Title: Star Trek Legacy

Release Date: Fall 2006

Genre: 3D Space Action

Platform: PC

Developer: Mad Doc Software

Publisher: Bethesda

At E3 we had the pleasure of seeing Star Trek Legacy in action. We also got some hands-on time with the game and asked a lot of questions. To our surprise, Star Trek Legacy and looked and played as good as the screenshots have led us to believe. We were directed to a small upstairs theater and shown a 20 minute demo by one of the developers. The demo consisted of a variety of scenarios from the singleplayer campaign.

STAR TREK: LEGACY is an epic game of Starfleet combat covering the entire Star Trek Universe. Players become the Admiral of a task force of warships and must lead their fleet to victory in large-scale battles. As the Admiral of the Fleet you choose the ships, equipment, and captains that you will 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.

Key Features:

• Spans the entire Star Trek Universe. The 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. Beautiful space environments filled with fully realized nebulas, wormholes, planets, and stars. Intuitive controls allow players to quickly select targets and destinations in 3D space.

• Detailed weapon effects and damage modeling. Weapons searing with energy and charged shields that surge with every hit. Ships with full damage modeling that 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. Spanning three full epochs ( Enterprise, The Original Series, and The Next Generation).

• Robust multiplayer with full Xbox Live support. From small-scale engagements to all-out war involving multiple star systems. 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.

They showed a one-on-one battle between the Enterprise and Kahn’s ship. This scene showed off the basics of gameplay such as maneuvering, ship speed, basic firing techniques, and what effect nebulas can have on ships.

The next scene involved Captain Picard’s Enterprise accompanied by three other ships. We were shown how to use multiple ships to accomplish our goal. In this instance, the goal was to assist Deep Space Nine defend itself against a few Romulan Warbirds. Huge warships moved around on screen with fluid motion. As the Warbirds took damage and were being destroyed, a cut-scene started and we were alerted to our new goal: a Borg Cube had entered the fight and now both the Federation and the Romulans were required to team up against the Borg threat.

Though the demonstration was impressive to watch, we really wanted to try the game ourselves. We got our wish as we were led back downstairs to the back room where they had five PCs running Star Trek Legacy. Zack, my host for the hands-on demo, fired up the game and handed me an Xbox 360 controller. Though the mouse and keyboard will be supported, they were using the 360 controller for the demos. Turns out the controller worked extremely well. I had the opportunity to play each of the scenarios that were shown upstairs.

I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth both the graphics and gameplay were. The ships moved with elegant grace as they glided through space. Firing upon another ship was simple and intuitive; lasers to drain the shields and photon torpedoes to destroy the hull. When controlling more than one ship, orders can be given via the D-pad. The independent AI makes life easier so you’re not consumed with a constant degree of babysitting.

My host answered a few questions about some of the features we were not shown. We were assured that there would be robust singleplayer and multiplayer modes. The singleplayer campaign would span the entire Star Trek universe: from the original series through Star Trek Voyager. He also mentioned that every single Star Trek ship would be represented, along with a few new ones specially designed by the team.

From everything we saw and played, we were more than impressed with Star Trek Legacy. I’ll admit, since I’m not a big Star Trek fan I wasn’t too hot on seeing this game at the show but that all changed within the first few moments of the demo. Star Trek Legacy is a game that should be on every gamer’s must-play list; it’s not just for Trekkers.

Reviewed By: Alex Hammond