'Legacy' Continues To Earn Mixed Reviews

Reviews for Star Trek: Legacy, the new game from Bethesda Softworks, continue to express disappointment with the game's frustrating controls, despite appreciation for the voice work by all five television captains and admiration for the ship design.

• iF Magazine gave the game a grade of D, with associate editor Peter Brown writing, "Unless you enjoy hand cramps and frustration, avoid this extremely disappointing title." Though he found the concept of uniting all five series to be a good one, he added that the pleasure ends with the summary and that the problems start as soon as the game loads, with controls that can't be adjusted and uncomfortable hand positions the only solution. And "if you are expecting tips or help with the controls from the manual, think again...it is a mere pamphlet that contains virtually nothing of help."

• The Associated Press reviewer is no more impressed. "'Star Trek: Legacy' boldly goes where no video game has gone before by including the actual voices of all five Star Fleet captains over the years — James T. Kirk to Jonathan Archer. Too bad all that talent wasn't put to better use," said Matt Slagle (via The San Antonio Express-News). He stated that game play "is cumbersome as you switch targets, adjust the speed of your impulse engines, beam away teams to derelict ships, redirect power to the deflectors or weapons systems, among other tasks. Did I mention you have to do all of this while steering around and trying to destroy the enemy?" Slagle was impressed by the selection of vessels, but not so much with their graphics.

• Gamers Corner in West Virginia's Herald-Dispatch was more impressed with Legacy, with reviewer Justin McElroy calling the game "beefy and satisfying, with a really enjoyable story. More to the point, there's nothing really like it out there right now." Like most reviewers, he had issues with some of the controls and the lack of save points in the middle of missions, but he enjoyed the voice acting from the five television captains and the strategy elements in fighting enemies.

• Tom Orry at Pro-G expressed frustration as a fan, writing, "It's been a while since we had a good Trek game and Legacy seemed to be combining stunningly beautiful space combat with a story spanning all five Star Trek eras. Add in voice work from the five captains, all the major enemies from the show's history, and there seemed little that could go wrong." However, he lamented, "it saddens me to say that Star Trek Legacy simply isn't as engaging as it should have been...at no stage did I ever feel like I was in full control - most of the time I felt I was simply along for the ride." He felt the vessels were well-designed but the game itself was "not likely to win over anyone who doesn't have an unhealthy obsession with all the ships featured in the game."

• Mygamer.com gives Legacy a grade of 7/10, with only a 5 for gameplay but 8s for graphics and sound. "Bethesda's latest Trek offering is pretty good, despite crippling PC control issues," concluded Matt Cook. "The ships of Legacy are certainly fun to look at, as are the host of planets, nebulae, asteroids and other eye candy," he wrote. "Control-wise, the PC version of Legacy is, unfortunately, completely broken right out of the box...the bright side, players that resist the urge to throw up their hands and return the game for a refund (like this reviewer would have done if I'd shelled out my hard-earned cash) will eventually be treated to a big, sprawling single-player campaign."

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