1. Star Trek Video Games Online
2. New Star Trek Video Games

Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek series began in 1966 and even though that series ended after just three seasons. The Star Trek franchise has grown to immeasurably over the decades. There were the successful films which focused on the original crew with Captain Kirk and co. Then there was Star Trek: Next Generation which was a massive hit with fans, helped revitalize the series in the 90s. Since then there has been several spin-off series, novels, comics, video games and the recently rebooted movies.

Excitement for the Star Trek franchise has piqued once again with the new Star Trek: Discovery series which is due to premiere this year, and the promising looking VR game Star Trek: Bridge Crew which is due to be released on the 30th of May 2017.

While we anxiously await the new series and the upcoming VR game, let's take a look at 8 of the best Star Trek games and 7 of the worst ever released.

Star Trek is a third-person action-adventure Star Trek video game. It was developed by Digital Extremes and co-published by Namco Bandai Games and Paramount Pictures in association with CBS Studios International. The game was first released in North America on April 23, 2013, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows platforms.

• Starship simulator computer games which are set in the Star Trek universe occupy a large role in the history of computer games. Some of the earliest and more influential space simulator video games were Star Trek simulations designed to run on mainframes.
• 'Star Trek Online' designer and artist log on to discuss new games featuring Jason Isaacs and Rekha Sharma.
• Evolution of all Star Trek games from 1971-2017! The history of the Star Trek personal computer game franchise began as early as 1971, with a Star Trek text-only computer game written in BASIC.
• The 10 Best 'Star Trek' Table Top Games 10 Games That'll Make You Feel Like You've Enlisted in Starfleet Why 'A Final Unity' is the Perfect 'Star Trek' Gaming Experience.
• Play the newest Star Trek online game free in your browser! Take your Federation or Klingon fleet to new frontiers, and battle new enemies.
• Arc brings your favorite games, communities, media and entertainment together onto one easy-to-use platform.

Click the button below to start this article in quick view

15 Best: Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Cryptic Studios, and is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and on PC. The game is set thirty years after the events of the Star Trek: Nemesis movie,and the game's central plot revolves around the collapse of the alliance between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets.

The player gets to be the captain of his or her own ship with a choice of factions such as The Federation, The Klingons, or Romulans, while also micromanaging all the ships crew with individual duties.

Star Trek Online switches battle modes depending on the scenarios. The first is space combat using the Starship, and the second, a run gun combat system after 'beaming' down in person. The space combat and the excellent visuals definitely helped elevate this above most console iterations of the Star Trek franchise.

14 Worst: Star Trek D-A-C

Star Trek: D-A-C (Deathmatch. Assault. Conquest) is a top-down space shooter that looks like a modern day version of Asteroids with multiplayer features. The game's single player mode is a survival mode that has no actual story features with it all. The multiplayer modes have a 6 player co-op and a 6 on 6 deathmatch mode.

Despite not being a bad game, there isn't anything at all spectacular about it either. Star Trek D-A-C is a fairly basic top-down arcade shooter, that may keep some players entertained for half an hour or so, but beyond that, there's no real lasting appeal even for die-hard Star Trek fans.

13 Best: Star Trek The Next Generation Klingon Honor Guard

Star Trek The Next Generation Klingon Honor Guard is first person shooter on PC and MAC, that was based during the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. As a member of the Klingon guard, the player's mission is to prevent the assassination of Chancellor Gowron. The game contains 19 missions across 26 maps which include a variety of environments and planets.

Honor Guard is a fast paced shooter that creatively used the Unreal Engine with its enjoyable level design, meaty campaign, and its inventive weapons such as the 'Ding-Pach Spin Claw' a gun that fires off a blade and returns. Fans were thrilled to get a solid Star Trek based on the phenonmenal Next Generation saga.

12 Worst: Star Trek Voyager Elite Force (PlayStation 2)

The PlayStation 2 version of Star Trek Voyager Elite Force wasn't developed by the same team behind the PC and MAC version of the same game and suffered as a result.

Elite Force is a first-person shooter where the player is a member of the Hazard Team known as Ensign Alex Munro. Munro and his team are tasked with protecting the USS Voyager from attacking forces whilst repairs are being carried out.

Despite being a real classic on the PC and MAC, the PS2 version was badly ported to such a degree that the artificial intelligence was almost non-existent, the aiming system was a mess and the downgraded visuals were a glaringly obvious.

11 Best: Star Trek Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates

PC title Star Trek Starfleet Command II is a Real-Time Strategy game and, like its predecessor, was based on the tabletop war game called Starfleet Battles. The gameplay consisted of the player maneuvering their ship into battle and trying to exploit the opposing ships weaknesses. The game has a very steep learning curve, but its rewarding tactical and technical gameplay make worth the time and effort.

In addition, Starfleet Command II features three single-player campaigns that consist of two story modes and a Conquest campaign, which was a welcome feature due to the lack of a narrative in the original game. The standalone expansion known as Orion Pirates added two more single-player modes which focused on the pirate cartels.

10 Worst: Star Trek: Hidden Evil

The plot of Star Trek: Hidden Evil acted as a sequel to the ninth Star Trek movie Star Trek: Insurrection with the player assuming the role of a character called Ensign Sovok who works alongside the rest of the Next Generation crew.

