Star Trek The Video Game

Star Trek is a bargain bin purchase for fans of the franchise and little else. It's average in every sense of the word, but even that is marred by a number of flaws and bugs.

Terrible animations, dull combat, repetitive puzzles, and rampant bugs wore out Star Trek’s welcome long before its pointless story came to an end.

Star Trek The Video Game just isn't very good.

It is a game rushed, full of bugs and with nothing really interesting to keep you going. Consider it just a rental and only if you are a real "trekkie".

Has a few flashes of quality and originality, but it’s ultimately mired beneath a multitude of disappointing flaws. The entire game is just plain dull and the experience suffers from a distinct lack of refinement. The technical aspects are well below par, the plot and characters are of little interest, the controls and camera are wonky, and the AI is poor.

Digital Extremes clearly set out to develop a game that is more than a mere licensed cash-in, but Star Trek is a title with big problems, from camera issues to ropey cover and platforming mechanics.

There are glitches and other unfortunate quirks to talk about, but those problems barely register over the din of utter mediocrity that pervades so much of Star Trek: The Video Game's campaign. Outside of a horrid, poorly-explained turret sequence in which you (barely) pilot the Enterprise in battle, there is scarcely an acknowledgment anywhere in this game that Star Trek fans might want to do something other than just run around and shoot aliens. Such a concept ultimately belies the very point of Star Trek in practically all of its many incarnations.

As was expected, Star Trek: The Game is a bad attempt to take advantage of J.J. Abrams' movie, which will soon be on your screens. Not really nice to watch, Star Trek isn't really nice to play either. Using terribly old gameplay mechanics never made a good game, and it's not quite an accurate choice to give it some character. Even fans should avoid paying for this.

Barely ten minutes after we booted up the game, our AI-partner managed to get himself stuck in some godforsaken corner of a godforsaken space station. Restart. This time Spock does not want to go down a ladder, not even after encouraging him with a few Phaser beams to the face. Restart. [June 2013, p.76]

The last slap to a fan's face is that you only command Kirk's iconic Starship Enterprise once, in the form of an appalling turret sequence.

Star Trek: The Video Game shows signs of promise, and even manages to deliver a serviceable plot – but buried beneath its palatable dialogue is a calamitous third-person shooter that makes a mockery out of its source material. Fans of the franchise may be able to see past the bugs, but will despise the emphasis on action, while everyone else will be best served elsewhere.

There are good qualities about this game – nods to other titles which also share strong science fiction or adventure settings—but the overwhelming gameplay issues, bugs which can shut down gameplay, lack of a decent plot, and the overall tedium of the game make it a less than mediocre title.