Boldly Gone Where Many Have now Gone...

So it's here: Star Trek Online has gone live, and I have already logged quite a few hours. Let's get that nagging question out of the way: Has the game lived up to my very high expectations? Surprisingly, it has to some extent. Don't misconstrue this, however, because I have a lot of issues with this game. I admit that it will take some time before I can properly grapple all of the intricacies of this newest MMO and subsequently write a full review. Therefore, bear in mind that these are initial impressions from a player that hasn't leveled beyond Lieutenant.

Ok, so the good: Well, I really do enjoy the space combat. It's hectic, explosive, and often a little stressful; maybe this is because I seem to constantly venture into marauding hordes of Klingon Warbirds and Battle Cruisers. Too many green phasers!! One issue I had before the game came out was the absense of damage on spacecraft after the protection offered by shields went done. This has been addressed, however limitlessly, and now shows discernable damage once the ship's hull begins to take heavy damage. Along with this are bits of electricity encompassing the nasels. This is nothing overly outstanding to look at, but I appreciate the effort to show temporary battle scars; certainly an area that could be improved upon in certain patches.

Another feature that I actually quite like about the space combat is the level of instances present in STO. Obviously, this is a main feature of this MMO, and while some might disagree, I found it pretty cool when I had to warp into a sector to defend a space station from attacking Klingons, only to look around me and find a plethora of other Starfleet vessels fighting off Worf's cousins. As well, there is no delay in getting into one of these instances.

That said, one issue I have with instances is the random enemy signal instances that you can encounter throughout your transit in space. It's a really cool concept that I think could have been extended a little bit, and made a tad more interesting. Instead, you warp into the same stylized instance every time, fight the same random Klingons that aimlessly fly in circles around the same volcanic-looking moon. It just doesn't seem that well thought out to me. Why not attach some limited storyline to these encounters, such as the those pertaining to Starbase 26 and 24, during the earlier part of the game? Maybe these roaming Klingons are invoking border conflicts along Federation space? Of anything, add a little more variety to the battles and the surrounding environment - I don't want to see that same volcanic moon following me around during each encounter; this isn't the Fifth Element!

Let's get to ground combat. Obviously in my earlier written impressions of this game, I really lambasted this componet of STO. Ultimately, I actually find it somewhat entertaining; at least for now...Obviously it is still a bit static, sort of in the WoW sense, but there seems to be improvement from the Beta. One thing that I believe makes this component of the game shine is the away team that you bring to an encounter. Obviously you can customize your respective away team members, thereby giving them various special abilities that really do aid you in an attack. That said, in typical Cryptic fashion (if you think of Champions Online), the ground levels look awful, in my opinion. They look like half-ass, bland, bleak looking, boring landscapes, with little or no convincing environmental features. Play WoW for five minutes - a game that is 5 years old - and just take note of the sheer amount of details and items strewn about a room, a city, ANYWHERE!! It's so simple, and yet, Cryptic decided to cease their efforts during the development of these environments. Why? Remember that STNG episode where that old man, super god-like, creature who killed billions of aliens when they murdered his wife and her civilization? You'll then recall the boring landscape with the one house and patch of green grass that lay in the midst of destruction? Very 1980's abilities. That was more interesting to look at than practically every ground area in STO.

Compare the ground areas to the space environments: the latter is exponentially more interesting to look at and certainly feel immersive. Just so disappointing; especially if you observe the few screenshots from the game's earlier development when Perpetual was at the helm (image below).

Anyway, as I have always thought, a Star Trek MMO has limitless potential in everyway. This game too, if Cryptic decides to invest more time and money into improving what should have been a really amazing game and, dare I say, comparable to WoW. I really hope they do, or loyal Star Trek fans such as me are going to ditch this one within a month or so.