Playstation 2 - Star Trek: Shattered Universe

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
TDK Mediactive
Developer
Starsphere Interactive, Inc.
Country of origin
US
Genre
Shooter

Star Trek : Shattered Universe

By David Rasmussen
20th Oct 04

Ah. The Trouble with Trek Games.
So what is the trouble with Trek Games?
There are several things wrong with Trek games but let's look at the trouble with the series in general first.

Despite what Mr. Paniccia over at TOKYOPOP says? Trek is not having a good decade.
(And yes, I will EVENTUALLY talk about the game... after I fill in some background before we begin.)

Star Trek : The Movies
Let's face it. The movie franchise just hasn't been good since Star Trek : First Contact (which seems to be the only Next Generation movie that people liked). Not many people liked Generations, Insurrection was instantly forgettable (since the enemies of the movie was a race of plastic surgery obsessed aliens), and Nemesis was a poor excuse for a "finale" to the floundering Next Generation movie franchise.

Yeah. The movies just haven't been in it's happy place since the original cast stopped making movies.
The second "phase" of movies haven't done very well, as you can see, with only about a 25% success ratio compared to the Classic Trek movies whose only really severe stumbling blocks were Star Trek : The Motion Picture (sometimes referred to by critics as Star Trek : The Motionless Picture) and the abysmal Star Trek V : The Final Frontier.

How abysmal was it? Rumor has it Gene Roddenberry "disowned" this movie from Star Trek lore/history before he passed away, which is noted in the official Star Trek "timeline" resource book.

Still, even if this movie rubbed Mr. Roddenberry the wrong way, you have to consider the circumstances that was going on as this movie went into production. First off we have the writer's strike which was in full swing when this movie was being made.

Second we have the fact that the major SFX studio that usually does Trek SFX was busy doing another movie when this movie was put into production, which forced Paramount to hire a relative newcomer to the business to do the SFX for the movie... which is why the SFX looks relatively cheaply done throughout the movie. Add to that a newblood director (Mr. Shatner) who also helped with the writing chores and a budget that didn't allow for much room in terms of creativity and you have the disaster that is "Final Frontier".

Little known fact about V : Originally the movie was going to have a more Heaven/Hell religious slant but that was lost during rewrites. This original concept was best visualized by a major battle between good and evil near the end, but due to budget constraints that had to be scrapped. Even plans to do a "Excaliban" style battle against giant rock creatures (probably similar to the Excalibans from the old TV Series) had to be scrapped due to budget constraints.

Oh. And the planet at the end of this movie? The one that apparently William Shatner and everyone else working on this movie forgot was already seen in an episode of the Star Trek Animated Series as a Salem witch trial era colonial planet? It was named after Sean Connery, the person they originally wanted to play Sybok (Spock's "brother") in this movie.

(They DID release a Star Trek V Special Edition DVD recently... though I haven't seen it yet so I can't say if it reveals all this information.)

Then there‘s the fact that some people seem to think there's some jinx in concerns to the odd numbered Star Trek movies. Guess it makes sense since the odd numbered movies just wasn't up to snuff.

Oh. Jinx. Briefly I'll touch on that in regards to the first six movies (Original Trek movies).
Oh-kay. If you are a highly suspicious Trek fan then you would have noted the following things as a sign that you are in a bad Trek movie... no, I'm not making this up.

Jinx Number 1 - It's an odd numbered movie. Eck. That's no good already. Apparently ST:TMP, STV, ST:Generations & ST:Insurrection didn't do anything to dissuade people of that notion of odd numbered movies being evil.

However, in all honesty on my part, Star Trek III : The Search for Spock is the best of the three "odd" numbered movies... especially in comparison to Star Trek : Generations & Star Trek : Insurrection.

But does this odd numbered "jinx" make sense? Guess it does since the only good Next Generation Trek movie happens to be Star Trek : First Contact which happens to be movie #8, which holds to the evens are good notion... of course it doesn't help that theory that the cycle was broken when they released Star Trek : Nemesis (movie #10) but still...

