Each evening in the seven days since its UK launch, I've been exploring Cryptic Studios' latest MMO offering, Star Trek Online. Does it live up to the hype, and is STO the game Trekkies have been waiting for?
I'm torn over Star Trek Online, I really am. On the one hand, the Trek fan in me is overjoyed with my very own Starfleet vessel, the ability to explore the galaxy with my hand-picked Bridge Officers or fly into battle with Borg cubes armed with my trusty phasers and photon torpedoes. And yes, I can finally wield a tricorder. On the other hand, I have to admit that I'd hoped for so much more than STO provides.
One area that I certainly wasn't disappointed in was the character creator. If there's one thing that Cryptic knows how to do well, it's giving players the tools to make the character they really want. There are several races to choose from when playing as either Federation or Klingon, each with their own benefits such as higher resistance against certain damage types, more health or increased melee damage. Then there's the plethora of customisation options including facial features, hair styles and body shapes. Finally, players can design a character's uniform from the ground up. They can either stick with one of the tradition pre-made options, or go for something radical and unique to stand out in the crowd.
Characters have three classes to pick from; Engineering officers are all about survivability and support for the rest of the team. They can create a number of helpful devices on the ground that do damage to the enemy or aid their team mates. Science officers can heal others, while also being able to drain enemies of their defences. A Tactical officer's primary focus is damage dealing, and is capable of drawing threat away from its allies.
Klingon gameplay is unlocked at level 6 or through a Starfleet quest, so everyone starts off as Federation. The tutorial takes place aboard a ship that's under attack by the Borg. It serves to guide beginners through ground combat, giving basic training on the use of phasers and hand-to-hand combat, interaction with NPCs and objects. A brief guide to the use of Bridge Officers is also given at this stage, and players must choose either a Science, Engineering or Tactical officer as their first team member.
A short space mission follows the first section, which familiarises players with manoeuvring the ship and using the on-board weapons. Players are then beamed down to the surface of a nearby planet along with their new Bridge Officer to tackle the Borg on the ground once again. This gives a taste of what's to come later in the game when it's necessary to command full away teams.
When all these easy missions are complete, the real game begins, and players find themselves on Earth's orbiting space station. This is the hub, the main city if you like, where the bank, exchange (auction house), vendors, outfitters and quest givers are located, although other space stations dotted around the galaxy will also provide many of these services. At this point, it's also possible to cosmetically redesign your ship, your character and your Bridge Officers(s).
There are several quests to get you on your way, some involve finding NPCs dotted around the space station, others will send you off on missions in other solar systems.
When you leave the station for the first time and warp into sector space, you'll appear on the galaxy map. In STO, areas of the galaxy are divided up into sectors which contain certain systems. You navigate between these systems by travelling (at a frustratingly slow pace) across a representation of the sector's map to the location you desire. The galaxy map also shows other players as they travel between systems, and NPC trade vessels where you can pick up supplies or sell any surplus loot you may have acquired in battle.
At first, it's a little confusing, trying to find your way around the galaxy. You'd think that all the available locations would be on one map, maybe two, but the galaxy is divided up into ten sectors, each with multiple systems. Ships can't travel directly from one sector to another unless they're adjacent to each other, either, so it's sometimes necessary to do nothing but sit and watch your ship crawl across a sector, then another. I know a certain amount of travelling is involved in most MMOs, but there really is nothing to do on these trips, which are needed for most missions in this early part of the game at least, but sit and wait.
The first few quests require you and your crew to perform a varied range of tasks. You're called upon to investigate mysterious breaks in communication, escort diplomats to safely and rescue stranded ships among other things.
Many of these tasks require your away team to beam down to a planet. Before you have a full compliment of Bridge Officers, you'll get generic security NPCs, or red shirts, in their place. During ground missions, your away team, powered by the game's AI, follow your character, attacking hostile targets and using any special abilities they may have. Enemy units you kill often drop items that can be used by you and your officers such as better weapons and armour, shield charges and hypo sprays.
Did it ever have a chance of living up to everyone's expectations?
I don't think Cryptic were necessarily the right developers to do STO. I think it's suffered from the same problems as Champions. It just is not polished enough.
Two games that had huge potential.
Even for an mmo...
Asteria is right, Cryptic wasn't the right pick to develop this MMO.