How did he beat your test?
29 August 2012 | By Joe Robinson
Videogame movie tie-ins: the final frontier. These are the Voyages of the Videogame Star Trek. Its continuing missions: To be a decent videogame, to not be rushed or hampered by development constraints, to boldly go where no videogame movie tie-in has gone before. Ok, that was a bit silly, but we all know the curse that seems to afflict all move tie-in games, and there’s every possibility that this will turn out the same. In all honesty Paramount/Namco Bandai’s Star Trek game is looking like one of the best movie tie-ins to date… which is something that’s been said a lot about many games, but we’re optimistic about this one.
Paramount are taking this seriously though, especially if the rumours of how much money they’ve poured into development are true. They’ve got several key people who are working on films involved, they’ve got all of the actors to provide voices, (the witty banter between Kirk and Spock is spot on from what we’ve seen) and they’ve hired Digital Extremes – who’ve worked on everything from Unreal to Bioshock, and more recently The Darkness II – to handle the development of the game. They’re not skimping out on development time either – by the time the game is released in early 2013; it will have been in development for nearly three years. If any videogame movie tie-in stands a chance of doing well it’s this one.
The game is smart as well with the license it’s based on – we haven’t had a hands-on session, but we did get a pretty extensive demonstration. The game is co-op based, with Kirk and Spock taking centre stage, although we’re told you get to play the game as multiple characters throughout the 10 -12 hour adventure. Its third person action, but it's action that makes sense: when you play as Kirk, you’re more hands-on and action focused, but if you play as Spock, you’re more cautious and analytical, able to use gadgets like the tricorder to expose weaknesses and to help make the tougher encounters easier. You can also summon ‘airstrikes’ from the Enterprise above, although we imagine those will be context sensitive. The team are adamant of making the ship a ‘character’ in its own right, with just as much screentime.
In terms of the game itself – it’s very narrative driven (written by the guy who wrote the God of War series) and picks off where the first film left off. The Vulcans are looking for a new home, and a classic enemy The Gorn form the game’s primary antagonists, with lots of different ‘types’ of Gorn thrown against you, from grunts to big hulking brutes. Being a co-op game, partnering up with a friend is key, and we’re happy to say that not only will the game have drop-in/drop-out multiplayer over the internet, but local split-screen support is also included. It’s also going to have PlayStation Move support, as motion controlling with a prop fits in perfectly with the fact that you can use gadgets like phasers. Conversely, Xbox’s Kinect won’t be supported because of this.
Make no mistake though; this isn’t going to be a revelation in videogames. It’s going to be very linear, very action orientated game with many classic elements you’d see elsewhere. Provided the storyline is up to snuff though, you should be pulled through quite well. The atmosphere, the third-person action coupled with QTE sequences (though hopefully not overused), plus the weird and wonderful environments and scenarios that come out of being a Star Trek product... well, colour us interested.
It’s not like Star Trek is completely without pressure though, the early release date is there to get the game out before the new film hits in May, so there’s still a chance that something could get cut, or rushed, or go wrong. We’re not sure how much of the game is finished at the moment, but what we did see was rather impressive. The gameplay, the dialogue, it’s looking like a decent addition to the re-imagined Star Trek franchise, and the only criticism that we could possibly levy against it is that why didn’t it come sooner. Still, the new movie should help generate some hype for it. Star Trek is due out early 2013 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Most Anticipated Feature: We’re told you get to command the Enterprise at some point, we can’t wait to see what that looks like.
Paramount are taking this seriously though, especially if the rumours of how much money they’ve poured into development are true. They’ve got several key people who are working on films involved, they’ve got all of the actors to provide voices, (the witty banter between Kirk and Spock is spot on from what we’ve seen) and they’ve hired Digital Extremes – who’ve worked on everything from Unreal to Bioshock, and more recently The Darkness II – to handle the development of the game. They’re not skimping out on development time either – by the time the game is released in early 2013; it will have been in development for nearly three years. If any videogame movie tie-in stands a chance of doing well it’s this one.
 |
| Don’t look at me, I don’t know how he gets out of this one either |
The game is smart as well with the license it’s based on – we haven’t had a hands-on session, but we did get a pretty extensive demonstration. The game is co-op based, with Kirk and Spock taking centre stage, although we’re told you get to play the game as multiple characters throughout the 10 -12 hour adventure. Its third person action, but it's action that makes sense: when you play as Kirk, you’re more hands-on and action focused, but if you play as Spock, you’re more cautious and analytical, able to use gadgets like the tricorder to expose weaknesses and to help make the tougher encounters easier. You can also summon ‘airstrikes’ from the Enterprise above, although we imagine those will be context sensitive. The team are adamant of making the ship a ‘character’ in its own right, with just as much screentime.
In terms of the game itself – it’s very narrative driven (written by the guy who wrote the God of War series) and picks off where the first film left off. The Vulcans are looking for a new home, and a classic enemy The Gorn form the game’s primary antagonists, with lots of different ‘types’ of Gorn thrown against you, from grunts to big hulking brutes. Being a co-op game, partnering up with a friend is key, and we’re happy to say that not only will the game have drop-in/drop-out multiplayer over the internet, but local split-screen support is also included. It’s also going to have PlayStation Move support, as motion controlling with a prop fits in perfectly with the fact that you can use gadgets like phasers. Conversely, Xbox’s Kinect won’t be supported because of this.
 |
| Who needs actual soldiers when you can just get Kirk & Spock to do everything... |
Make no mistake though; this isn’t going to be a revelation in videogames. It’s going to be very linear, very action orientated game with many classic elements you’d see elsewhere. Provided the storyline is up to snuff though, you should be pulled through quite well. The atmosphere, the third-person action coupled with QTE sequences (though hopefully not overused), plus the weird and wonderful environments and scenarios that come out of being a Star Trek product... well, colour us interested.
It’s not like Star Trek is completely without pressure though, the early release date is there to get the game out before the new film hits in May, so there’s still a chance that something could get cut, or rushed, or go wrong. We’re not sure how much of the game is finished at the moment, but what we did see was rather impressive. The gameplay, the dialogue, it’s looking like a decent addition to the re-imagined Star Trek franchise, and the only criticism that we could possibly levy against it is that why didn’t it come sooner. Still, the new movie should help generate some hype for it. Star Trek is due out early 2013 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Most Anticipated Feature: We’re told you get to command the Enterprise at some point, we can’t wait to see what that looks like.