Jinx Number 2 - Here you go. A downright morbid "jinx" to consider.
Scotty did not have a "weave out", so the movie must be bad.

Uh... yeah, it's kind of morbid to think James Doohan needs to have medical problems to secure a good Trek but... well... he DID have problems during the filming of II and IV and they were good so... yeah, like I said it's if you're the suspicious type.

Oh, yeah. They even work these into the movie. How so? Pay attention to the dialogue.
In II he talks about it as a "weave out" when he speaks to Kirk after he arrives on the Enterprise (first 30 minutes of the movie).
In IV he talks about it when referring to the Klingon food just before they leave Vulcan (again in the first 30 minutes of the movie).

Jinx Number 3 - Uhura didn't take the time to dye her hair... which she didn't do for Trek III and V.
Come to think of it she didn't dye her hair for Star Trek VI too but people seem to be a little forgiving on that since it's the last movie of the original cast.

Jinx Number 4 - They stick to what makes Trek good and don‘t mess with the formula too much.
In II it's action as Kirk takes on Khan in a dark rematch, and in IV it's a fun movie as they go back to the past (time travel) to find humpback whales.

Oh, and while it's not a jinx it is a failing... have fun WITH the cast, not make fun of the cast (which was a failing of Star Trek V).

As for the future of Trek movies? Star Trek XI is pretty much on hold while they figure out how to do it, let alone figure out if they have to "inherit" the franchise to another series so soon! If you remember Nemesis is supposed to be the swan song for The Next Generation (apparently with Voyager taking over since Captain Janeway cameo'd in the movie). But early reports has Brent Spiner (Data) in XI, along with plans to have Next Generation, Voyager and DS9 cast in the next movie... if they ever make it.

Yeah. Looks like the Trek movies have seen better days... far better days.

Star Trek the Comic Books
Speaking of things that have seen better days? Trek's presence in comic shops have seen better days.
Sure, yes, TOKYOPOP has now entered the comic (manga) fray with their Trek title. But it's been forever since the two major powers that did Trek titles (DC Comics being the king of the Trek comic, followed by Marvel Comics) has even thought of touching the franchise, much less do anything with it.

There just doesn't seem to be much interest, and I don't see that changing unless there's a sudden surge with TOKYOPOP's Trek manga... but since they're catering to Next Generation fans with their title, and that isn't doing so well with so many bad movies, I somehow have my concerns about that surge coming in.

Maybe I'm wrong but I still need more proof that a title that is mostly about the Picard and company will do better over a well balanced title touching into all aspects of the Trek universe. Maybe a review or two will change my mind about that... maybe.

Star Trek the TV Series
That would be Enterprise, the only "show" in town Trek-wise.
It started off slow, had lots of bad episodes, and most of it's present magazine press seems to revolve around that woman who plays the Vulcan first officer and how well she looks nearly naked.

Yeah. That isn't a good thing is it. No, no it isn't... unless you're a major fan of said female Vulcan first officer then you LOVE the "press" this show gets.

Add to that the fact they had to completely change directions in terms of plot, bring in new "villains", and overhaul the whole thing to keep from being pulled off the air? My confidence in this show isn't high.

At least they managed to avoid the "Ax" by adapting, which is something DC should have learned before they lost Birds of Prey to it's inflexible unappealing format.

And finally, the point of this review... Star Trek the Video Games
They are few, and not very original. Most of them are, in fact, terrible.

Ever see a Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Arc the Lad or Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic style deep intense RPG style Trek game that stretched the franchise to it's limits and really got people hyped about playing Trek? No? Me neither... I wish I did though.

Sadly the "world" of Trek games... if you can call it a "world"... has been rather limited and uninspired.
Yes, there are RPG style Trek games... but they are bland and uninteresting.
The worst being the Next Generation "RPG" they did for the SNES which was rather boring.