Despite Patrick Stewart, and Brent Spiner reprising their roles as the characters Jean-Luc Picard and Data, Hidden Evil's campaign was both bland and far too short. The pre-rendered backgrounds looked great, but gameplay consisting of mundane puzzles and dull combat made this on Star Trek game to avoid at all costs. Of course, given the game's premise and characters, fans were devasted by the shoddy result. Star Trek fans deserve better.

Free sounds for ableton live 9 lite. Included with a number of apps and hardware products, Live 10 Lite is a lightweight version of Ableton Live 10. It comes with all of Live’s essential workflows, instruments and effects – everything you need to record songs, create hands-on with your controller, take music made in your apps.

9 Best: Star Trek: Armada II

Star Trek: Armada II (like its predecessor) is a Real-Time Strategy game that is set during the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was released on the PC.

Star Trek: Armada II is far more simplistic RTS to pick up and play than the Starfleet Command series, but it was still well paced and technical enough to draw gamers into its tactical gameplay.

The story campaign only focused on The Federation in this game, but the game's plot was well developed and will definitely satisfy longtime fans of the TV and movies series. Additionally, Patrick Stewart also lends his voice to his iconic character Jean-Luc Picard further adding to the game's authenticity.

8 Worst: Star Trek: New Worlds

Released in the year 2000, Star Trek: New Worlds is a Real Time Strategy Game that plays similarly to the Command and Conquer series. Like the venerable C&C series, you must increase your defensive and offensive capabilities by mining for resources.

The game showed a lot of promise in previews, but it was as if the developers decided 'the previews are decent, so that will do.' Unfortunately, the game had so many silly design flaws that it dragged Star Trek: New Worlds into the realms of mediocrity. For example, if your science vehicle discovers a new area within the 'Fog Of War' you would expect that area to remain visible on the map. On the contrary, when the vehicle moves on, the newly discovered area turns black again. Throw in a few more lazy design decisions, game and audio breaking bugs, and you have yourself a game to avoid at all costs.

7 Best: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen is a sci-fi third-person shooter, that made good use of themes that you would usually find in a survival-horror game. The game had a solid, focused, single-player mode, and didn't suffer without multiplayer mode (although some critics beg to differ).

The Fallen also featured non-combat based levels which just allowed the gamer to explore Deep Space 9 and the Defiant. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen is a game for true fans of the Star Trek Franchise, but is a good enough game that stands well enough on its own that even non-Trekkies will enjoy this game.

6 Worst: Star Trek: Conquest

Star Trek: Conquest was another attempt at reaching the console market with this title for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately, it was just another bad console iteration for the long-running sci-fi franchise.

The game is set during the events of Star Trek: Next Generation series and featured two distinct modes of play: a turn-based strategy mode and an RTS option which could be played in the campaign, skirmish, and Admirals. The tactical aspect of this game was completely wasted because of the lack of variety in the combat, with each battle feeling and looking exactly the same as the last.

Conquest uses mostly hideous looking 2D sprites, which is unfortunate, because in the right hands 2D sprites have the capability of being quite timeless. The visuals in this game are an ugly and unimaginative use of the series universe. The audio would have been forgettable if it hadn't been so repetitive with the same call-outs repeating over and over.

5 Best: Star Trek: Invasion

Star Trek: Invasion was released on the original PlayStation and despite its dated visuals still holds up very well in 2017. The battles in the game are reminiscent of naval campaigns, which means it does a great job of recreating the battle scenes of the Star Trek series. The game implements, stealth combat, tactical evasion, and rewards the player for combat skills.

The game's sound design is still a treat to play now, helped by the real voice cast from The Next Generation reprising their roles. Additionally, the sound effects and soundtrack are a fantastic edition to the game's well-told storyline. Star Trek: Invasion proved once and for all that the console could be a good home for the franchise.

4 Worst: Star Trek Shattered Universe

Unlike Star Trek: Invasion which successfully adapted the Colony Wars space combat system on the original PlayStation, Star Trek: Shattered Universe completely 'shattered' anyone's hopes that Universe's success would be repeated again a console generation later on the Xbox and PlayStation 2.

The player takes control of a completely un-Star Trek-like space fighter which quite frankly looked more like it was a rejected design found on the cutting room floor of Star Wars: Phantom Menace.

The shallow gameplay and the misuse of the Star Trek license can't be forgiven here. To make matters worse there's no recognizable music, and instead of the narrative borrowing from a near endless source of TV shows, movies, books and comics, it uses a completely throwaway story that couldn't be less Trek if it tried.

3 Best: Star Trek The Next Generation Klingon

The developers Totally Games had already made the brilliant TIE Fighter and X-WingStar Wars space sims. So they were the natural choice to handle the Star Trek license too — and sure enough: Star Trek: Bridge Commander is still one of the best space sims available today.

The attention to detail in Bridge Commander and its faithful adaptation of the Star Trek universe is enough to keep Trek fans happy and coming back for a long time to come. Despite the game's short length, the exciting combat and their faithful recreations will draw gamers in every time.

