As gamers will know, licensed titles have a bad reputation. It’s just so tough to do justice to a beloved franchise, especially with the knowledge that it’ll sell like hot cakes purely on the strength of the license itself. It’s this way of thinking that leads to infamous titles like Superman 64.
More recently, though, the fantastic Arkham games and Marvel’s Spider-Man have proven that such titles can be pulled off successfully. When it comes to a long-running franchise like Star Trek, then, the industry has seen a wide range of tie-ins from across almost every genre. Let’s take a look at some of the best and worst Star Trek games ever released.
10 WORTH DISCOVERING: Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force
To start things off strongly, Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force is Metacritic’s highest-rated title based on the license, with the PC version garnering an impressive metascore of 86.
This year 2000 PC title managed to be both a great Star Trek game and a super solid FPS, even taking Lt. Tuvok out of the equation (not that fans would want to). Telling a worthwhile story, boasting varied levels and a hefty dose of Voyager fan-service to boot, it would be hard to ask any more of a Star Trek title. It was let down only by a sub-standard PS2 port.
9 BEST LEFT UNEXPLORED: Star Trek: Legacy
2006’s Star Trek: Legacy certainly had a winning concept. A real-time strategy title that allowed the player to command four Federation vessels in conflict, against forces from across the Star Trek universe? That’s where the Legacy in the title came in: the game traveled between the much-storied eras of the show, even featuring the legendary actors who played five different captains for the first time in a video game.
Sadly, though, the end product really wasn’t worthy of the Star Trek… legacy. On PC in particular, it was glitchy and buggy, with awkward controls and deceptive limitations on movement. While fans still got a kick out of it, it was far from what it could have been.
8 WORTH DISCOVERING: Star Trek: Invasion
Star Trek: Invasion is far from the most attractive-looking title based on the franchise (it’s a humble original PlayStation release from the year 2000, after all), but it came from an era when gameplay alone was the crucial factor and nailed it. It is quite visually impressive for its time, too.
Warthog Games’ space combat title may have lacked in sheer authenticity (in the ship designs, for instance), but offered the raw fun and intense battles that Star Trek titles sometimes fall short on. A little repetitive, perhaps, but fans of the franchise who haven’t experienced this one owe it to themselves to do so.
7 BEST LEFT UNEXPLORED: Star Trek: The Video Game
If any Star Trek title falls into the ‘uninspired cash-in on a new movie’ trap, it would have to be Stark Trek: The Video Game. This 2013 effort claimed to offer a thrilling co-op experience starring Captain Kirk and Spock; a cover shooter that would do justice to all the hype that both the franchise and the genre itself was enjoying at the time.
Needless to say, this was no Gears of War beater. Rather bland, glitchy and mechanically questionable, it took at shot at boldly going where few Star Trek titles had before (an all-new story and everything), but stumbled along the way.
6 WORTH DISCOVERING: Star Trek: Tactical Assault
Star Trek: Tactical Assault is quite a rarity for the franchise’s video game adaptations, in that it’s a handheld title. It was released for both the PSP and Nintendo DS in 2006, ambitiously offering a choice of two campaigns (Klingon and Starfleet stories are available, each following on from or connected to different events in the Star Trek world) and a multiplayer mode.
As the name suggests, this is another RTS title, one that did a solid job of blending slow-paced, tactical combat with a little flashy action. While it has some issues with plotting and characterization, it’s an enjoyable, challenging effort that deserves more attention.
5 BEST LEFT UNEXPLORED: Star Trek: Conquest
Here’s another title that tried to balance both slower-paced strategy and more high-octane action. Star Trek: Conquest arrived in 2007, an RTS/TBS hybrid from 4J Studios for the Wii and PlayStation 2. It certainly talked the talk, offering the player the chance to choose between the Romulan, Federation, Klingon and other forces to lead to victory, but just couldn’t quite live up to its lofty premise.
Being singleplayer-only, it lacks that competitive edge, while the board game bedrock of the gameplay is just too simplistic and shallow for fans of grand strategy games. Meanwhile, the liberties it takes with Star Trek canon are sure to be a bone of contention for some.
4 WORTH DISCOVERING: Star Trek: Bridge Crew
The world of VR gaming is, for many, still quite the novelty. After all, the whole concept is far better suited to some genres than others, and it’s really not something that should be shoehorned in for the sake of it. When played to its strengths, though, VR really can make for gaming experiences like no other, and that was definitely the case with Star Trek: Bridge Crew. PlayStation has brought us a lot of gimmicky tech like the EyeToy, but PlayStation VR really is the real thing.
Bridge Crew, as the name suggests, drops the player right into the most immersive Star Trek gaming experience yet: right there on the bridge of a ship. Together, players will need to strategize, make quick decisions and otherwise keep things running smoothly. Captain, Helm Officer, Tactical Officer and Engineer must communicate and coordinate effectively, making for a game that’s very reliant on everybody’s participation, but this (and Star Trek: Bridge Crew The Next Generation, which adds a new role, ships and more) is a whole new kind of Star Trek experience.
3 BEST LEFT UNEXPLORED: Star Trek: D-A-C
One thing was immediately clear about Star Trek D-A-C: it was going to put the action first and foremost. The franchise’s games are often more cerebral, tactical affairs, but the fact that this 2009 effort was titled Deathmatch-Assault-Conquest just highlights the intensity that it was shooting for.
Shooting was the name of the game, in fact, but this backfired quite a bit. While the more arcade-centric feel may have attracted fans of other genres, it didn’t do very much to set itself apart, proving to be a bit of a run of the mill effort that didn’t make the best use of its heavyweight license.
2 WORTH DISCOVERING: Star Trek: Encounters
Star Trek: Encounters was one of those titles that, simply with its premise alone, was going to prove contentious with fans. Shoot ‘em ups just aren’t in keeping with Star Trek and everything it stands for. Still, blasting away at familiar ships from a familiar ship could be just the tonic any gamer needs at times, and with its low price tag on launch, many franchise fans were tempted to give Encounters a go.
It’s certainly no ground-breaking genre entry, but there’s a little more strategy to the action that the average shoot ‘em up. A bit more of a hodge-podge of Star Trek history than a love letter to it, but an inoffensive budget release that may be worth a spin. Just don’t expect it to even remotely approach the very top tier of licensed games.
1 BEST LEFT UNEXPLORED: Star Trek: Shattered Universe
This run-down began with Metacritic’s most highly-rated title to bear the Star Trek name. It’s only fitting, then, to close with the one that bears the lowest Metascore: Star Trek: Shattered Universe, with a 42 (PS2 edition) or 41 (Xbox edition).
This 2004 title attempted to live up to its name by presenting a world in which everything fans know about Star Trek is flipped on its head (a la “Mirror Mirror”). The Federation are the villains here, in a space combat sim that falls short in the same ways that many of these games have: it’s all very bland, relying more on the name than on actually bringing anything new or interesting (or even simple solid design and interesting missions) to the table.
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