There was one "good" one from what I heard. A point & click old Classic Trek game for the PC which supposedly had all the humor of the classic series... which, if I'm lucky, will one day be ported to the GBA by Paramount... if I'm lucky.

Next we have the rampant (way too many) shooters like Star Trek Voyager : Elite Forces (and it's disappointing sequel that, despite the series' history of pushing the limits, had a romantic option in the game but removed the possible lesbian option by not allowing you to pick a female character to play as) which is nice... but I think I've seen this kind of playing before... oh, wait, I have. Basic shooter.

Of course we also have the shooters that are more eye candy than intense game... of which the seldom spoken of PC Trek game Star Trek : Borg (if I remember the title right) is.
Pure eye candy featuring John DeLancie (Q) as the big gun talent starring in this game where you play a Federation officer chosen by Q to be the focus of his "generosity" as he "helps" you along in a battle against the Borg... yeah. I only seen this once and nobody talked about it again. Pity. Of all the Trek games I wish was ported to the PS2 this happens to be the one I wanted ported the most, if only because it's excessively pretty eye candy visually speaking.

Then we have this game which looks like X-Wing... if X-Wing was crappy.

The Plot
Can't even go on a rescue mission into some nebula which resemble a giant spinning tornado without something going wrong. In this case the "rescue" in question is being pulled off by the USS Excelsior (Sulu) and the one being rescued is the USS Enterprise (Chekov).

Too bad Excelsior burns itself out on the rush to the rescue and falls "dead" inside the nebula which somehow triggers an event which sends Excelsior to the mirror universe where Chekov (in a fully functional Enterprise) is waiting with ill intent and murder on his mind.

Looks like your counterpart has treason on his mind and Chekov is out to ax him... I mean you.
You? Nameless pilot who does all the dirty work. And there'll be lots of that as you fight your way out of Imperial space, into and through Klingon and Romulan space (making allies as you go) and finally into Tholian space where the counterpart of the vortex you rode through to get here awaits you for that return trip back to where you came from.

Along the way, besides fighting Empire forces, Klingons, Romulans, Orion pirates and Tholians you'll also have to fight a few classic enemies from the TV Series.

In Imperial space you'll fight an old M5 unit and the four old Constellation class vessels it controls (hint - it's the four vessels the original M5 tried to destroy in the classic Trek episode it appeared in).

In Klingon space you'll fight the Doomsday Machine (aka the Giant Frosty Waffle Cone of Death).

In Romulan space you'll fight the giant single celled amoeba... only without the dramatic music and overtly dramatic entrance... (thinks) ... you remember that. (dramatic music)... uh... sorry, never mind. Let's not relive that... (for good measure throws himself about room in dramatic manner).
Ok. I'm over that now.

Finally you'll have to fight yourself -- sort of. And there's an appearance by Balok (First Federation)... which sums up the really hard missions (with Mirror Mirror (final mission) being the hardest).

That's the good points. Here's the bad points.
Set up like a giant "episode" of Star Trek, it has 17 "sub-episodes" which (strung together) form one giant "episode" story. Basically it plays a little like X-Wing (Star Wars).

Of course just because it's a X-Wing style ship shooter doesn't mean the controls are as good.
In fact they're nowhere near as good.

Not to mention the sad fact that the "missions" are dreadfully limited in terms of scope and variety.
Fight your way through enemies.
Collect resources or move from point to point.
Rescue mission in which you shouldn't kill EVERYTHING, but only so much.
Protect the Excelsior and keep it from blowing up.

The game lacks depth and variety of which Star Wars shooters have plenty of.

When it comes to the ship itself there are lots of flaws to point out.
Mind you there are quite a few fighters to pick from. Three Imperial, an Orion fighter, a Klingon fighter (which is just a Bird of Prey in fighter class size), and a Romulan Fighter -- but not much variety in weapons. They shoot, fire torpedoes, cloak (Romulan only)... oh, cloaking is useless so forget about it.
The flaws are in the "way" you play the fighters.