All of the sound effects and space ship details associated with Star Trek are present, as are the likenesses from Star Trek: The Next Generation tohelp solidify Bridge Commander as one of the most engaging titles in the franchise.

2 Worst: Star Trek: The Video Game

Star Trek: The Video Game was the tie-in for the 2009 blockbuster J.J Abrams reboot of Star Trek. The reboot was a critical and commercial success, although fans have divided opinions on it. Some older fans didn't like the new action orientated direction, while others thought that it was the perfect way to reboot the franchise while still paying tribute to the originals.

Additionally, the reboot certainly helped Star Trek gain a lot of new fans, but where the film was divisive amongst viewers, the tie-in video game didn't have the luxury within the gaming community. It's very fair to say that Star Trek The Video Game is the worst Trek game ever made — you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue the point. The game was a buggy mess with zero variation, terrible graphics, and bad level design that which will frustrate as much as it will bore you.

1 Best: Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force

Star Trek Video Games Online

Unlike the lazy PlayStation 2 port, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force the PC may possibly be the best Star Trek game ever made. The game's premise is exactly the same as the PlayStation 2 version, but the execution is so much more enjoyable when the game is played exactly how it was meant to be.

The visuals were great for the time, and the sound was absolutely spot on, and again, unlike the PS2 version, the enemy AI was really well done. More importantly, for Star Trek fans it had a great twisting story that was later adapted into a graphic novel. The controls were solid and good enough that actually felt you were a member of an elite force within the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek is a third-personaction-adventureStar Trekvideo game. It was developed by Digital Extremes and co-published by Namco Bandai Games and Paramount Pictures in association with CBS Studios International. The game was first released in North America on April 23, 2013, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows platforms. It took three years to produce, and was the first in-house video game development by Paramount Studios, who opted not to license development to a third party. The production team aimed for it to be a collaboration with those working on the Star Trek films to avoid the typical pitfalls associated with film tie-in video games. Video games which influenced Star Trek included the Mass Effect series, Uncharted and Metroid Prime, and certain elements of Star Trek reflected episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series such as 'Arena' and 'Amok Time'.

The game is set in the Star Trek Kelvin universe, between the events of the films Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, and follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. The player takes control of either Kirk or first officer Spock, and investigates the theft of a terraforming device from the colony of New Vulcan by the Gorn. Together, Kirk and Spock engage the Gorn on away missions, travel to another universe and re-take Enterprise when it is captured by alien forces. This two-character gameplay was seen as a unique element, referred to as 'bro-op'.^[1]

New Star Trek Video Games

The Gorn, who previously appeared in The Original Series and Star Trek: Enterprise, were heavily redesigned, with fifteen different classes of creatures created. A replica of the Gorn costume from 'Arena' appeared in a viral advertisement alongside William Shatner, which was intended as a homage to the fight between Kirk and the Gorn from that episode. The game was first announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, but was particularly panned by critics upon launch in 2013 and sales were poor. Following an issue with the co-operative mode on the PC upon launch, reviewers also criticised a number of issues such as poor lip syncing, clipping and bad camera angles.

• 2Plot
• 3Development
• 4Marketing

Gameplay[edit]

Star Trek is a single-playerthird person shooteraction game with cooperative gameplay elements, which allow two players to control Kirk and Spock.^[2][3] When playing in the single-player mode, Kirk and Spock have different paths through the missions in order to encourage re-playability.^[4] The game does not allow players to switch between Kirk and Spock during a chapter,^[5] although this ability was included in preview versions of the game shown to reviewers prior to launch.^[2] It also does not allow for fellow players to 'drop-in' to play alongside co-operatively.^[1][5] In a similar manner to the Gears of War series, the game includes a cover system, which protects the player characters from enemy fire.^[6]

The two characters show different gameplay techniques, with Kirk being the more typical shooter while Spock has stealth techniques and can use the Vulcan nerve pinch and mind meld. Each character is equipped with weapons to reflect their gameplay style, with Kirk armed with a phaser equipped with a stun setting, while Spock's weapon is quieter to reflect his stealthier style of play and freezes enemies instead. As players progress through the game, they gain experience allowing them to unlock additional settings for those weapons.^[1] In addition to the weapons, the player characters are also equipped with tricorders, which are used to interact with the environment and progress plot points.^[7]

During the course of the game, players have to fight their way across a number of environments. The first mission sees Kirk and Spock land on the planet New Vulcan;^[6] a colony created by Vulcans following the destruction of their homeworld in the 2009 film.^[8] There are further types of gameplay in Star Trek seen in the mini-games that appear throughout, such as those featuring 'space dives' as seen in both 2009's Star Trek and 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness.^[4] Other elements of the game break from the third-person shooter style. These include swimming levels that have Spock and Kirk move past obstacles using a teleportation gun, and levels featuring turret-based shooting on board Enterprise. Climbing and platforming are built into the terrain exploration elements of the main game.^[9]

Plot[edit]

Background[edit]

