HoC Star Trek "Arena"

Yet another Sega Nite lost to Star Trek: the video game

"Captain, I think you should go first"

I think this is one of the few times that Coxxorz and I were hoping no one else would show for Sega Nite. As a great surprise, Coxxorz was online first. And sending me emails to make sure I knew about it:

Online, fyi

I was so shocked I tripped on the way to my Xbox! No injuries though, I am sure the cat will be fine. Fairly sure.

Star Trek: the video game is shaping up as one of our best $10 purchases. It doesn't quite rival Marvel Ultimate Alliance but is much closer than we had expected. It has interface issues, control issues and some weird design choices but mainly is a solid game with some entertaining script.

Having played Aliens: Colonial Marines (cooperatively and $10) recently it is an obvious comparison to Star Trek: the video game. Playing Aliens: Colonial Marines you could see and feel it as a poor game but we enjoyed it for the cooperative play and the Aliens environment. Playing Star Trek: the video game you lose track of it being a poor game and lose yourself in enjoying the experience, the Star Trek environment and the gameplay. Quite often we found ourselves wondering why Star Trek was considered a poor game.

I suspect the main points against Star Trek: the video game were (primarily) expectations and playing as a single player. Many of the reviews talk about the poor AI partner in the single player. Playing cooperatively all Coxxorz and I had to complain about were each other which, face it, we would have done anyway.

Despite an additional two and half hours playing we still did not finish Chapter 6, Gorn Planet & the Trials. The Trials portion was a homage to Star Trek the Original Series as not only did Kirk face off against a Gorn Champion in hand to hand combat he also ended up facing off against Spock in the same Arena. The quick time battle between Spock (Coxxorz) and I was particularly entertaining. "Am I supposed to be trying to win or am I supposed to be trying to lose?" "I don't know, maybe I am supposed to win... or lose..." Fortunately Bones saved the day.

While the Arena combat with the weapon scrambling and creation was a new type of game play the most distinctive new game play type was swimming through caves. While this took me back to Tomb Raider this was the first time we ran into controls so annoying we wanted to skip a section. Having a breathing timer was bad enough. Not being able to swim where we wanted was worse. We both kept getting caught in areas that seemed clear. You needed to look where you were going to swim but you kept getting caught in areas where you could not spin your character around. We drowned. Often. It was also confusing which areas you could fit through as passages that seemed wide enough weren't. Except sometimes they were. Coxxorz shared some new words with me. Something I am only used to with Graybush. Very Frustrating controls.

Again, in a weird twist for the Federation I earned more Achievements for killing with specific weapons. "Star Trek officers do not kill" often comes up on the hints ignoring the fact that Star trek officers would not earn Achievements playing that way. Spock tended to stun and incapacitate. Kirk, well not so much: Captain's Phaser Master - Killed 100 enemies with the Captain's Phaser for 10G, Starfleet Type III Rifle Master - Killed 20 enemies with the Starfleet Type III Rifle for 10G, and Starfleet Phaser Rifle Master - Killed 50 enemies with the Starfleet Phaser Rifle and I am working on Ravager Master - Kill 50 enemies with the Ravager. Some of the Starfleet Commendations seem to be suffering from my blood thirst.

Again while still not claiming that Star Trek: the video game is a great game I would say that it has moved itself up to good game status. Particularly if you are a Star Trek fan. I can only back this up with the fact that we have played through four lengthy sessions with the game and we are still looking forward to playing it again. I am not completely sure I am ready to finish the game yet. I'm not ready for it to end.

Again with the unsung Redshirts

Honestly Spock I am starting to consider them expendable


This is different


Spock? What Starfleet discipline is burgundy?