Star Trek: Legacy

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Star Trek: Legacy
Developer(s) Mad Doc Software
Publisher(s) Bethesda Softworks
Latest version 1.1
Release date(s) PC:

United States December 6, 2006
European Union December 22, 2006
Xbox 360:
United States December 14, 2006
European Union January, 2007
Genre(s) Strategy
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360

Star Trek Legacy is the title of a game released by Mad Doc Software for PC and Xbox 360. The game, a strategy/action game, was published by Bethesda Softworks. It was originally planned for release in the fall of 2006 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Star Trek.

It was released for the PC on December 6, 2006 in North America, and will be released on December 22, 2006 in Europe. The Xbox 360 version has been delayed until December 14, 2006[1] and has a January, 2007 date for its release in Europe. Fan and critical response to the PC game was strongly negative [2][3].

Contents

Setting

Single player

The three eras of Star Trek: Enterprise, The Original Series and The Next Generation make up the single-player campaign. In each era the Federation goes up against the Romulans (ENT), Klingons (TOS) and the Borg Collective (TNG). The Next Generation era also includes Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Storyline

Ingame screenshot from the Xbox 360 version of Legacy
Enlarge
Ingame screenshot from the Xbox 360 version of Legacy

In an interview on GameSpot posted on July 19, 2006, it was revealed that the "Contagion" story arc is no longer relevant to the plot. Instead the creators state that the method of spanning the various eras is far more ingenious and was developed by one of the original Star Trek writers.[4]

DC Fontana and Chester, the authors of the game's plot, gave an interview on IGN, posted November 29, 2006, in which they reveal that the storyline incorporates the split between the Vulcan and Romulan races, known as the Sundering.[5]

The eras that are covered in single player mode are:

An article on Eurogamer, posted on August 7, 2006, revealed that the original Star Trek writer in question was D.C. Fontana who, along with partner Derek Chester, has collaborated on the scripts of Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault.[6]

Gameplay

Combat for the game takes place in a semi-3D environment , unlike the full 3D of the recent Star Trek: Bridge Commander. Players also have to ability to change from a 3D display to a top-down 2D tactical display where you can issue specific commands to ships within a task force. For example, a player is able to order a Galaxy Class ship to warp to a specific point for defense of a station or ship.

In addition to the linear campaign there is a skirmish mode, but it is not customizable; the player can choose his or her enemies, but not the ships they use.

The PC game multiplayer in the games shipped thus far has been broken out of the box, requiring a patch downloaded from the Bethesda website to repair.

Response

Initial fan response to the PC game was strongly negative [7][8], with chief complaints focusing on a very poorly implemented control system and only one camera setting that cannot zoom in or out, an inability to save more than one campaign at a time, inability to save within a mission, and a lack of Star Trek subsystems such as tractor beams and transporters. Additionally, players disliked the buggy and slow multiplayer and non-customizable skirmish mode, the universe without true 3D manuevering capabilities, a lack of any way to change the control scheme, poor AI, and subpar graphics.

The player cannot choose captains or upgrade ships. This feature was promised on the game's home page as late as a week before release, which claimed that "Customizable fleets, ships and captains: Victories earn Command Points, which are used to personalize your fleet, ships, and captains." [9] But, indeed, customizable ships and captains are nowhere to be found in the game. The manual was also poorly written and extremely short with numerous errors. Additionally, a mission based on Star Trek II's fight of the Enterprise against Khan's ship, displayed at E3, was left out of the game, even though movies of this mission appear within the game itself.

Many gamers found the control problems especially galling, as there was considerable hype by the developers saying "Star Trek Legacy would be an epic game with easy to use controls." [1] Indeed, the game controls cannot even be reassigned to different keys on the keyboard. In its review IGN called the game's controls "the first and most frequently occurring aggravation." [10] Players cannot even move their ships in reverse.

Other issues involve strange gameplay features such as photon torpedoes being able to ignore shields and an inconsistant weapons locking system, which allow players to destroy ships with full shields up, as well as seemingly arbitrary time limits on cloaks and inabilities to repair damage or warp while cloaked. Many PC players felt that the game been ported from the XBox version as an afterthought, resulting in the significant control problems with mapping the XBox 360 controllers directly to a keyboard, and in the game having much less depth than was expected for a normal PC game. Indeed, the short manual for the PC game has several "tips" that are written for an Xbox controller.

Legacy essentially ignores most of the laws of the physics to an unusual extent even for this type of space combat game; ships "stall" as they go too high as if they were aircraft, which restricts their manevuering to a 2D "pizza box." [11] Additionally, the game lacked collision detection and had seemingly random reactions to ship collisions. IGN noted that "objects that collide simply repel each other, sometimes sending each other off in oblique directions, sometimes autopiloting to a new heading, and sometimes simply warping to a new facing altogether." [12] Indeed, although Bethesda's website claims that Legacy features "fully realized nebulas, wormholes, planets, and stars" [13], the "pint-size planets" [14] are almost the same size of the ships, and when ships collide with planets, they simply bounce off of them. [15]

The IGN gaming website also responded negatively to the game, giving it a "mediocre" 5.9/10 and saying "The PC version of Star Trek Legacy is among the most disappointing games of the year....Star Trek Legacy simply cannot stand on its own as an entertaining or satisfying experience." [16] IGN also noted that "the AI is clueless" [17]

Responses to the Xbox 360 version have been more positive, with the Official Xbox Magazine giving the game 8 out of 10 and saying Legacy is the "best space combat in ages." Game Informer gave the Xbox version a 7.75 out of 10 saying Legacy is "...a great direction to take the Star Trek gaming franchise."

The discrepancy between the PC and Xbox version reviews can be viewed as a result of the game having been originally developed for Xbox and then ported to PC, resulting in much less depth than PC players are used to but a good game by Xbox standards. The Xbox versions also eliminated some of the control problems of the PC version which had resulted from mapping the controller onto a keyboard, and also the major problems with game compatibility encountered with the PC version.

Sloppy Coding

The modding community found numerous examples of very sloppy coding within the Legacy files, including a number of bizarre inclusions such as a photograph of a developer with his pet goats [18]. These errors in code which was clearly intended to be taken out suggested that the game had been rushed to its completion before it was ready.

Numerous examples of extra coding left in the game files were found, such as one file that read: "Not For Release //comment this out before release" and "// code will have to be changed when we are putting in real components concerning locations" [19]. Errors like these added to fans' impressions of the PC game being rushed to its release.

Indeed, some files were copied directly from the Star Trek game Armada II, with no modification at all. [20]

Background images were also found that, in constrast to being the "fully realized" nebulae promised by the game's developers, were actually cut and pasted directly from the movie Star Trek: Insurrection [21].


See also

References

  1. ^ Star Trek: Legacy. Gamespot. ZDNet. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  2. ^ Official Legacy forums.
  3. ^ Gamespot Legacy reviews.
  4. ^ Star Trek: Legacy Updated Q&A - More on the Story and Ships of This Starship Combat Game. Gamespot. ZDNet. Retrieved on 2006-09-22.
  5. ^ Star Trek: Legacy Interview. IGN. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  6. ^ Bethesda reveals Trek talent. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2006-09-22.
  7. ^ Official Legacy forums.
  8. ^ Gamespot Legacy reviews.
  9. ^ Archived game website.
  10. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  11. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  12. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  13. ^ Legacy website.
  14. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  15. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  16. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  17. ^ IGN Legacy review.
  18. ^ Forum thread about sloppy coding.
  19. ^ Forum thread about commented code.
  20. ^ Forum thread about commented code.
  21. ^ Forum thread about sloppy coding.

External links

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