The game takes place within the Star Trek reboot universe, following 2009's Star Trek film and before Star Trek Into Darkness. It follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (voiced by Chris Pine) and his crew on board the Starfleetstarship, the USS Enterprise. The first film showed Kirk becoming Captain of the Enterprise for the first time and the formation of the crew,^[10] and so the video game shows one of their early missions. The rebooted universe was developed by director J.J. Abrams along with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman from the 1960s American television series Star Trek: The Original Series and the six films which followed the crew's adventures.^[11]

Story[edit]

In 2259, Enterprise receives a distress call from a space station harvesting the power of a binary star. There is too much interference to beam the crew aboard, so Kirk and Spock (voiced by Zachary Quinto) take a shuttle to rescue the crew. They encounter T'Mar, a childhood friend of Spock, who explains they were gathering energy to power the Helios device, which would speed up the terraforming of New Vulcan; the team inadvertently opened a rip in the fabric of space. Beaming to New Vulcan, Kirk and Spock meet with T'Mar's father Surok, who explains the station's power from the base was lost after they were attacked by creatures—who call themselves the Gorn— from the rip. The Gorn infect some of the crew with a virus that makes them aggressive. Kirk and Spock enter the locked down sections of the base to recover the infected survivors, but are unable to stop the Gorn from stealing the Helios device and kidnapping Surok.

Kirk opts to take the infected to a nearby starbase instead of pursuing the Gorn Commander's ship through the Rip. At the starbase, Kirk, Spock, and T'Mar meet with the Commodore Daniels, who implies he gave T'Mar the specifications for the device as he knew it would create a wormhole. Suddenly, the Gorn attack the starbase and kidnap T'Mar. Just as he is about to be beamed back aboard Enterprise, Spock tackles the Gorn Henchman, bringing him aboard the ship. Kirk and Spock pursue him to the shuttlebay before he can commandeer a shuttle. Spock mindmelds with the Henchman, learning Surok was killed after confessing he has no insight into the device, but that his daughter would. Kirk has the Henchman imprisoned.

Kirk resolves to enter the Rip. After Enterprise enters the Gorn's galaxy, Kirk and Spock take a shuttle with Sulu (voiced by John Cho) and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) to a nearby planet. When their shuttle is shot down, Kirk and Spock use wingsuits to glide to a Gorn outpost and blow it up before infiltrating a base to rescue T'Mar. They find Daniels, who is killed in an ensuing firefight. The Gorn bring Kirk and Spock to the Commander, who has them taken to an arena to fight his soldiers to the death. Angered by their besting of his champion, the Commander has Spock infected with the virus and pits him against Kirk. Sulu's shuttle arrives and McCoy shoots Spock with an antidote, while the Commander flees to his ship with T'Mar and the device.

The shuttle returns to Enterprise, which has been taken over by the Gorn. Kirk and Spock space dive to engineering and beam McCoy and Sulu back on board. They help Scotty (voiced by Simon Pegg) and Keenser reactivate the warp core, and restore power to sickbay so McCoy can replicate more of the antidote for airborne dispersal. The duo head to the bridge where the Henchman is holding Uhura (voiced by Zoe Saldana) hostage, demanding Kirk give them control of the ship. Kirk responds by directing their shuttle to crash into the view-screen, decompressing the Gorn into space. With only an hour before the Rip closes, Kirk and Spock space dive to the Gorn Commander's ship, where they disable the targeting platform to give Enterprise a fighting chance, and enter the core where T'Mar and the device are being held. Kirk and Spock destroy the device, defeat the Commander, and are beamed back to Enterprise with T'Mar. Enterprise warps back to the Milky Way Galaxy before the Rip closes; in their closing logs, Kirk and Spock state T'Mar has recovered enough to continue working on New Vulcan, and that they have been ordered to Nibiru.

Development[edit]

Production of Star Trek began three years before release under Tom Lesinski at Paramount Digital Entertainment.^[2][12] Lesinkski had a background in video game production, having previously worked at companies such as Crystal Dynamics, Ion Storm and Kuju Entertainment.^[13] He made the decision to produce a game in-house, rather than licensing it out to a third party as had previously been the case under the previous ten-year Activision contract.^[12] As a result, the game was the first ever to be produced and released by Paramount Studios directly.^[14]

Lesinski was terminated by Paramount in September 2011 and the project was passed to Brian Miller, Vice President of Paramount Digital Entertainment.^[12] Miller later explained that he wanted the production to avoid the mistakes typically made in movie tie-in games involved a lack of time devoted to the production, and excluding the people working on the film from work on the game. Miller hoped that they had rectified these issues with Star Trek, and explained that they hadn't produced a similar game to tie-in with 2009's Star Trek film because it would have suffered from those problems.^[2] He also expressed disappointment at the quality of previous in-universe games and wanted the new Star Trek to be 'a triple-A game' and something that the franchise deserved.^[14]

The idea for the game came out of a brainstorming session in which it was decided that the game should allow the gamer to play as Kirk and Spock, and therefore should featuring co-op style game-play.^[15] During his E3 pitch, Steve Sinclair described the game's genre as 'bro-op'.^[1] It was created by Digital Extremes, who had previously created video games such as Unreal and BioShock.^[14] The Evolution graphics engine was used for Star Trek, having previously been used for Dark Sector and The Darkness II.^[16]

