 2018, and so far I've been enjoying it. It's a great game for Star Trek fans. This is a free to play MMO, with multiple quadrants to explore which are full of missions to play. I've only played by myself, have not bought any microtransactions, and I'm still in early game. I've also only played as one faction so far, Starfleet.

    Pros: -    I only really started playing this game in 2018, and so far I've been enjoying it. It's a great game for Star Trek fans. This is a free to play MMO, with multiple quadrants to explore which are full of missions to play. I've only played by myself, have not bought any microtransactions, and I'm still in early game. I've also only played as one faction so far, Starfleet.

    Pros:

    - Visuals: For a 2010 game it looks very nice (it probably got visual updates over the years)
    - Gameplay: The gameplay is very solid, combat in space feels fair and balanced. Attacking ships or objects is very satisfying. The ships really have some weight to them and the controls feel accurate.
    - Presentation: The Star Trek universe is very well repesented in this game. From the visual art-style to characters, the world makes sense.

    Cons:

    - Animation: The animations are very basic, often there's only one animation for an event (like falling, shooting, etc.)
    - Ground Combat: The ground combat has been glitchy in my experience, with enemies not approaching/attacking, guns refusing to fire, companions glitching around, and LOTS of clipping. While it ruins the immersion in the ground combat scenarios, the overall experience with these sections was still satisfactory for me.

    Informational:

    - Repetitive missions: The missions are all very similar and can feel repetitive. I don't feel like this is neccesarily a con though, because a Starfleet officer has a repetitive job. Scan this, defeat this ship, activate these things, etc. There's only just enough variation for me. The background story of missions, and locations and different types of enemies can make enough of a difference to make missions feel unique, even though to the core there's only a few different kind of missions.
    -Freemium style economy: There are multiple currencies in the game, some of which can be bought with real money. I expected this naturally, since it is a F2P MMO. Never have I felt that the 'Zen currency' has been pushed in my face, nor do I feel like some paywalls are obstructing my enjoyment of the game. Some ships are locked behind this premium currency. However, missions often reward you with 'Dilithium', which is one of the in-game currencies. This currency can be traded for Zen. Therefore, there is really no content that can only be aquired through microtransactions.

    It's worth checking it out.    … Expand
  9. 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!
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. Eilrahc
    Oct 6, 2010
    9
    I was not one of the players that was there during beta or launch but as someone who has jumped into the game 9 months after it was first released I find STO to be a very enjoyable Star Trek video game experience. It is evident from the game's website that Cryptic is working to correct any mistakes that were there during launch and while I can understand bad feelings because of the gameI was not one of the players that was there during beta or launch but as someone who has jumped into the game 9 months after it was first released I find STO to be a very enjoyable Star Trek video game experience. It is evident from the game's website that Cryptic is working to correct any mistakes that were there during launch and while I can understand bad feelings because of the game feeling unprepared when it was released, it is definitely worth checking out now.

    At this point, what the game does well:
    + Beautiful graphics created in the Star Trek universe
    + In depth and interesting character and ship customization options
    ++ Featured Episodes (the studio has implemented weekly episodes or missions based around a new story arc being introduced into the game) + Space Combat (from what I've read this has been one of the highlights since launch)

    The negatives (at this point)
    - Ground combat is still repetitive (although being able to flank and dodge has been fun)

    Overall, if you are a Star Trek or Sci-fi this is definitely a MMO worth trying, especially since the demo is free. That's how I got hooked.    … Expand
  18. Ozimandeus
    Jul 1, 2011
    9
    Its a 'Marmite' title at no mistake, I think the haters are very wrong though, it is expansive, exciting to watch and play, filled with Trek lore and a really fun game to play. A really refreshing change from the dull grind and raid of most MMORPG's out there.. Think original mass effect mixed with Earth and Beyond and your not far off what this title delivers. I love it!!
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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.
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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
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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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