GRATS!: Space, the final frontier…

Ahhh, the Red Shirts. Just like the expendable Star Wars clones and droids, red shirted Starfleet officers were created solely to act as the “casualties of war” during away missions. During the Original Series, they were the security officers, but then the Next Generation broke with that tradition by having red uniforms being that of tactical and command. At least they kept part of the original tradition by sacrificing a few red-shirted officers every now and then!

There has been quite a bit of buzz around the upcoming release of the new MMO, Star Trek Online. Both good and bad reviews. A majority of the complaints I’ve been reading is surrounding whether or not Crytic has captured the true “Star Trek” feel. Does it feel like you’re actually in Star Trek or is it just a combat oriented shooting gallery with Trek-style cutouts?

Another complaint is that Cryptic did such a good job in the space battles, that the ground missions seem
clumsy, awkward and sluggish. Could it be that we as MMO players are just so used to the “kill ten rats” scenario and running around on foot that the space battles are a new refreshing break from that typical model?

Speaking of “Kill ten rats“, a few folks have stated their dissapointment that the Borg are your initial default trash mob (albeit “broken” Borg). I can understand Crytic’s reasoning for this as the Borg appear to be the primary threat in space at this time in Star Trek history. Since there are no rats or boars in space, it makes perfect sense to me to use Borg!

Now I should note, I’m a fan but not one of those die-hard extreme fans of Star Trek. People who know me would know I am not fully versed in Klingon and I would not know the Star Trek timeline to heart. – Or you would have noticed I have one of the ensigns holding a non-standard issue rifle that doesn’t occur from the Original Series era

However, I do know the meaning on the phrases: “Make it so, Number One” and “Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor not a physicist!“, and the humour in the word: “Sabotage“.

I know enough of Star Trek to understand the aliens, the ships, and the pop culture. I’ve watched the shows
with a passion (DS9 is my favourite) and I can say I’ve been to at least one Star Trek convention (although not in costume).

Either way, I’m enough of a Star Trek geek to go out and purchase the game regardless of the complaints from Open and Closed Beta. As many have said, Cryptic can count on many people like me to base their decision solely on the fact that its Star Trek and that alone. For myself, I’ll give it at least a month or two of playing to see how the game develops. As a Star Trek fan, I HAVE to experience exploring space in my own ship. I HAVE to walk through Deep Space 9. I HAVE to see where Cryptic takes this game after release. They have already stated that they plan to do a further content release 45 days after launch. I think for many, this will be the tell-tale time for Cryptic to step up to the plate and show us all what they’ve got.

I have even avoided ruining my impressions of the game by not participating in either of the Beta tests. I did
get an Open Beta key, but I decided to wait for release and experience the game as Cryptic intends it. I’ve done that in the past where a game has come out and I’ve already had frustrations with bugs and errors from beta. LOTRO was one case of that, although their release went fairly smoothly overall. For me, I’ll be approaching this game knowing it will not be perfect on release, but willing to see how the game evolves after release.

The timing couldn’t be better for Cryptic as well. Now that we’ve been told not to expect Star Wars: The Old Republic until 2011, Cryptic has a huge window of opportunity to gain some subscribers over this lull in the MMO market. Even Cataclysm won’t be released until most likely the fall of this year, so that gives Cryptic a good 6-7 months to perfect the game and provide enough incentive for players to stay.

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