The plot of the game was written by Marianne Krawczyk, who had previously worked on games such as God of War and Shank.^[17] She developed the plot in conjunction with the producers of the film, Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, as well as writer Damon Lindelof.^[18] In an interview in 2011, Orci explained that the storyline of the game was designed to be canon for the new Star Trek universe.^[19] He clarified in 2013 that it was 'as close to canon as any Star Trek game will ever come' as the mission described by the game could have taken place between 2009's Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.^[14] Concept design work for the game was created by artist Fernando Acosta.^[20]

While developing the game, the production team sought to use elements of other games as influences on how to create a Star Trek based game that was along the same lines as the 2009 film. Digital Extremes creative director Sheldon Carter described this as 'It's like someone spliced Metroid Prime into my Uncharted'.^[21] Miller explained that it was due to the success of the Mass Effect series of games that allowed for space-based adventure games such as Star Trek to be made, although they were not seeking to include the role-playing game elements seen in that series.^[2] Miller explained that there was a 'circular influence' with each franchise influenced by the other.^[22] Further influences were found in The Original Series, as one level which pits Spock against Kirk was inspired by a similar scene in the episode 'Amok Time', originally broadcast on television just under 47 years before the launch of the game.^[14] While it was intended to be a cross platform launch, the producers decided not to incorporate hands free gaming using either Kinect or the PlayStation Move.^[22]

The Gorn[edit]

Namco Bandai press release, June 2012^[23]

It was decided early on in the development to include the Gorn as the main enemies in the new game.^[24] At the same time, J.J. Abrams had joked that he was planning to include the aliens in his second Star Trek film.^[25] They had previously been seen in The Original Series episode 'Arena' and the Star Trek: Enterprise episode 'In A Mirror, Darkly',^[24][26] and the producers saw the game as an opportunity to redevelop the lizard race including the addition of fifteen different classes/species.^[24]

The official Star Trek website previewed several of these new types of Gorn, releasing information on a 'Gorn Day' each week. The first to be featured were the Gorn Commander and the Sentinel class. These were described as the elite of the Gorn, with only one Commander appearing in the game, while the Sentinels were slightly shorter versions of the same type of Gorn, armed with different weapons.^[27] The Gorn Henchman is one of the main antagonists, and reports directly to the Commander. He first appears on the New Vulcan level, and is one of the Gorn along with the Scout class that can hide their appearance.^[28]

The Gorn champion in the arena sequence was based on the Gorn Captain seen in 'Arena'.^[15] This particular character was intended to be different to all others, and thought to be 'abnormal' compared to other members of his race.^[29] Other elements of the version of the Gorn seen in The Original Series, such as the eye design, were including in the class known as Rushers.^[7] However the Rusher class are different to other types of Gorn seen in the game, as they are quadrupeds and unarmed with the exception of their claws and teeth. Similar to Rushers, Brunts are also unarmed, but they are more heavily armoured and have the ability to destroy obstacles that supply cover for the player.^[30]

The more typical soldier types of the Gorn are the Initiates, Warriors and Guardians. The former are the basic troops of the Gorn forces, and while they can run on four legs, they fight on two with an automatic rifle called the Ravager.^[31] The Warriors are more advanced, and carry a variety of weaponry along with basic armor.^[32] The Guardian type differs in that it is a melee type, armed with a large energy axe. However, the energy from the axe can also produce a shield to protect the holder as well. They are more advanced than both the Initiate and the Warrior classes in that they spend the vast majority of their time on two feet only.^[33] Of these fifteen classes, three were created to appear female.^[7]

Audio[edit]

Paramount secured the likeness rights of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the summer of 2011 for an upcoming game based on the universe of the film Star Trek (2009). It was not until a year later in June 2012 that the voice work contracts were signed for the pair, and it was also announced that the likeness rights and voice acting of the rest of the main cast from the film had been secured.^[3] Some cast members such as Pegg improvised parts of their performances.^[14] Quinto praised the positive experience in the recording studio, and said that 'it was nice to be able to play the character and not have to do all this physical stuff'.^[13]

The game was scored by Chad Seiter, who had previously worked with Michael Giacchino, the composer for the music in the 2009 film and Star Trek Into Darkness.^[34] The duo had worked together on the Star Trek film, with Seiter being one of Giacchino's additional orchestrators.^[35] For the video game, Seiter used Digital Performer, a Digital Audio Workstation/Sequencersoftware package published by Mark of the Unicorn.^[36] The game also featured music from Giacchino's score for the 2009 film.^[37]

Launch issues[edit]

Upon the game's release, there was an issue with the co-operative mode on the PC. Reviewers were sent a Steam download code to play the game while waiting for their console versions to arrive in the mail and upon attempting to launch the co-op mode, players were given the error message 'Could not join. The game session is no longer available.'^[38] However, this affected a number of gamers playing via Steam on the PC, resulting in a statement being issued by the official Twitter account for the game and an email being sent to customers,^[38][39] stating the company was looking into the problems.^[38] At the same time, players of Dead Island: Riptide were having similar issues on Steam.^[39]

