Star Trek Online Review

Weapons-Again, there are tons of useful weapons for every Class and occasion. Your NPC’s can even have their own weapons, items, and armor! The reason the weapons in this game are so cool is because…1: They have unlimited ammunition. 2: They never break down completely. 3: They never need reloading, unless you’re firing their special attack! There are two main types of weapons in this game, which are broken down into further categories…There are melee weapons and guns. Well, the guns are good for long-range damage, but can be used as melee weapons in a pinch. However, the melee weapons typically deal more damage than some of their gun-counterparts. The weapons for starships are even more awesome, simply because, if nothing else, they can blow other starships into thousands of blazing pieces of rubble! And like the ground weapons, there are two main types of space weapons-Beam weapons and more powerful torpedoes. I would highly recommend every starship have at least one beam weapon and one torpedo. I won’t get into the many different varieties here, though. And yes, to compare this game to System Shock 2, which I could not get enough of, most, if not all of the weapons on this game ARE in fact better than most of the weapons on System Shock 2. The only weapon Star Trek doesn’t seem to have is the Laser Saber/Sword/Rapier. I guess the developers weren’t keen on encroaching on the sacred weapon grounds of Star Wars…

Ammo-No need to concern myself with ammo, because none of the weapons in this game use or need ammo! Now this is a wonderful thing to have in a space-age game like this one.

Armor-Yesh, this game DOES have armor and yeah it IS awesome! Like weapons, there are many different variations of armor. However, most of them don’t really differ in appearance. However, they vary widely in their stats and also their types. There are also shields in this game, which act as a protection in addition to the armor this game has to offer. What self-respecting sci-fi game wouldn’t have shields for players and their massive and powerful starships? And seeing as how the starships have such powerful shields, naturally, they don’t really need extra armor, do they?

Plot-Every game has it’s plot, well this game is no different. However, the plot of this game is actually split up into multiple plots, each one having it’s own series of quests. All quests are meant for a certain level to complete. However, they not only provide a wonderful storyline, they are also almost guaranteed to level up your character, even if it is only one level at a time? One of my favorite plots in the game so far, has been the Romulan Mystery Arc. I won’t spoil the fun for you here, though. While reading the storylines is entertaining, sometimes, you’ll find yourself in the middle of hot firefights and you may have to skip the dialogue in order to deal with pesky enemies.

Characters-A lot of my favorite characters can be found in the various quests I can complete. Plus, your NPC bridge officers can be customized basically to your liking and given unique names, backgrounds, and even looks. At one point, it is even possible to see and gauge the abilities of other players and their selection of Bridge Officer NPC’s. Plus, there are several characters who you’ll no doubt run into who will have dark and/or mysterious backgrounds. And with an ability to provide a background for your own character and even your bridge officers, who wouldn’t want a dark or mysterious past?

Sound-Very awesome sound and very true to the actual Star Trek Series! Not only this, but none of the sounds are vulgar or obscene in any way, shape, or form! It isn’t easy to find MMORPG’s with no disgusting or dumb humor these days. The only slight embarressment one might find would be a singing Klingon. Otherwise, you’ll hear nothing but footsteps, gunfire, blows landing, ships warping, players beaming in and out of places, and the occasional sound of a cloaking Klingon Starship.

Music-Well, certainly not bad, but not great either. In fact, one song in Sector Space has been my favorite since the very start of the game. Unfortunately, I see no way to download any of the game’s music or select what music one wants to hear while in battle with various aliens. However, there is a way to integrate one’s own music into the game using it’s wonderful music player! This nifty tool surely lets you rock out while blasting enemy starships out of space! The only music which can’t be shut off is the music which plays while inside of certain bars in various places. Now if this isn’t a reason to make you wanna give STO a try, then perhaps…

Graphics-Wonderful state-of-the-art graphics! Just marvelous! The way the characters, the enemies, the NPC’s, their chatheads, outer space, planets, and more appear visually is fascinating! It can be intriguing, scary, or anything in between. Granted, while completing mission/quests, you’re going to feel as though you’re having a space battle, then sending an away team down to a planet or space station or starship, then finishing up and fighting another space battle. However, if one was to take in the atmosphere, then one really has nothing to worry about other than completing your mission.

