Star Trek: Shattered Univers
The classic Star Trek mythos gets another videogame treatment, but is it good?
Tags: Star Trek: Shattered Universe Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 4th, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: Shattered Universe (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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It should be noted from the onset that I’m a fan of Star Trek. I’m not a “dress up in uniform and go to conventions” type fan, but I did watch all seven seasons of Voyager, and still watch Enterprise faithfully. For the last couple of years, I have been looking forward to Star Trek: Shattered Universe. I couldn’t get into the FPS style of the Elite Force games and I don’t’ have much time for many of the strategy games, so something a bit more adventure based had major appeal.
Star Trek: Shattered Universe takes place during the period of time after the first set of movies that starred the cast from the original series. Here, Captain Sulu is heading up The Excelsior, a move that was introduced in Star Trek VI. This allows players a connection to the Star Trek universe, while not bogging them down too much in character dynamics and continuity. It’s just enough to know that this is Star Trek, and some action is going to take place.
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The Excelsior is on its way to aid Enterprise after receiving a distress call. Here is where the first problem with the came shows up, we don’t see this plot development. How hard would it have been to create another 2 minute sequence – sure, getting Shatner to reprise his role, even for a cameo, would have been prohibitively expensive, but that could have been creatively circumvented.
Opening and presented as a continuation of the television series, Star Trek: Shattered Universe makes great use of the license. The opening sequences and title cards as well as the beginning of each level and how they are titled evoke a return of the original series. There are plenty of other nods to the series as well, but mostly they will please Star Trek fans.
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The gameplay isn’t quite the adventure that was initially thought. After attempting to rescue Enterprise from the Janus Prime Vortex, something happens, and Excelsior gets sucked through and transported to the “mirror” universe – where the Federation is not the bastion of good, and every ship is vying for supremacy (sort of like an organized band of pirates). Upon arrival in this flip-flopped universe, Enterprise sends out several small attack craft to destroy Cpt. Sulu’s Excelsior. It turns out there are several comparable small craft in Excelsior’s hangar, so it’s time to retaliate. This is where the player comes in.
Star Trek Shattered Universe is, for the most part, a typical space combat game with a liberal dosing of the Star Trek license – that is what sets the game apart from its contemporaries. There are touches (such as the return of Sulu’s “mirror” scar) that show the developers really cared about preserving continuity (unlike the Rick Berman, who seems determined to throw future history down the drain with each successive episode of Enterprise). The dozen or so episode/levels will have players performing a variety of tasks, almost always ending up with a volley of phaser fire.
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Rather than rely on the large ships that most of us are familiar with, the developers have designed a bunch of smaller craft that fit in with the storyline very well. After the first mission, a new craft is available. Each craft has different attributes (weapons power, shields, speed) so choosing the right one for the job is essential. Throughout the game, other items and ships become available.
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Most missions will have multiple objectives and time limits. This, along with the at times unwieldy control scheme makes Star Trek: Shattered Universe harder than it needs to be. That said, once the controls are mastered, the game provides enough of a challenge to keep players coming back for more while not proving to be difficult to the point of frustration.
The audio is a mixed bag. The voice acting is really good, George Takai reprises his role as Cpt. Sulu and Walter Koenig comes to the game as Chekov. The rest of the vocal cast performs their parts admirably, and the sound effects are good. What doesn’t work quite so effectively is the music. Maybe the money had run out when it came time to license the music, but since the controls are difficult enough, having the right music playing would have helped keep the player immersed in the game.
Star Trek: Shattered Universe has a mixed bag of visuals as well. The ships look good, the HUD (head’s up display) is adequate, and the camera doesn’t suck. What is odd, however, are the cut-scenes. I swear that Gerry Anderson had a hand in creating this game, as this is the digital representation of supermarionation – at least as far as the cut-scenes are concerned. The character model of Sulu would not look out of place alongside Captain Scarlet or Lady Penelope.
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Distracting as certain aspects can be, ultimately it comes down to how fun the game is. Hardcore space combat fans won’t be too interested in this game as it doesn’t have a long play time and there really isn’t much to replay unless you’re a Star Trek fan. Casual space combat players as well as Star Trek fans will have plenty to sink their teeth into. Not the greatest, it is definitely a solid game that treats the Star Trek license with respect, and actually uses it.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Great use of the Star Trek license + Decent story and use of characters + Voice acting |
7.8 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- Supermarionation style cut-scenes - The music - The controls |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Star Trek fans should pick this up, but most hardcore space combat players may want to look elsewhere. | |
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Tags: Star Trek: Shattered Universe
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 4th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