Following enquiries by the media, Paramount and Namco released a joint statement explaining that it was an issue with the Steam system, and was something that the company was seeking to fix shortly. While others stated issues with co-op gameplay on the PS3, the companies stated that they were not aware of any issues and recommended that faults should be reported via Twitter. After the PC issue was rectified, a further statement was published to alert customers that they could now use this type of gameplay.^[40] A day after the co-op issues with Star Trek were resolved, the Dead Island: Riptide problems were also corrected, with speculation by reviewers presuming that it was the same error in both games.^[39]

Marketing[edit]

Promotion[edit]

The game made its debut at the 2012 E3 convention in 2011,^[17] where it was revealed that the Gorn would be the game's antagonists.^[1][21] Reviewers viewed a twenty-minute excerpt of footage from the game in 3D and with surround sound.^[37] The game was scheduled for release three weeks before Into Darkness premiered in theaters on May 17, 2013.^[41] Brian Miller was heavily involved in promoting the game, and regularly featured in interviews with websites and magazines.^[12] Following E3 there were concerns from fans that the game would be a straightforward shooter in the Star Trek universe, Miller said, 'You will have elements of a shooter. You'll have elements of exploration, and adventure, and discovery. That is what the new Star Trek is about.'^[21]

An in-browser flash socialstrategy game entitled Star Trek: New Vulcan Reborn was made by Harkable to promote the game.^[42] It was set on New Vulcan with the player helping to develop the planet by 'building landing pads, founding water treatment centres, establishing mining rigs and more.' An IGN competition took place where players with the most points could win prizes.^[43] The game is no longer available to play.

Trailers[edit]

The first trailer for the game made its début at the Namco Bandai Global Gamer Day in Las Vegas in April 2012 and showed gameplay footage in 3D.^[44] In order to promote the new video game in 2013, a trailer was produced which featured William Shatner and a man in a Gorn suit playing it on a console.^[45] The idea had come from an idea by Brian Miller and Gene Augusto, who initially went back and forth on the idea in an attempt to create something that would go viral. They joked about using the line 'not your father's Star Trek', and sought to recreate the fight between Shatner and the Gorn from the episode 'Arena'.^[15][45]

The trailer featured Shatner using some classic Kirk fighting moves, including a judo chop and an ear clap,^[46] and in a homage to the original it had the Gorn throw couch cushions rather than the polystyrene rocks in the original episode.^[47] The Gorn outfit worn by a stuntman was a replica of the original, which had mostly been destroyed with the exception of the head, which was sold at auction in 2006.^[46]

Downloadable content[edit]

On January 8, 2013, four months before the game's release date, a DLC called Elite Officer Pack was announced for pre-orders allowing players to change in game character skins as well as giving Kirk and Spock new weapons and sidearms. Skins offered include Kirk's leather jacket and Spock's Vulcan Science Academy outfit. Further skins include, 'Kobuyashi Maru', Starfleet Cadet (Kirk), Starfleet Officer Dress Uniform (Spock), stealth outfits, and those from the USS Kelvin. Players can also change Kirk and Spock's sidearms; Kirk's sidearms are the Captain's Phaser and the Starfleet Academy Phaser, while Spock uses the 'Vulcan Repeater' and the USS Kelvin Phaser. Other Weapons include for the stealth suit: the Starfleet Type IV Stealth Sniper Rifle, which comes with extra ammo.^[48]

Reception[edit]

Star Trek was released in the United States on April 23, 2013,^[62] and three days later in Europe. This release was designed to coincide with the theatrical launch of the latest Star Trek film, Star Trek Into Darkness.^[2] The game sold poorly; after three weeks on sale, 140,000 copies had been sold across all platforms.^[12] It failed to reach the top 100 best video games list of 2013.^[63] Critics labelled the game as a flop.^[12][13] It is now considered to be one of the worst video games of all time.

Star Trek received mostly negative reviews. The review aggregator website Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 edition of the game a score of 42 percent,^[49] the PC edition 43 percent,^[51] and the PS3 version was given a score of 45 percent.^[50]

Dan Stapleton for IGN described it as 'a barely serviceable, paint-by-numbers third-person shooter'.^[57] He wrote that both playable characters were too similar, the combat was 'completely generic' and that errors in the animation looked clumsy with 'objects clipping through each other; crazy, badly lip-synced dialog (not that syncing it with this corny writing would fix it); and general screwups make Star Trek play like a blooper reel.'^[57] Stapleton was surprised that the game continued to be playable, as he noted that several scripted events during the game failed to start as scheduled. He also felt that the mini-games throughout the game were 'so mind-numbingly simple and repetitive and/or frustrating they made me eager to get back to just being bored.'^[57] He said that the game seemed unfinished, and gave it an overall score of 4.2 out of ten.^[57]Edge magazine said that the game '[has] more bugs crawling on it than a Fear Factor contestant',^[52] and mentioned issues such as the characters running through walls, enemies becoming immortal and camera angles showing the inside of Kirk or Spock's skull. Star Trek was otherwise described as bland, even running through to the achievements with boring titles and the co-op system 'succumbs to awkward banter and gimmicky co-op puzzles'.^[52]

