London MCM Expo: Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online was a highlight in an otherwise long and tiresome day for the God is a Geek team at the London MCM Expo, the new MMO from Crytpic was one of few playable games at the expo which was rather strange with titles such as Assassins Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction soon to be released being limited to just game footage rather than some beefy gameplay.

The Star Trek Online closed beta is taking sign ups right now but I would imagine what we played is tiny in comparison, the hands on session was in many ways similar to a normal game demo rather than a first look at an MMO. I was sat down at a computer with the game and the character pre-loaded, in front of me I had a control sheet showing the basic controls for both space ground combat which eluded to the fact that I would be doing both, I was not disappointed. The demo starts with the player controlling a small Federation ship, you get a message up on screen asking if you would like to go into warp which if you choose yes to takes you in to range of  a planet and enemy ships, Klingon’s to be exact. The enemy ships attacked me straight away so I reacted by targeting them and pressing keys 1, 2 and 3 which I had been told were mapped to different weapons alternately I could have just pressed space bar and hit all 3 weapons simultaneously. There seemed to be some sort of resource system in play which I admit I did not need to pay much attention to. The system regulates how much energy you can use to move the ship, fire weapons and keep shields up. I would imagine it comes in to play against more challenging opponents later in the game, for the moment though I just flew about at max speed spamming my attacks.

With the three Klingon ships dealt with I got another message on the screen informing me that it was time to beam on to a fourth Klingon ship. I clicked continue and was beamed aboard the Klingon vessel, this was the start of the “ground combat” where I controlled my actual character rather than a ship. The combat was very much what I expected from an MMO, I had a phaser for a weapon with its attacks mapped to the quick bar. The phaser works well from range but any Trekky worth his salt will know that Klingon’s like to get in close for some melee combat and this is where the melee attack comes in. The melee attack will push back the current enemy target that is in range creating enough distance to use the phaser again. After a few skirmishes on board it was time to beam again but this time I was beamed down to the planet I had first seen when warping in.

The first thing I noticed when beaming down to the planet was the room I had to move about compared to the tight corridors of the Klingon ship, I can imagine that with the change in landscape tactics would be changed too. I was treated to one more battle with a group of Klingon’s before reaching an anomaly, unfortunately this is where the demo ended with the anomaly restarting the demo to allow some one else to have a go at being the next John Luke Picard.

Space Combat – I found the space combat really enjoyable and I can imagine that it can only get better with upgraded ships and addons such as weapons and shields. I hope the resource system comes in to play making the encounters more challenging adding a good element of skill to the encounters.

Ground Combat – The ground combat was what I expected from a Star Trek MMO, if I’m honest it did not wow me too much but I can’t wait to play the game with friends and see how the group dynamics effect encounters.

Planet Combat – The final element of the game was the shortest, I am still not sure what to expect from this game when I beam down to a planet, the wide open vistas can definitely effect the play and it is something to look out for in the upcoming beta.

If you can’t wait to get a piece of the Star Trek Online action you can head over to the eurogamer expo where there will be eight machines setup to run the game and do not forget the God is a Geek team will be attending both days, just look out for the guys wearing the awesome god is a geek clothing.