The theatrical debut of J.J. Abrams' next Star Trek film is still more than a year away. Fortunately, gamers won't have to wait quite that long for their next chance to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Despite the stigma rightfully attached to most movie tie-in games, Digital Extremes' Star Trek is shaping up to be a fitting small screen counterpart to the big screen adventures of fan favorite characters Kirk and Spock. A new trailer and some lush concept art capably demonstrates why the game is one of the most anticipated releases of early 2013.
First revealed just before E3 2011 (and originally slated for a 2012 release before being pushed to 2013), Star Trek's emphasis on co-op play, and aesthetic faithfulness to Abrams' celebrated and successful cinematic reboot, quickly marked the game as a title to watch. It certainly doesn't hurt that high quality talent is involved all the way around. Developer Digital Extremes has always had a reputation for visual excellence, from their work on the very first Unreal right on through to more recent projects such as BioShock 2 and The Darkness II. Also on board for the Star Trek game is God of War scribe Marianne Krawczyk, who is working with frequent Abrams collaborators Bob Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.
[gallery columns="2" exclude="144022"]
As with the new film, specific plot details on the game are still being kept under wraps -- all we know is that "Kirk and Spock must work together to stop a legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy," according to Digital Extremes' website. The game is set after the events of the last film, and tells a self-contained, stand-alone story -- not unlike the approach Beenox is taking with The Amazing Spider-Man. That said, it wouldn't be too surprising if Abrams manged to insert some sly references to the next film -- remember the interactive Super 8 trailer hidden in Portal 2? Better keep an eye out for Spock's "Volcano Suit."
The new Star Trek trailer may be brief, clocking in at just one minute, but what a minute! Check it out below.
[HTML1]
Based strictly on the footage above, the gameplay in Star Trek looks to be more Uncharted than Mass Effect. Publisher Namco Bandai is keen to stress the importance of co-op to the game -- the latest press release labels Star Trek as "the most fully realized and varied co-op experience of this console generation" -- though not much of it is in evidence during the trailer. Kirk and Spock are described as having "vastly different gameplay styles and unique character abilities," which will no doubt be made clearer as we get closer to the game's release.
Star Trek's emphasis on co-op begs another question: how will the single-player campaign be handled? Will the game control your partner in single player, or will there be unique campaigns for Kirk and Spock? Again, time will tell.
Ranters, what do you think of this new Star Trek footage? Will the game break the movie tie-in curse? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Star Trek is slated to release in early 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
-
Follow me on Twitter @HakenGaken