Mark Walton, while writing for GameSpot, thought that the general idea for the game was good, but that the gameplay was 'tiresome' and failed to excite. He said that the animation was 'woefully bad',^[9] and there were several bugs such as the cover taking mechanism failing to work on several occasions. An attempt to bring variety to the game through minigames was seen as 'a poor mishmash of those from other games',^[9] and compared those sections to other games such as Portal and the Uncharted series. Walton explained that the game made 'small wins' by including the voice acting from the same cast as the movie, but said that there were 'too many glaring problems' with the game to find something to like.^[9] He gave it a score of 3.5 out of ten for the version on PC.^[9]

Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams stated in September 2013 that he was hurt by the game's poor reception and quality,^[64] saying that it was 'obviously a big disappointment'.^[64] He also claimed it hurt Star Trek Into Darkness by being released shortly before the film.^[64] Later, in November 2013, Digital Extremes creative director Stephen Sinclair said to IGN that he was 'kind of surprised [..] to see one of the most awesome, popular and successful film directors working today slagging on that project'.^[65] Video game insiders linked the poor reception of the game to the departure of Brian Miller in his role as the Senior Vice President of Paramount, as he had been heavily involved in the marketing for the game.^[66] Insiders had specifically attributed issues with the game to the 'ego' of both Miller and his predecessor Lesinski, 'insisted this hallowed and cherished franchise was a key brand extension in the gaming vertical only to be compromised by disastrous results and reviews'.^[12]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdeWelsh, Oli (June 10, 2011). 'Star Trek Preview'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
2. ^ ^abcdefBoxer, Steve (March 8, 2013). 'Star Trek The Game: preview'. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
3. ^ ^abGood, Owen (June 6, 2012). 'Kirk and Spock Voiced by 2009's Kirk and Spock in Star Trek'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 14, 2012.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
4. ^ ^abBurt, Andy (April 17, 2012). 'Star Trek Teleports to PS3 With Co-op and 3D'. Playstation.com. Sony. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
5. ^ ^abHargreaves, Roger (April 26, 2013). 'Star Trek: The Video Game review – red-shirted'. Metro. DMG Media. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
6. ^ ^abAgnello, Anthony John (June 5, 2012). 'Star Trek's familiar co-op is bolstered by strong story by film writer Bob Orci and God of War' writer'. Digital Trends. Digital Trends. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
7. ^ ^abcLiebl, Lance. 'The Final Countdown: Star Trek the Video Game'. GameZone. GameZone Online. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
8. ^Child, Ben (May 1, 2012). 'Leonard Nimoy may live longer as Spock Prime in Star Trek followup'. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
9. ^ ^abcdefWalton, Mark (May 2, 2013). 'Star Trek The Video Game Review'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
10. ^Carroll, Larry (May 11, 2009). ''Star Trek' Writers Reveal The William Shatner Scene That Never Was'. MTV News. MTV. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
11. ^Hart, Hugh (February 10, 2008). 'Star Trek Writers Brace for Impact'. Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
12. ^ ^abcdefgFinke, Nikki; Yamato, Jen (May 22, 2013). 'A Tale Of Two Movie Tie-In Games: 'Star Trek' Flops, 'Fast & Furious 6′ Tops'. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
13. ^ ^abcGaudiosi, John (May 19, 2013). 'Star Trek Into Darkness Weak $84 Million Domestic Box Office Follows Paramount Video Game Flop'. Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
14. ^ ^abcdefBoucher, Geoff (February 19, 2013). ''Star Trek' is born again (and Gorn again) with new video game'. Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
15. ^ ^abc'EXCLUSIVE: Star Trek The Game Interview – Brian Miller on Shatner, Gorn & Gaming!'. Trekcore. April 15, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
16. ^Musa, Talal (February 28, 2013). 'To boldly go where no game has gone before: First look: Star Trek: The Video Game (Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC)'. Daily Mail. DMG Media. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
17. ^ ^abChester, Nick (May 18, 2011). 'Paramount, Digital Extremes announce Star Trek'. Destructoid. Yanier Gonzalez. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
18. ^StarTrek.com Staff (June 3, 2011). 'Star Trek, The Game, Coming in 2012'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
19. ^Connelly, Brendon (July 3, 2011). 'New Star Trek Game To Bridge Plot Between Movies, Be Canon'. Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
20. ^Acosta, Fernado. 'Star Trek the Video Game'. FAcosta.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
21. ^ ^abcMatulef, Jeffrey (September 13, 2012). 'Star Trek Preview: 'It's like someone spliced Metroid Prime into my Uncharted''. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013.
22. ^ ^abPfeiffer, Eric (January 29, 2013). 'Preview: New 'Star Trek' game serves as official bridge between films'. Yahoo! News. Yahoo!. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
23. ^Hamilton, Kirk (May 6, 2012). 'The Rubbery, Goofy Gorn Will Be the Star Trek Game's Main Bad Guys'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
24. ^ ^abcSheridan, Michael (April 24, 2013). '5 things you need to know about new Star Trek video game'. New York Daily News. Mortimer Zuckerman. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
25. ^Rosenberg, Adam (January 15, 2010). 'J.J. Abrams Offers 'Cloverfield' Sequel Update, Ponders Having The 'Star Trek' Sequel 'Go Gorn''. MTV Movies Blog. MTV. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
26. ^'Production Report: Classic Déjà Vu in 'Mirror' Part II'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. February 8, 2005. Archived from the original on September 7, 2005. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: newspaper= (help)
