Star Trek Shattered Universe is yet another game based upon the popular tv series and movies. THQ have designed a game similar to Star Wars Rogue Squadron. This means that players get to pilot a number of Star Trek space craft while fighting the hoards of evil in this tale of two alternate universes coming together.

The story follows the path of Commander Sulu (one of the original members of the Star Trek crew from the TV show) as he is in charge of the star ship USS Excelsior. The ship and its crew are trapped in another dimension with seemingly no hope of returning. However it transpires that in this alternate universe the Federation are in fact oppressive rulers of the galaxy as opposed to the peaceful explorers that they should be. As if from an episode of the TV series it is up to Sulu and his crew to find a way to return to their own dimension.

Gameplay:

Star Trek Shattered Universe is a space shooter at heart whereby the player undertakes various missions in a number of different space craft. These missions range from the typical shoot everything that moves to protecting the Excelsior from attack. Basically you get to shoot spaceships until your hearts content.

Combat is relatively easy as you pilot your craft and lock onto any nearby targets. Enemy data is displayed as you lock on giving information about the enemy’s shield status and overall damage. Players basically lock on, shoot, destroy and then repeat for the next enemy ship and so on. While this all sounds simple enough, which it is things get a little trickier as the player must often focus on destroying enemy craft as well as protecting the Excelsior. This can often be quite frustrating as the Excelsior seems to be pretty much a sitting duck most of the time so careful planning of which targets to take out first is required. This formula is pretty much standard for this type of game with no new directions being explored here. Other objectives are thrown in on the fly so when you may think you have completed a stage “another wave of enemy fighters” needs to be taken care of. Bonuses are awarded to players who managed to beat the levels in a set time, these include upgrades in weapons and shields for the various craft.

Graphics:

Graphically Star Trek is pretty disappointing and looks no where near as good as Rogue Squadron on the Gamecube. In fact it all looks rather dull and uninspiring. The movie scenes are reasonable yet overall the entire game lacks polish. Once again this is not really acceptable as Xbox has proven to be more than capable of so so much more. It’s a shame that Star Trek does not push the boundaries at all here.

Sound:

Sound is of reasonable quality and drives the player forward with some well acted cut scenes using the original cast to voice the lead characters. Other sounds are typical lasers and explosion sounds as well as the in game orders and banter via your radio. Music is pretty standard dramatic battle music as you destroy wave after wave of enemy craft. However the music rarely captures the player due to the lacklustre efforts placed in the other areas of the game.

Longevity:

The game has been released as a budget title and so would seemingly be great value for your money. There are a number of missions to wade through and three levels of difficulty to mess around with. Beyond completion of the game I doubt any player would want to play through a 2nd or 3rd time and with no multiplayer support Star Trek won’t keep your interest for long.

Overall:

As a budget title you may find yourself asking if this title is good value because of its price, personally I would say “no it isn’t”. Lowering the price of this game points towards a poorly realised game rather than value for money in this reviewers opinion.