PSP - Star Trek: Tactical Assault
Format
PSP
Publisher
Bethesda Games
Developer
Quicksilver Soft
Country of origin
US
Release date
October 2003 (US)
Genre
Real time strategy
Star Trek : Tactical Assault
By David Rasmussen
14th Jan 07  Previously on Star Trek : Encounters… (Voyager passes by viewers)
Reviewer’s Log. Stardate 122506.
Merry Christmas. Due to the fact that this game didn’t have 99% of anyone from the series in it I decided to steal… uh… (cough cough)… I mean BORROW a starship for this review. In this case, since SPIKE TV has just ran a week of Star Trek : Voyager (to introduce it to their lineup in January 2007) I decided to take… uh… I mean “borrow” this ship for the review. And what a review it was. Battle sequence
Unlike the previous “Star Trek : Shattered Universe”, this game’s new innovative combat system gave the game a feel similar to some of it’s better PC counterpart Trek realtime strategy games, with you controlling several ships from all of the series packed to the gills with the full options package from Starfleet Command. From a full weapons packet (and the ability to finely carve up enemy ships like a thanksgiving turkey disabling key systems to take it out of commission) to the all important extras like sensor sweeps, tractor beams, cloaking devices and the all important ability to beam away parties onto other ships to take them over, there is a full monty of things you can undertake shipwise in this game. Another battle sequence
However this is countered by the same-same levels where you undertake the same missions over and over again ad nauseum, with the worst being the dreadfully long sequence of tracking warp trails and then shooting down specific enemies before you can track another warp trail. These missions drag on abit and are time consuming, though on the bright side the game auto saves after every progress in this mode so you don’t have to go all the way back to a certain major part if you’re blown up. Briefing
The worst thing about the game, however, is the lack of Trek in this Trek game.
While it had a good combat system over Shattered Universe it lacked in it’s Trekitude by having a lame extras packet. I liked the idea of the collectible cards that “enhanced” your performance during the game, but the cards were just static photo images of the stars with little life to them (without even so much as any personal flair or personality to make them really come to life like character profile, star info and so forth). Also it seemed at times said upgrades given by cards for each ship seemed suspect, and I sometimes wondered if collecting cards actually did anything since I didn’t feel as if the ship was actually improving with each card I got. There was also a ship viewer but that as an extra also stunk since it also didn’t give enough of that all important fanbase extras like info and behind the scenes info to really make it shine. View of the William Shatner’s talking head
But far worst than all of that was the voice acting, or lack theoft. Instead of at least having one star from each series do voice acting duties for this game it was all centered on one man : William Shatner.
And sure, on most good days this would be nice since George Takei, yes, may have been most longwinded in his voice acting in Shattered Universe but by god at least he was on the ball and giving his all for the role! Shatner, however, was not giving his all… Planet explodes as Shatner talks
It was as if he couldn’t care less about this dammit! I mean how BORED and LIFELESS could he have possibly made his voice acting in this narrative role he had past what he did in this game! If he didn’t want to be in this game he should have just said so so somebody else, somebody who might have, I don’t know, might have actually given a damn could have done this narrative role!
But it goes right to the point I made about this game in my first look at the game! This should have been split up amongst the Captains of the series! That means you Scott Bakula, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew (sorry if I got the wrong name here) and… hmm… for Star Trek : Soverign I guess we could have availed on Jonathan Frakes to step up… what was I saying? Oh, right, you people should have gone up to bat and pulled your weight! But NOOOOOoooo! No you were TOO BUSY!! I mean, damn, it’s only Star Trek’s 40th Anniversary and all! At least pretend you give a damn!! Voyager
But as it stands, Voyager is the last line of defense against the dull monotone voice of William Shatner.