27. ^'Meet The Gorns: Commander and Sentinel'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. February 25, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
28. ^'Happy Gorn Day – Meet the Scout & Henchman'. Star Trek.com. March 18, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
29. ^'Gorn Day – Meet The Champion'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. March 25, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
30. ^'It's Gorn Day Again – Meet the Rusher and Brute'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. March 11, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
31. ^'Happy Gorn Day, Y'all'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. March 4, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
32. ^'One Last Gorn Day – Meet the Warrior'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. April 8, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
33. ^'Gorn Day – Meet The Guardian'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. April 1, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
34. ^'Michael Giacchino Talks Scoring Star Trek'. Star Trek.com. CBS Interactive. September 17, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
35. ^'Star Trek'. Music by Michael Giacchino. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
36. ^'MOTU Artist Spotlight: Chad Seiter on scoring Star Trek: The Video Game'. Mark of the Unicorn. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
37. ^ ^abCox, Kate (June 8, 2012). 'Star Trek Boldly Goes To Your Living Room, and Looks Really Good Doing It'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved December 7, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
38. ^ ^abcPinchefsky, Carol (April 24, 2013). 'Damnit, Jim: Star Trek Co-Op Mode Not Working (Updated)'. Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
39. ^ ^abc'Riptide and Star Trek co-op problems related to Steam'. Destructoid. Yanier Gonzalez. April 27, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
40. ^Pinchefsky, Carol (April 25, 2013). 'Paramount Responds to the 'Star Trek' Videogame's Co-op Problems (Updated)'. Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
41. ^Chitwood, Adam (November 23, 2011). 'STAR TREK 2 Set for Release in 3D on May 17th, 2013; Michael Giacchino Confirmed to Return as Composer'. Collider.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
42. ^'Star Trek: New Vulcan Reborn Social Game - Harkable'. harkable.com. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
43. ^Staff, By IGN. 'New Vulcan: Reborn – Star Trek Competition'. IGN. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
44. ^Gaudosi, John (April 17, 2012). 'New Star Trek Video Game Trailer Shows Why 2013 Is Going To Be An Epic Year For Trekkers'. Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
45. ^ ^abMcMillan, Graeme (March 29, 2013). '46 Years Later, a Rematch Between William Shatner and the Gorn Warrior'. Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
46. ^ ^ab'William Shatner Fights an Old 'Star Trek' Enemy Again'. Yahoo! Movies. Yahoo!. March 28, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
47. ^McInally, Jacquelyn (April 5, 2013). 'Star Trek The Game: William Shatner Vs The Gorn, again'. The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
48. ^Ivan, Tom (January 8, 2013). 'Star Trek pre-order DLC revealed'. Computer and Video Games. Future plc. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
49. ^ ^ab'Star Trek The Video Game for Xbox 360 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
50. ^ ^abc'Star Trek The Video Game for PlayStation 3 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
51. ^ ^ab'Star Trek The Video Game for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
52. ^ ^abc'Star Trek: The Video Game review'. Edge. Matthew Pierce. April 26, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
53. ^Whitehead, Dan (April 26, 2013). 'Star Trek: The Video Game review'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
54. ^ ^abcReeves, Ben (April 23, 2013). 'Star Trek'. Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
55. ^Bischoff, Daniel R. (April 29, 2013). 'Star Trek (2013) Review'. Game Revolution. Net Revolution Inc. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
56. ^Navarro, Alex (April 26, 2013). 'Star Trek: The Video Game Review'. Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
57. ^ ^abcdefgStapleton, Dan (April 26, 2013). 'I Cannae Take Much More Of This!'. IGN. j2 Global. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
58. ^Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (April 26, 2013). 'Star Trek: The Videogame Xbox 360'. Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
59. ^Hurley, Leon (April 26, 2013). 'Star Trek: The Video Game PS3 review – More borked than borg. Movie tie-in references great games but can't compete'. PlayStation Official Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
60. ^Kelly, Andy (June 19, 2013). 'Star Trek'. PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
61. ^ ^abcBurns, Steven (April 25, 2013). 'Star Trek Review'. VideoGamer.com. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
62. ^Goldfarb, Andrew (December 20, 2012). 'Star Trek: The Game release date announced'. IGN. j2 Global. Archived from the original on March 25, 2013.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
63. ^'100 best-selling video games of 2013 revealed'. Metro. DMG Media. January 16, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
64. ^ ^abcMakuch, Eddie (September 13, 2013). 'J.J. Abrams 'emotionally hurt' by latest Star Trek game'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 28, 2014.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
65. ^Karmali, Luke (November 19, 2013). 'Star Trek Game Developer 'Shaken' by J.J. Abrams' Criticism'. IGN. j2 Global. Retrieved November 19, 2013.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: website= (help)
66. ^Yamato, Jen (October 8, 2013). 'Paramount's Brian Miller Exiting Studio Post-'Star Trek' Video Game Debacle'. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 28, 2014.

External links[edit]