Star Trek Games: Past, Present & Future. Part 3

The Present Or Lack-of

Well, this is going to be a short paragraph as quite frankly there isn’t really much available at the moment it terms of new Trek games. The only title released recently, is the lacklustre Star Trek: DAC on Xbox Live Arcade for the Microsoft X360 console. This is basically a very poor, blatant tie in with the new Star Trek movie and is not much more than a simple 2d arcade shooter, with the player controlling a very small spaceship in an overhead view. I am quite surprised that Paramount didn’t work with a developer and publisher on a big new game tie-in for the new movie, maybe they didn’t think the movie was going to be the big hit that it was? Given the success of the new movie (which is great by the way!), I’m kind of hoping that this will pave the way for a new era in Trek computer gaming, but there isn’t much on the horizon at present which leads me rather nicely onto the next part of this article:

The Future (and don’t make it so-so)

The only Trek game on the horizon as far as I know (unless Bethesda have something, hush-hush) is the very ambitious Star Trek Online. The game is being published by Atari and is being developed by Cryptic Studios (of Champions Online fame). The game is still a way off yet from release, but this could turn out to be the game that us Trek gamers have been waiting for, for a long, long time. Each player is a starship captain, with an A.I controlled crew and they will embark on a host of adventures based in space while controlling the ship and on away missions on the surface of planets. Along the way, they will encounter, battle and even team up with other player controlled captains. Not much more at present is known about the game play, but I for one am very excited about the potential of this game and I will certainly be signing up for the beta test!

Conclusion

The history of Trek computer games has certainly had its ups and downs. There have been a few great games, a bunch of average ones and some truly dire ones. I haven’t gone in to detail about all the games that have been released and have concentrated on the ones that I thought were worth mentioning in detail, for instance I deliberately ignored the awful Star Trek:Borg and Star Trek Klingon as they were “games” that jumped on the horrible “interactive movie” bandwagon and I don’t even really consider titles like these as real games. Thank god nobody makes these sorts of games anymore!

You may have noticed a certain pattern emerging with the past Trek games and this leads me nicely onto a big gripe that I have. All of the Trek games that have been released so far have jumped on the bandwagon of several gaming genres without bringing anything revolutionary or particularly inventive to the table. As a blunt example: Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Birth of The Federation = Sid Meier’s Civilization, Star Trek: Hidden Evil = Resident Evil (or a bad homage of it!) – anyway, I think you get the picture. Considering that the original Star Trek T.V series was very progressive and forward thinking, it’s a bit sad that most of the Trek games have lacked originality. I just hope that the success of the new Star Trek movie, will bring in a new age of Trek gaming! (Oh - and will somebody please do a Bridge Commander 2?)

Star Trek Games, In Chronological Order:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (aka Star Ship) - 1982, by Milton Bradley (Vectrex)

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator – 1983, by SEGA Inc (Atari 8 bit, T-99/4a, Vic-20, Apple II)

Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative – 1985, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (C64 & PC DOS)

Start Trek: The Promethean Prophecy – 1986, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (P.C DOS)

Star Trek: The Rebel Universe – 1987, by Firebird Software (Atari ST)

Star Trek: The Rebel Universe – 1988, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (C64 & PC DOS)

Star Trek: First Contact – 1988, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (Apple II and PC DOS)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – 1989, by Mindscape Inc (PC DOS)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Transinium Challenge – 1989, by Simon and Schuster Interactive (PC DOS)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Trivia – 1994, (PC DOS)

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary – 1992, by Interplay (PC DOS)

Star Trek: Judgement Rites – 1993, by Interplay (PC DOS)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – 1993, by Absolute Entertainment (NES)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Echoes From The Past – 1994 (Sega Genesis/Megadrive, SNES)

Star Trek: Generations – Beyond The Nexus – 1994, by Absolute Entertainment (Gamegear, Gameboy)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity – 1995, by Spectrum Holobyte (PC DOS)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Harbinger – 1995, by Viacom New Media (PC DOS)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Crossroads Of Time – 1995, by Playmates Interactive Entertainment (SNES, Sega Genesis/Megadrive)

Star Trek: Klingon – 1996, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Borg – 1997, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (PC Windows, Mac)

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – 1997, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Generations – 1997, by Microprose (PC Windows)

Star Trek Pinball – 1997, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Klingon Honour Guard – 1998, by Microprose (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starship Creator – 1998, by Simon & Schuster (PC Windows,Mac)

Star Trek: The Game Show – 1998, by Sound Source Interactive (PC Windows)

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Birth Of The Federation – 1999, by Hasbro Interactive (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starfleet Command – 1999, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Hidden Evil – 1999, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II – 2000, by JoWood Productions (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starfleet Command Volume II – Empires At War – 2000, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Fallen – 2000, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (PC Windows, Mac)

Star Trek: Armada – 2000, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Klingon Academy – 2000, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: New Worlds – 2000, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Invasion – 2000, by Activision (Playstation)

Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force – 2000, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Conquest Online – 2000, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starfleet Command – Orion Pirates – 2001, by Interplay (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force Expansion Pack – 2001, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Dominion Wars – 2001, by Simon & Schuster Interactive (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Armada II – 2001, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Starfleet Command III – 2002, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Bridge Commander – 2002, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Elite Force II – 2003, by Activision (PC Windows)

Star Trek: Shattered Universe – 2004, by TDK Mediactive Inc (Playstation 2, Xbox)
Star Trek: Legacy – 2006, by Bethesda Softworks (PC Windows, X360)

Star Trek: Tactical Assault – 2006, by Nintendo (DS)

Star Trek Tactical Assault – 2006, by Bethesda Softworks (PSP)

Star Trek: Encounters – 2006, by Bethesda Softworks (Playstation 2)

Star Trek: Conquest – 2007, by Bethesda Softworks (Playstation 2, Wii)

Star Trek: DAC – 2009, (Xbox Live Arcade)