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Star
Trek: Shattered Universe
Score:
3.8/10
Resistance
is futile! If
you already have spent your hard earned money in purchasing this game, I
offer my condolences. However
if you have not bought this game yet, you still have hope! Think
carefully even if you decide not to heed my words. This spaceship is a
very bumpy ride and aside from suicidal
tendencies, there's no other plausible reason to even test drive
it. There
have been good Star Trek games, right? Bridge Commander and Voyager
Elite Force are the first ones to
come to mind. On the other hand there's a large list of horrid Star Trek
games (Starfleet Academy, New Worlds etc). Shattered Universe not only
adds to that list but may qualify
as one of the worst Star Trek games ever. The
story of SU is based on an alternate universe from the episode "Mirror,
mirror" from Star Trek: The Original Series (Funny
considering the idea of an alternate universe isn't very
original to begin with). Aboard the USS Excelsior, you attempt to
rescue the USS Enterprise only to
find that you have been transposed into a dangerous Mirror Universe. You
also discover that the USS
Excelsior has transformed into a new ship called the ISS Excelsior. This
new ship is equipped with a deadly complement of strange fighter crafts.
The drawback? The ship and its occupants are wanted and are hunted by a
ruthless Federation. The portal that transported them to this universe
has disappeared and the only way out is a portal on the other side of
the universe. The
Federation however occupy the space between the portals (You can never
catch a break apparently). And of
course, what evil alternate universe would be complete without an evil
version of yourself? SU inevitably includes evil counterparts of
Excelsior occupants. |
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The
game is basically spent in the smaller fighters found insider the new
Excelsior. The worst part
of the game however is in the scout missions you participate in. Between
destroying a fleet of enemy
fighters, you have to destroy asteroids too. They give a pretty unclear
reason behind this. Destroying
certain asteroids will somehow transport minerals into your miniscule
fighter to carry back to the Excelsior. The use of these minerals is not
mentioned nor is the process explained
on how an exploding rock will supply your ship with minerals almost
magically. |
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Graphically,
SU disappoints. There is a lack of detail on most spaceships in the game
which becomes really
apparent at close range. The environments also suffer from an absence of
detail and so do the various objects that litter the environments
(Planets, asteroids etc.) Starsphere Interactive
certainly put together a dismal effort on the game's presentation. Additionally,
it is dismaying to find out that in a space fighting simulation game
that the action itself is poorly
designed. You are given three types of weapons: a phaser beam, photon
torpedoes and phaser bolts. The
entire time however, you will only end up relying on the phaser beam to quell enemies. The AI in the game is surprisingly weak and
you will be able to fend of swarms of
enemy fighters without sustaining major damage. As an effort to
balance that, multiple swarms are thrown
at you throughout this mission. Would it not have been easier to make
enemy fighters slightly stronger
and diminish the number of fighters? Maybe it was an attempt to prolong
the length of the game - which is
basically prolonging your torture. Also with the lack of save points during missions you may find yourself repeating 30 min
long missions just because one fighter
killed you while you were trying to accomplish an unfathomable
objective.
The
voice acting is very uninspired in this game. Takei and Koenig do a poor
job representing their respective
characters. Takei pulls off a dismal performace as Captain Sulu and
Koenig is also annoying as Commander Chekov. They are capable actors which
they proved in the series, which
is why I find it strange that they could not deliver in this game. As
far as sound goes, you get some
basic weapon sounds and some bland music thrown into the package. A big
letdown indeed. Shattered
Universe, at its best, is a bad game. I highly doubt that anyone at
Starsphere Interactive has
ever played a decent Star Trek game because at least some of that magic
should have been present here. At a time where Star Trek is at its lowest
popularity, an abysmal game like
this will not win over any new fans and is a horrid example of the Star
Trek franchise. Do not judge the
series with this showing. Star Trek games tend to be inconsistent. The
next game might be the best one
yet but SU is far from it. Avoid it like the plague. You will be doing yourself (and anyone around to see it) a favour. -Stefan
Shetty (April
2, 2004) |
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