Introduction

Star Trek, for those in "Generation Y", is short for science fiction addiction. 1966 to Current: A sci-fi TV show that later went to the big screen multiple times is a fan favorite for millions. Trekkies will rejoice once they lay their hands on this new "next generation" game for Xbox 360 (also available for PC). Keeping true to the Star Trek heritage comes an online epic of single player and LIVE battles, stories and beauty. Star Trek fans not only need to apply. Be prepared to spend endless hours with your Star Fleet as you save planets one by one. Bethesda will encompass you in each generation from Deep Space 9, Voyager and Next Generation. The new Star Trek installment is rated "E" for everyone, and has just attacked your local electronics store this past holiday.

The Features

In Star Trek: Legacy is an epic game of Starfleet combat covering the entire Star Trek universe. Become the Admiral of a task force of warships and lead your fleet to victory in large-scale battles. As the Admiral of the Fleet, choose the ships, equipment, and captains to lead into battle. The game is designed to provide an immersive strategic and tactical experience by emphasizing the dramatic excitement of large-scale battles without the hassle of complex starship management.

• Star Trek universe: The game spans the entire original series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. It's all here for you to control.
• Real-time Starfleet combat: Engage in large-scale combat with dozens of warships fighting simultaneous battles across vast sections of space.
• Dynamic three-dimensional battlefields: Battle through beautiful space environments filled with fully realized nebulas, wormholes, planets, and stars. Intuitive controls allow you to quickly select targets and destinations in 3D space.
• Detailed weapon effects and damage modeling:Experience weapons searing with energy and charged shields that surge with every hit. Ships have full damage modeling and break apart, strewing debris and sparks.
• Customizable fleets, ships, and captains:Victories earn Command Points, which are used to personalize your fleet, ships, and captains.
• Single player Federation campaign: Play an involving campaign spanning three full epochs (Enterprise, The Original Series, and The Next Generation).
• Multiplayer with full Xbox Live support: From small-scale engagements to all-out war involving multiple systems, enjoy matchmaking, stat tracking, and player rankings on Xbox Live.
• Over sixty ships and four playable races: From small scouts and light cruisers to fearsome battleships, command the powerful fleets of the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Borg races, all beautifully rendered with the latest technology.
  
  
   

Gameplay

The game starts out as most titles should. A tutorial, or training campaign, is on the docket. If you are not one to read the owners manual (aka myself), learning the controls are a must. Spend sometime getting to know the controls, as they are the most important, yet most difficult part of this game. The controls span every button on your controller, and include well though out "view" controls that let you view the highly details ships while they travel (except at warp speed).

Controlling warp speed is something I frequently used, even when traveling short distances. Those who lack patience may lose interest in the game fast if you are accustom to high paced action. There are multiple speeds for each ship, none of which takes you to your destination fast enough. Warp speed is your friend. If you want to enjoy the entire game and view it's phenomenal attention to space and planet detail, back of the gas and enjoy your travel.

The options are numerous for commanding your fleet. You can direct fleets to different objectives, or tackle them all on own. You can even have them back you up as you are attacked from the deeps of space. You can swap command of ships at anytime during your missions. See one of your vessels under attack? Think you can do better than the AI? Swap ships. You have full control of your fleet. You also have full control of repairing the damage of your fleet. You can send ships to repair themselves, as well as repairing your own. Damage to your fleet is represented by stellar hits and damage effects, It even shows the precise areas where your ships have taken damage.

The narration of your story line is perfect. The voices are clear, and the story will be all too familiar to the trekkies. The cut scenes, where much of the narration takes place, are some of the best cut scenes I have seen on a video game to date. As seen by the images/screenshots posted in this review, the entire game is just as detailed, and realistic.

There are both single player and multiplayer (offline and Xbox Live) features. Single player offers death match and co-op against AI. Go online with Xbox Live with up to 4 people with AI, play a round of death match. You can command fleets of ships against each others fleet in the attempt to dominate space. Spend as much time as you can taking out your enemy as close to the screen as you can so you can enjoy the fantastic destruction of each vessel. You will have to spend some quality time doing battles and completing missions in order to unlock (buy) the bigger and badder <sic> vessels. No surprises there, however, every ship is made available to you when doing your non-campaign missions against AI bots.

There are two primary attack features. Attacking ones shields, and then sending them the final blast to take out the enemy. You can change your ships "power" dedication at anytime during a battle. Increase your shields, lower your fire power. Increase your firepower and lower your shields, and somewhere inbetween.

The biggest issue I had with Xbox Live was the ability to find enough people to consistently get 4 people in a match. I will chalk that up to getting an advanced copy (day before release), with not enough copies saturating the market. Connecting to other players for live battles (when they were available) was quick, and lag free.
 

Graphics & Sound

The graphics are not perfect, but the attention to detail in the ships make you think you are watching the TV show as you play. The "heads up display" is easy to read, even on an SDTV (unlike Dead Rising). If you choose to take some slower speeds through during a mission, you may be bored with some endless periods of black space, with nothing much to see other than the flashing lights on your ship as you canvas through the galaxy. I do believe that they spent more time focusing on the game play ship detail than they do in the "store" where you purchase your additions to your fleet. I would like to have seen more than just "drawings" of the ships as I frequently checked out the statistics and performance numbers of my next purchase.

Final Comments

My final comments. If you are a trekkies, plop down the $60 to pick up this title, no questions asked. It's true to the series, and it touches many aspects that sci-fi lovers enjoy in a game. Details, explosions, well though out story lines and entertaining missions. Xbox 360 is the only place to get your Star Trek fix on a next gen console. Non Star Trek fans, I may be a little hesitant before I purchased. If you are not familiar with the story line and you prefer a faster paced game, you may want to wait until it makes it to Xbox 360's platinum hits. I have reason to believe that this title's follow up (if there will be one), will address some of the downfalls I experienced during my review of this title. Beam me up!

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