E3 2011: Star Trek (PS3, Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 06.12.2011
First Look: 411mania.com gets a look at the first action/adventure videogame where you can play as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Paramount Digital Entertainment unveils Star Trek
OK just to clarify when I originally wrote the first news story on this, some fans pointed out you could control Kirk and Spock in the Star Trek: 25th Anniversary videogame and Judgement Rites. I addressed this question to the developers and they did acknowledge those games and clarified that this is the first "action/adventure" game to feature Kirk and Spock in a videogame. And yes it is a bit of a hair splitting which they also admitted, but I mean, the 25th Anniversary game came out a long time ago anyway.
The new game is set some time after the 2009 movie that effectively rebooted the franchise. The story was collaborated on with the movie writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof with God of War writer, Marianne Krawczyk, as the main writer. The video demo begins with Kirk and Spock returning from an away mission on a Starfleet shuttle. The Enterprise however is surrounded by explosive mines. Kirk and Spock maneuver the shuttle through the mine field and initiate a crash landing into the Enterprise shuttle bay.
Kirk and Spock go through the Enterprise with their Tricorders and are ambushed by enemies. The video demo focused on and emphasized on the two-player co-op play. This is the main feature of the game as well as developing the relationship between Kirk and Spock as both friends and allies. The action looks fast-paced and intense. It really looks like the developers are really trying to make a quality Star Trek game and had a good amount of development time.
Some examples of the co-op play is that when Spock is injured, Kirk has to help drag him while enemies are still attacking and you still have to shoot them. You also have to provide cover fire at points for your fire. The developers also stated they wanted the narrative to focus on scripted, playable events rather than heavy cut scenes and cinematics.
Some of the other weapons and additional features were showed off for the game. Kirk is able to use a Federation rifle that can deploy a shield to block enemy fire. Spock can also fire at this shield which can store the charge of your partner's fire and unleash a stronger phaser blast. Based off this demo I'm excited about this game and maybe finally actually having a good Star Trek action game to play. The third person shooter style and the co-op tactics look good and like some thought and work was put into them.
The likenesses of actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have been approved for the game. Hopefully they will also be voicing their characters later on as well. The new Star Trek game is being developed Digital Extremes and will be published by Paramount Digital Entertainment. The game will drop some time in 2012 I imagine before planned release of the second new Star Trek movie. It will be available on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