First off there is no "lock-on" feature though the homing torpedoes do have the ability to "lock-on" to targets... too well as a matter of fact. You go crazy pounding away with homing torpedoes (because they're easy to shoot and immediately lock in) you'll be in trouble because your sensors have a tendency to lock onto both friend and foe equally... which means you'll end up pummeling your own side by accident if you have an itchy trigger finger and no patience.

Your weapons seem to be kind of bad. So bad in fact that you need to be practically point blank range to have any effect on the large capital ships you need to take out... and you'll need to take out quite a few before this is over. Good thing there's an invulnerability cheat to use... (find it at GameFaq).

Fighters are a hassle, but not impossible... they'd be less of a hassle if you had a proper lock-on feature that would help you mop them up faster. Let's just say you shouldn't play this half asleep since you'll begin to feel a lot like the A-Team... no, not that you've been drafted into an elite rogue military unit that helps people... I mean in the sense that you'll be shooting like crazy yet it seems your hitting nothing... being half unconscious and having to manually aim at everything is not a good combination.

Another bad thing is that it's too bad there's no cheat to keep Excelsior intact because half your jobs revolve around protecting the Excelsior, which is made worse when you have to (in several missions) undertake a long hectic list of attacks, seek/destroy and seek/gather missions only to end up fighting a large Capital vessel (most likely Orion pirates) after already having to wade through a lot of fighting to get this far (which is a hassle and a half since Excelsior is probably already burning and halfway to being destroyed when the Orion capital shows up and throws out fighters which are hard to take down which is a pain).

Doesn't help that you end up having to do missions over and over again if you die during the mission!
Think Sulu has it out for you considering the kind of things you have to go through? Seems like it.

Speaking of Sulu I remember a review from Adam Sassler (X-Play) referring to his dialogue in this game as "endless infernal dialogue from George Takei"... which is the truth.
It goes on... and on... and on... from level, to level, to level, to level... long dialogue, long briefing dialogue, long long long long long... you get the point.

Mind you it's not a horrible as the downright sedated dialogue that David Duchovny delivers in XIII, but at least that game had Adam West to pull the acting weight... this game doesn't have that.
In fact it's a four man show. George Takei (Sulu), Walter Koenig (Chekov) and two guys who does the voices of every Imperial, Romulan, Klingon, Tholian and whoever else they needed a voice for!
So they couldn't have belted out a few more dollars for an extra voice or two, eh.

As for the second big voice of the four? In comparison to George Takei's endless cut scene monologues we have the very short useage of Walter Koenig's Chekov, who doesn't have very much to do in comparison to Takei. Then again considering several years ago Takei was bragging about how Star Trek : Excelsior would inherit the Trek TV legacy (before Enterprise took that spot he wanted) I guess it makes sense he would want to be in the center stage in this game... since he originally wanted a TV Series of his own. Oh, and he sometimes refers to Star Trek VI as the movie "Sulu saves Captain Kirk"... right.

Oh. And the final straw.
Somehow I don't see you finishing this game without either lots of practice... or those cheat codes.
Several levels are downright impossible even on easier levels and take lots of work to beat.
The worst being the Balok level (halfway through the game) and "Mirror, Mirror" (the final battle).

Hint - In the Balok's War level once you destroy the cubicle "probes" take a position over the Excelsior and shoot everything that comes at you. As long as you keep circling over the Excelsior (gunning away at all that comes at you) you should have a good chance of getting through this. I recommend the Imperial Phantom (last of the imperial fighters you pick up) for this one.

The Phantom is also good for Mirror Mirror since it has homing torpedoes and good cannons. Don't waste time chasing down enemies here because there'll be way too many and you'll be overwhelmed. Just pound away with torpedoes and switch from enemy to enemy quickly (shooting as you go as long as you have a clear shot) to knock down as many as you can quickly.

