Star Trek: Legacy Member Review for the PC

So-So. . . . .
Making a Star Trek game is something like making a game about Jesus in America. The people who are buying and playing this game want it all, they want fast-paced action, they want depth hell they want naked alien women. The thing is, Star Trek: Legacy wasn't made for the hardcore fan, and it really shows in suprising ways. While it was designed for the hardcore gamer, it lacks the kind of draw that will keep people playing it for very long and really makes you wonder what the developers were going for.

The game follows one of the more interesting sections of Star Trek lore, the Borg and the fight against them. These seemingly invincible cubes of robots are a great enemy for any game, and you won't be let down in this area. The only problem is that these enemies are way too difficult. I didn't cheat, but then again, I can't beat this game. It feels like they took an ancient game like Space Invaders, added three dimensions and let you go wild. The difficulty just seems like it is misplaced in a game like this. If this were, say, a deep strategic game in which you were the Captain of a ship and gave commands and orders, then yeah, I could see this difficulty being valid. However, since the game decided to stay away from strategy elements and focus on rather that problems of trying to kill everything on screen, it just feels wrong. This game is in a genre that is not known for difficulty, and making it this hard is just going to turn people off more than keep people coming back for more.

That is not to say there is nothing to come back for. This game has some great ship models, and it looks amazing. You don't really get the sense your flying through the galaxy or anything, but you do feel like your in space. The fighting is fast-paced and intense, if you have a computer that can handle it or a 360. Its fun to play and on a big monitor you feel like your watching the show in some respects.

The only problem is that this was never why people liked Star Trek. People didn't, and still don't, tune in for the fight scenes in space, but rather the dynamic of watching the crew and all of that. Without it, this feels like a unfinished game, and that is a shame. With a more strategic element or maybe a game in which you controlled from inside the ships, this could have been great. Imagine the fun of being inside one of these ships, working your way up the ranks, maybe even selecting one of the departments to work in and having different missions related to each based on your decision. Or if you wanted to stay in the space fighting theme, focus on instead longer campaigns that involve very specific mission objectives and lower the difficulty for the first run but hide the best ships for those who master the game.

This is not a bad game, but it does nothing new, and it is, sadly, another example of graphics coming before depth. Games should focus on gameplay, or at least some reason to keep me coming back for more. I don't see it here, which is sad because this is a gaming universe that can offer a lot of options to the player. Oh well, looks like I'll just keep waiting for Star Trek Online (as long as that doesn't turn into vaporware).