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Star Trek: D-A-C
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Graphics & Sound:
Star Trek: D-A-C is an odd game in that, it isn't very big, but it has a lot of potential to grow. What is in place is a fairly solid engine, and provided the promised downloadable content is abundant enough, it could grow to be a solid, product, but as is, there isn't a whole lot to write home about.
Visually, Star Trek: D-A-C does a fairly good job creating ships that look like the models seen in the latest Star Trek movie. Both Federation and Romulan ships look appropriate, even the types of ships that didn't actually appear in the film look like they fit the part. I was a little put off by the game's few locations, not the fact that there were only a couple (well, I was, but that isn't for this section), but unlike the ship models, there was nothing that said "Star Trek." They just felt like generic space locations.
There isn't a whole lot in the way of sound for this game. The background music gets the job done, but isn't really memorable, though it does have enough energy while in the games to keep you going. The sound effects, particularly phaser fire, sounds pretty generic and don't really add a lot to the overall experience. But again, both sound and music get the job done, they just don't stand out.
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Gameplay:
Star Trek: D-A-C is so named because of the three gameplay modes available. These modes are Deathmatch, Assault and Conquest.
Deathmatch is pretty straightforward: you select your ship type (fighter, bomber or flagship) and you go after your enemies. The side to reach a certain number of kills first wins, and each time you are destroyed, you are allowed to change ship-types. It's a simple mode that doesn't take a lot of work to get the hang of, and it is also a great place to get a feel for the different types of ships and their capabilities.
Both Assault and Conquest Modes put four rings on the map. Your job in both is to spend as much time in these rings as possible so that your side can claim it as their own. If the ring is controlled by the other side, then you need to stay in it long enough for their color to drain and then your color will start filling up. Once you've claimed the point, you can move on to try and grab the next one. In Assault Mode, one team has all but one ring, and they are defending them from the other player. The attacking player's team goes from ring to ring trying to turn over all of the points in a given time frame. Conquest Mode isn't that different. The only change is that the two middle rings start off unclaimed and both teams are trying to turn all four over to their side.
While all of these are designed for multiplayer, you can just as easily switch the game into Single Player mode where the game's A.I. controls the rest of the ships (both friend and foe).
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Difficulty:
When using Star Trek: D-A-C's Single Player mode and taking on the game's A.I., there isn't a whole lot of challenge. While I found myself working to win the matches in each mode, I consistently won. Even though the individual matches tended to drag out as I took a point, and then the enemies took a point and so on, there were very few times when the opposing A.I. actually beat me. And while I would say the friendly A.I.'s were a lot of help, they mostly just followed my lead. If I went to a particular point and tried to claim it, they all came to that point; if halfway through the point I left to go to a different one in hopes of claiming 2 points at the same time, they wouldn't just sit there to finish grabbing that location, they would follow me to the next one. At times, it felt like I was winning despite their help.
Now of course, that's all different when you throw in real players, and as you would expect, the difficulty of the game depends entirely on the others playing. If you have a solid team that communicates, then you should do well, but be wary of the real-world opponents as well. |
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Game Mechanics:
Aside from the choice of ship types, Star Trek: D-A-C also adds a variety of pickups during the fights, and these tend to add some nice dynamics to the overall game. There are two types of pickups, ones that add a special one-time-use ability to your ship, and ones that increase the effectiveness of your weapons. The first type can do anything from adding shields to your ship, to launching a torpedo at your enemies, to creating a double of your ship that will attack enemies and follow you around.
The other type is pretty simple: every two of these pickups you nab adds another level of force to your weapons. If it is the fighter, you get more phasers, the bomber gets more bombs to deploy and the flagship has bigger explosions when it fires. What is nice is that the game gives you a warning when your ship is about to explode. With the touch of a button, you jettison in your escape pod and fly around for a short time and try not to get destroyed. If you succeed, then when you go back to the ship-select screen, you will only have lost one weapons upgrade (as opposed to starting from scratch otherwise).
As it currently stands, Star Trek: D-A-C has a fairly nice core going for it, but not really a whole lot of content. If it wasn't for the game's somewhat reasonable price tag (800 MS Points), I would say to not even bother with this game until more DLCs become available. But even though the game feels like an XNA project, it is still enjoyable. If you are even considering buying this game, give the trial demo a download and put some hands-on time on it. |
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-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer |
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