Don't "accidentally" shoot the Excelsior! The hammering it'll take will be so intense that you'll hasten it's destruction this way (even if you do it right Excelsior will be a few seconds away from destruction when the level ends so no shooting at it)!
So mind "friendly" fire and try to take out every fighter wing as quickly as possible.
Also don't bother chasing after the counterpart Excelsior because no amount of damage will divert fighters from their missions, and destroying the enemy Excelsior is not allowed anyway.

And get ready for a LONG fight! Because it'll take 10 minutes for the thing to prime (that set things right and brings you back to your own "universe"), then another 2 minutes to explode... and yes, all the way you'll be cursing everything and everyone screaming for the damn thing to blow already.

Ok. Nuff said. Let's break this down already since I've already ranted you into a deep coma at this point.

Star Trek : Shattered Universe Breakdown
What's Hot?
Well Trek WAS hot. But considering there isn't ONE Trek game I can recommend to you as hot? I just don't see how anything Trek is hot. Even with the voice acting of the original actors? It's not enough to save this from badly conceived controls, fighters with lacking extras like a "lock-on" system and better weapons (even upgraded they're not that good), and a story that isn't that great.

If you are a die hard Trekkie, however, you might forgive the game most it's flaws because it's been forever since a Classic Trek game came out and you'll play it just because of that fact.

If you are NOT a die hard Trekkie? You'll have a hard time forgiving this game of it's flaws long enough to enjoy playing it. In fact you might regret playing this if you consider it's flaws.

What's Not?
For a game with such great promise (a return trip to the Mirror Mirror universe) it doesn't deliver.
I wish there was some really interesting fights... for instance I wish they brought in Ricardo Montalban and had him reprise his role as Khan for a level because that would have been a cool fight!
Maybe a change of pace with some planetside battles (instead of endlessly boring space battles) and some conflicts with maybe Vaal, or Apollo, or some other cool ground based enemies.

Finally having a REASON why we went through all this would have been nice.
The Excaliban, Q, something! The fact we never really had a good reason why we went through everything we did in this game is yet another reason why I'm down on it.

For a game with great premise I wish I had better motivation to play other than the desire to go "home" (with accidental "side-quests" that end up helping people, which in turn helps you in the end).

Moments to Remember?
Yeah. You know the only memorable thing about this game is all the Classic Trek-isms.
George Takei and Walter Koenig doing voiceovers.
Koenig (in his one intro sequence to a level) bringing up "Old Russian Proverbs" which is a trademark of his character... along with his screaming except he doesn't scream in this game much.
All those "cameos". The M5, the Doomsday Machine, Balok, the amoeba, etc.
It's not much, but at least it's something to remember this game by.

What to Ignore?
The game's neatest trick also contains the game's most severe flaw.
Now if you blow up a Capital vessel it creates a blast radius that vaporizes everything in a certain range.
This is why you need to backpedal and get out of range before a ship blows because it can kill you if your too close to the blast. But if you do it right it can work wonders for you. Take the M5 battle for instance.
In this battle (after you destroy the USS Hood) the other three ships will begin circling the Excelsior shooting at it in a three tier pattern (top and bottom circling clockwise and middle circling counterclockwise... or is that the other way around)... and if you destroy the center ship as they all draw close you can trigger a chain reaction that blows all three up.

Glitch is that if you do this there's a chance the M5 will still be "talking" even if all four ships are gone.
Strange to be fighting the Orion Pirates that show up to harass you and have the M5 still talking to you.
Ignore it.

Overall?
For all the "promise" this game has it could have done much better.
Better ship mechanics and functions. Better weapons. Better gameplay. Just better overall.
Too bad it doesn't live up to expectations, especially if you had high expectations due to it being Classic Trek, because you'll be kind of disappointed with this one.

Maybe the next Trek game will do better. Maybe.
Not holding my breath though. I have no faith in the next game.

-- David Rasmussen 20th Oct 04

Playstation 2 Star Trek: Shattered Universe Images