For the good of Trekdom everywhere he must be taken out, one way or another… “So tag, your it Mulgrew.” Mulgrew - “WHAT?!? Why me??” “Because it’s your ship, and the whiney no-show shirk her responsibility to the fanbase Captain goes down with her ship and all… and don’t give me that “I did a cameo in Nemesis so I should be excused” bit because, damn, you had to do a cameo in Nemesis (what Paramount was rumored to have originally wanted to be Lord of the Rings length in film time).” (sighs) “Fine, I’ll take Chakotay’s chair (I always did like his character) as we review Star Trek : Tactical Assault for the PSP… thank Bethesda it’s a Classic Trek only game by the way Mulgrew, one less Trek game to harass you about for not showing up in.” (blinks) “By the way are you comfortable, what with me duct-taping you into your chair like that?” Mulgrew - “…you don’t want me to answer that, do you…” “No. And now our review of Star Trek : Tactical Assault. Helm? Change course for Shatner’s head and go to warp speed now…” (silence) “…anyone…” (looks about at the empty bridge) Mulgrew - “Couldn’t you have kidnapped MORE people?” “…did I have to? Come on! Don’t tell me the guy who played Lt. Paris wasn’t available! I’m not picky at this point, mind you! I even would have praised the guys who played Neelix or The Doctor for being in this game! What! Not even Mr. Harry Kim’s actor who somehow found the time to get roaring stinking drunk at a Star Trek convention and got into trouble for it once couldn’t find the time to be in this game?!? What the hell are YOU doing that keeps you so busy!!!” Mulgrew - “Shocking, isn’t it, that he has a life…” “Don’t get all sarcastic with me, you figment of my imagination you.” Mulgrew - “You have self loathing issues, don’t you.” “…quick, let’s get to the review… before fictional Mulgrew talks me to death…” Mulgew - “I thought that was Shatner’s job.” “Quiet, you!!” Star Trek : Tactical Assault
The first thing you’ll notice once you get the game is that the game graphics is basically the same as Encounters, mostly because this is just Encounters for the handheld. On the plus side if you have already played Encounters then getting the hang of Tactical Assault should be no problem… almost, you do have to overcome the missing analog stick first. That and you’ll notice this is content wise seemingly only a 5th of what Encounters was, sticking entirely to the Star Trek (classic) universe. Let’s hope that in exchange for the lack of series content they made the Classic levels more robust and deeper than it was in Encounters… oh, I can’t help myself! Let’s peek at the booklet and see if there’s anyone in this game talking. (Peeks) Hmmm… Mulgrew - “You always peeked at your Christmas gifts before Christmas, didn’t you.” Shush, you. (And what’s wrong with that? Don‘t tell me you were actually a good girl and didn‘t peek…) Now… ACK!! (recoils in horror) SHAT… wait a sec. (stands up, musses hair, pulls out old style communicator, flips it open and looks angry) Mulgrew - “Don’t hurt yourself.” …. (I wish I didn’t have qualms over smacking you right now)… “SHATNER!!!” (silence) There, all done. Not the same impact as screaming “Khhhhaaaannnnn” but then I couldn’t since Ricardo Montalban isn’t doing the voiceover work in this game. (sits down again) Oh well, on another note since it looks like we’re spending more “quality time” with Mr. Shatner let’s hope the voice acting, if any, doesn’t suck like in Encounters at anyrate. Worst, let’s hope the voice acting isn’t a direct voice lift FROM Encounters because that’d also suck. I doubt it though since these missions sound completely different from Encounters so it should be a new voice track… hopefully… come on, Shatner can only be bored so many voiceover tapings so I’m guessing maybe he’ll sound like he gives a damn this time out on this game… maybe. Before we go further let’s see the lofty promises made by this game when you first pick it up. - “Realtime Star Trek tactics”
I guess that means this game is supposed to be the same realtime strategy as in Encounters.
Now that, I hope, holds true (and improves on Encounters) because for the lack of Trek in Encounters it did at least have a fresh innovative gamestyle that got the Trek games going in the right direction. That I do want to see fostered and encouraged if nothing else. - Two full Campaigns with branching missions
To improve on the fact that this game focuses only on Classic Trek they did two things.
One you have two dual campaign ladders you can climb. One being with the Federation (ala Encounters), and another with the Klingons (which wasn’t done in Encounters). This means you should have two storylines here, and not just the same storyline reworded for different campaigns (and different ships as enemies in said campaigns). Let’s hope that holds true. - Branching missions
From above. This should mean, if I read this right, that your actions will determine not only how a mission turns out but the direction the story takes. One result will send you, in theory, in one direction while the a different result will take you in a different direction. This is important as it should open the most interesting replay value points as playing the mission two or more ways should open two or more paths of exploration that should expand your journey into the Trek of this game. - Head to Head wireless multiplayer. Nice, but it’s still only 2 player combat here. Once again Bethesda has missed the boat on online multiplayer campaigns, that sucks. OK. Nuff about how the game is shaping up… let’s play it! Right off the bat you’ll find a completely different, and curiously satisfying game waiting for you. Throwing out the button mashing shooter feel of the original game, you’ll find a more strategy rich experience waiting for you with ships that act more like their actual counterparts (with phasers and photon torpedos that actually take time to recharge or ready, shields that need to be tended to and watched over, and tactics you need to work as your actual decisions will affect how gameplay rolls out). Of course the change does have it’s drawbacks as well as it’s benefits, because while this new system (including a commsystem which allows you to actually speak to those you run into the game) does offer some new innovations that makes you think through your actions you’ll also find it does remove a little from combat. You can’t just do it like in Encounters because your ship moves with less fluidity as it did in Encounters (not helped by the fact that your using the D-Pad instead of the analog stick for movement on a flat 2-D environment instead of the more 3dimensionalized environs of Encounters.
