Set Phasers to Stun for New ‘Star Trek’ Screenshots
Star Trek puts players into the shoes of either Kirk or Spock, and allows them to embody them from soup to nuts. Kirk, like in the feature films, is a reckless youngster who shoots first and asks questions later, while Spock takes a more logical approach.
This dichotomy will present players with unique branching paths that will be facilitated by the personalities of each character. For example, Kirk might rush into a situation and be taken hostage while Spock is forced to fight off a larger group of enemies before having to save his Captain. (lol) Developer Digital Extremes promises that the experience of Kirk and Spock will be unique in many different ways, from gameplay scenarios to customization.
But Star Trek doesn’t just present players with two distinct gameplay experiences, it also guides them through a story that is meant to bridge the gap between the first and second of the Bad Robot-produced films.
This month’s Gamepro cover feature is on the new Star Trek game! There’s like nine pages total, six about the game and then three more about the “real science of Star Trek”. As you can see above, Kirk and Spock look so good, exactly like Chris and Zach. Important bits:
- Kirk and Spock’s styles of play are completely different and you can upgrade your weapons as you go along; eventually Kirk’s phaser is so powerful it can take out an entire roomfull of enemies on its own. The gadgets that you can use can also be upgraded; the more you use them, the better they get.
- They have Spock quipping, “Reversing thrusters may have been a more pertinent method of deceleration” when Kirk crashes through a hatch, so basically if you’re playing as Kirk, Spock is a smartass who offers up his own commentary for the entire game; Kirk gives as good as he gets, though, so don’t worry about there being any lack of verbal foreplay/sparring/whatever.
- The game is a shooter but it also has RPG elements; Digital Extremes is “accentuating other elements of that make Star Trek popular - the problem-solving, the moral dilemmas, and of course, the gadgets” rather than it just being a ‘shoot in the head and move on’ thing.
- In fact there are whole parts of levels where there’s really no shooting at all, as “We felt that if the first thing you do is shoot someone, we’re doing something wrong. Our motto for this game is ‘adventure, not war.’”
- Kirk and Spock fill two distinct roles in the game - Kirk is the “cowboy” who will get his hands dirty; Spock is referred to as the “mage” of the game who relies more heavily on gadgets to problem-solve and decode puzzles, etc.
- The foundation of their approach to the game is the episode The Man Trap. “Kirk whispers, ‘That way,’ and draws a guy out before Spock stuns him,” creative director Steve Sinclair says. “It was certainly no Joan Collins episode but it was pretty awesome that those two characters in particular - Bones was obviously the balance between the two - were in action so often in TOS.”
- There’s a section where Orci commented too. It says, “The game presents a special challenge: it’s the first place where Orci further shapes the Kirk-Spock friendship, something he started in the reboot. ‘What’s great about this game is that it gets to show that middle step. You get to see Kirk and Spock in a way you’re not going to in the movie. They’re becoming friends; they’re going on adventures you’re not going to see in the movies.’”
