Star Trek D-A-C Review

Just when it seemed the Star Trek franchise was dead, J.J. Abrams came along and revived it with a movie that could almost be described as anti-Star Trek. Great, yes, but certainly far removed from the thinking man's Trek of the past few decades. So maybe it makes sense that the videogame based off the film would also be very different from past Trek offerings. Star Trek D-A-C (that's Deathmatch, Assault, and Conquest) is a fast-paced top-down shooter. Top-down space combat games aren't new for Star Trek, but in the past they focused heavily on strategy. This latest is more popcorn fare -- fun, but lacking depth.

Star Trek D-A-C was released on Xbox Live Arcade way back in May around the same time the new movie was released. That version received a 6.1 from IGN: there was some light multiplayer fun to be had but the lack of any single-player experience really hurt it. Publisher Paramount and developer Naked Sky listened to feedback from critics and players and, thankfully, made some nice additions for the PlayStation Network and PC release. The biggest bonus is definitely the new Survival mode, which is an arcade challenge for one player with similarities to Geometry Wars. This, in addition to a few other tweaks, makes Star Trek D-A-C much easier to recommend, although it's still not a great game.

Survival sends wave after wave of enemy ships at you and your sole goal is to last as long as you can with three lives. Like many arcade games, you can earn extra lives by reaching score milestones. Unlike other modes in Star Trek D-A-C, here you don't get an escape pod and you don't get to switch ships when you die. Since ships have different controls and weapons the Survival leaderboards will be divided by vessels. Like Geometry Wars there are score multipliers floating around in space you'll want to pick up. A couple new Romulan ships are seen exclusively in this mode: ramming drones and pirates.

There are three multiplayer skirmish modes offered (those in the title) and a choice of five ship classes. Originally players could pilot a fighter, bomber, or flagship, but here two new vessels have been added: the missile cruiser and the support frigate. The missile cruiser is a slow, medium-sized ship with a long range. It is the only vessel that can fire off screen. The support frigate is more of a defensive ship that can heal friendlies. These new crafts are available for both the Federation and the Romulans.

Each ship has its own stats for speed, durability and firepower, and each has its own main weapon. Don't stress about which to choose, because once you die (and you will die) you can select a different class of ship. Littered across the universe are weapon upgrades which increase the power of your ship's guns. Grabbing these is a major key to taking out your enemies. Also cluttering space is a variety of power-ups including a cloaking device, a short-range smart bomb and the homing torpedoes.

You play either as the Federation or the Romulans but aside from the look of their ships each plays nearly identically. In the first release both sides had the same power-ups, but now three new ones have been added -- two for the Romulans and one for the Federation. This helps, but it would still be nice to see more differences between the two sides, even if it were just in the statistics of the ships. The side you choose should have more meaning.