Game Reviews

Star Trek

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Star Trek
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| Star Trek

Star Trek is dangerous territory. In many ways, interfacing with the Trekkie cult is easy - stick to the established canon and you’re safe. Mess about with it, though, and the fans will attack like a pack of drunken Norsicans.

The new movie is going down a treat because it delivers the adventures of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and crew in a traditional, almost unadorned manner. Star Trek iPhone doesn't bother to get embroiled in the plot of the film, however, opting for a classic shump with little in the way of plot.

It draws from the original series, but it also embraces the style of shooter that sprang up after Space Invaders - simple, steady, but somehow action-packed and very arcade-centric.

It’s easy to want more than a side-scrolling shooter, although it's not a bad thing that EA Mobile has cut to the Star Trek chase and provided a game where you simply fly the Enterprise and shoot aliens indiscriminately.

The game puts you at the helm of the USS Enterprise from a top-down view. Using the touchscreen, accelerometer, or virtual joystick you pilot the vessel through the deepest reaches of the Alpha Quadrant. The ship moves at a fairly steady pace, which helps immensely with the controls as it adds an extra layer of accuracy that allows you to pilot carefully between asteroids and enemy fire.

You can manually fire weapons, though setting auto-fire is advised. The photon torpedoes are slow but powerful, while the phasers track their targets independently of the ship’s trajectory. A tractor beam even shoots out to collect up the energy, crew and extra weapons left behind when you blow up a Klingon Bird of Prey.

By completing secondary objectives you can earn stars to power-up the Enterprise. These stars enable you to increase shield power, torpedoes, phasers, and tractor beam.

In many ways, the flaws in Star Trek could also be seen as strengths. There’s nothing clever, revealing or deep about this game, and a lot of players might balk at its inherent minimalism, but adjust your expectations to avoid grand notions of role-playing or strategy and you can find this simple shooter entertaining enough.

Star Trek doesn't go boldly where other shooters haven't gone before, though it does deliver a satisfying throwback to the classic shumps of old.

Star Trek

The top-down action of Star Trek will draw you in like a tractor beam, though mainly because of the name and not by virtue of its classic shump gameplay
Score
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.