Also since you are not using the run and gun technique of Encounters anymore you can’t just fly about willy nilly blasting away as before. This time you’ll have to circle your enemy and continously shoot at them to weaken their shields until you can take them out. Of course if you can negotiate or somehow work a situation to your advantage (always try different tactics to find one that works the best for you) then that will work just as well. This is good as it is abit more tactical than just run and gun, but while you gained a better sensors and communications here you lose tractor beam and transporter ability (to load an away team to take over an enemy ship) of Encounters in exchange. Also you lose the exaggerated special abilities from Encounters (geared more for shooter combat over tactical simulation strategy) but that is a small thing in comparision to what you gained. Single player missions are split into Federation and Klingon, each featuring a brand new set of raw recruits fighting their way through the Federation/Klingon peace overtures which lead to Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country (or afterwards, I’m not sure which). This is an improvement over Encounters as it means you’ll have entirely new storylines to chew on, and not just kinda sorta maybe alsoran stories that kinda sorta tie into events in Trek TV/Movie history. That is nice, and considering the game is focused on the original Trek universe only that really makes the game’s storyline stand out.
Also unlike Encounters you’ll find the ship upgrades (through crew promotions) sounds like it works better, though once again I have to admit I sometimes question whether or not these upgrades are really sticking or not (though to the game’s defense I haven’t played this long enough to justify my misgivings about it). The failing of the game is a few, and it’s not enough to totally make you completely discount it from consideration, but still it’s important to note. Once again the Trek of this game is lacking. I think the only voice acting in this game is William Shatner’s intro and that’s it. Also once again any extras in this game have been ignored to focus entirely on gameplay.
Unlike Encounters the ships in this game move slowly, and are cumbersome to maneuver and you more often than not end up going in circles about your enemies shooting them than anything you might have done in Encounters, but you do at least put abit more strategy into the fight here than Encounters so at least that’s something in anycase. Also you have three full fleets of ships to eventually go through, but there is a real lack of ship creation for the Gorn and Orion pirates, and while the game does sport some NPC driven ships you don’t seem to have the option to unlock them for your own use from what I’ve seen so far of the game. Also why the lack of voice acting? I’ve seen PSP games with more voice acting than this, they could have standed to pay a VA staff to do this game couldn’t they? That and why is Shatner’s seemingly only part of this game the intro? Anti-climatic if it does really turn out to be that way, even if I complained about his acting in Encounters. Long story short while you are not bored to death by the Shatner’s voice acting here you do find that this game have it’s ups and downs in comparison to Encounters. Still at least it’s a step forward in the franchise though it is not perfect yet, and still requires more work to make it perfection. Keep working at it, Bethesda, keep working at it! The looming head of William Shatner comes on screen.
Shatner - Dull monotone voice acting “Well, that’s the review and we have a game that is neither a hit nor a miss, yet if you are tired of substandard (bleep) poor Trek on the handhelds this might be the game to consider for your Trek fixation.
X-Play gave this game a 3 out of 5, and in that regard I have to agree fully. And now…” (looks) “…aw damn, she got away. Hmm… whatever.” (shrugs) “In closing for a game company that is extremely proud of it’s Elder Scrolls franchise you’d think they’d actually give the same amount of effort to having 3rd Party developers crank out halfway decent Star Trek games as the effort put into Elder Scrolls games. Hopefully the next Trek game out (probably around the time of the rumored next Trek movie) improves on the pluses of these two games and makes a better Trek trap for fans of the franchise. If they don’t then…” Mulgrew - “Time’s up.” “Yeah, th-- WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COM…” Mulgrew - “Bathroom.” “What?! Where the he-- never mind.” (view of Voyager smashing into Shatner’s head, exploding) (Voyager passes by viewers) Reviewer’s Log. Stardate 122706.
Happy New Year. Due to the fact that there is a noticable lack of Trek games out this year on it’s 40th Anniversary (which is sad because if you tuned into the CBS Star Trek episodes you noticed Paramount went out and slapped a fresh coat of SFX on the show including brand new CGI for all the outer space/ship sequences which should really show when you watch episodes like The Doomsday Machine or Balance of Terror), and I don’t own a XBox360, let’s focus on the one game we can look at this holiday season. Star Trek : Tactical Assault for the PSP brings Trek for it’s first romp on the PSP by…. (blinks)… waitaminute, didn’t I do this already… (looks about)… uh, I’ve been reviewing Trek too much this year. I better leave while I’m still way behind… dammit. Episode closes and credit rolls Nuff said!
-- David Rasmussen 14th Jan 07
PSP Star Trek: Tactical Assault Images    
|