Final Score-I was going to wait until reaching Max Level on this game (Currently 60) before having written this review, however, I simply could not wait. I am effectively entranced by this game and every aspect of it. And seeing as how it’s free to play all the way to Level 60, there was no single reason for me to not get back into playing it! Especially not after having tried it out once back in 2013 and having to quit because my computer back then really couldn’t hack it. Needless to say, the new tutorial is better than over. The game does have it’s glitches here and there. However, there is almost always a solution for every problem/glitch found. My score-10 out of 10!

1. the only good point i can see is that graphics are decent not the best but decent.

2. the implementation of the factions the borders and the ability to interact with each is sad, sorry but being a star trek fan i know that even if thier is an allaince between factions thier still neutral zone problems along with raiding and spying. Saying that the klingons and federation are on the verge of war and wait i can fly right by a federation ship within my own territory or half of a territory and not engage him directly is just bad. Klingons are limited to thier couple sectors and cant move out of them which is also terrable.

3. Ships are not balanced very well to anything we have seen on any star trek show,now i know this is an mmo but come on, theve turned the star trek ships into funny cartoons IMO. Supper power on my BOP or Defiant and watch i fire so fast its not funny. Dominion wars buggy or not showd more accuratlyw hat tey coul do.

4. the way BO’s work just bad the abilities removes it from being anything even close to a star trek game and puts it somewhere else.

5. I can understand gamefreak giving the content 5/10 but im sorry i think thats generous. 3/10 is more appropriate well 2.5 of 10 the amount missing from fed side is terrable while the klingons have none of it lol oh wait a couple things.

Recap: story line is bismal, pvp is a joke, balance is a major issue(fix klingon tactial so the ship skills affect their omega strikes and so forth so we get 90% like the feds instead of 30 lol and they complain about klingons haha just wait,)graphics are subpar for the time of release, concept of non interaction between your two player factions except in the bad arenas fail yet again, interface: gamefreak got it right 2/10.

game is not passable with terrable implementation of every aspect of the game.

For a new MMO, I was expecting next generation graphics. What I found was a game that had around 2005-2006 graphics with a lack of shader use. However, some of the texturing is passable, and the character customization leaves nothing behind. For that, the game gets a 7/10.

Sound 6/10

Again, for a new game, especially one with such a title to live by as star trek, I was expecting good music, tracks, etc. I found those. However the voice acting in the game is terrible, and is certainly not where it is needed. The only remotely good voice acting is what comes out of Leonard Nemoy aka Spock.

Community 9/10

What to say. The community seemed very mature for me. Not a lot of those 1337 kids around in STO.

Interface 2/10

This is where the game hits the shitter. Horrible interface and control issues, from simple unresponsiveness to mission text coming up in the middle of a battle. You will go into a mission, and be attacked as soon as you arrive in some occasions, leaving the mission text to be scrolled through while your ship is getting vaporized. Annoying? To say the least.

Content 5/10

I have to pass this with a simple 50% as the content involved in STO is the bear minimum required for a mmorpg to function. You will have those classic, go and kill this many enemies and the scan this and come back sort of missions. Exploration is a joke, as there is simply nothing noteworthy to explore. To go along with this mentioning of exploration, it turns out you can”t even explore your own ship. With the exception of the bridge, which, ironically, doesn”t do a damn thing. Finally, the sides are very unbalanced. For example, there are two factions. Federation and Klingon. Federation is PvE and PvP, as it should be. However, Klingon is PvP only. This leaves masses of players on the Federation side and dwindling amounts on the Klingon side. This results in poor PvP, usually ending with the Federation annihilating the Klingons.

Gameplay 4/10

This area is another point in where the game cannot be passed. Let us start with the main focus of the game. Space.

Where to start? Well it”s a basic space game. You point your ship at your target and instead of actually aiming with a crosshair like you would in games such as X3: Terran Conflict, you press buttons to automatically shoot. Ship customization is small and few between, and there is not any sort of way to customize your weapons, nor craft any.

Where the game really falls apart is the ground aspect, though. The ground combat is horrendous. Your away missions consist of you and 3-4 other npcs, who are about as useful as a baby with a pistol on safety mode. They will die. A lot. The ground combat is also very bland, nothing exciting here. Missions? Well, simply this:

1) Beam down and scan then beam back up.
2) Beam down, kill 30 people, a ridiculously easy boss, then beam back up.
3) Beam down, find your mission is glitched, beam back up.

That”s all there is to say for ground combat.

As a final, on sentenced statement:

The game is passable, but widely unfinished, and does not deserve the attention of any players who do not want to play a mmorpg for over a week.