Good and Bad News For Trek Gaming Fans

Fans who have been waiting impatiently for Star Trek: Legacy will have to wait a bit longer, Bethesda Softworks has announced.

Gamespot contacted the publisher of the upcoming PC and Xbox 360 game after learning that online retailers were listing November 21st as the planned release date. Bethesday had previously announced November 7th as the shipping date for Legacy, which features the voices of all five major Star Trek captains.

A report on the Star Trek message board at Bethesda claimed that the company had said quality assurance was the reason for the delay of the game, which is expected to sell for $59.99 for Xbox 360 and $39.99 for PC.

Meanwhile, GameZone has a review of another upcoming Bethesda title, Star Trek: Tactical Assault, which very favorably greets the handheld game. Reviewer Steven Hopper played a preview build rather than the finished game, but even in this incomplete state, he wrote, "Star Trek: Tactical Assault is shaping up to be a PSP game that fans of the Star Trek universe would be proud to play."

Hopper praised the game's battle strategies and stats system, explaining that ships can be strengthened by developing and promoting crewmembers as well as adding new weapons and defenses. "Graphically, Star Trek: Tactical Assault looks great. The ships are nicely rendered," he added. "Fans of the Star Trek universe or smart sims in general should definitely give this one a look when it’s released in November."

Unfortunately, IGN's Juan Castro isn't nearly as impressed with this fall's final release from Bethesda Softworks, Star Trek: Encounters. "It has the same intrinsic faults that have plagued a majority of older Trek games. Making matters worse, it has its own unique set of problems that shouldn't appear in any game," he wrote.

Castro said that while he likes the idea of playing through the Star Trek timeline, the linear setup and third-person action restrict a gamer's level of involvement in scenarios of interest. Worse, the ships don't handle like Starfleet vessels: "It feels much closer to playing a videogame about radio-controlled cars, only with a Star Trek skin."

Given that the game costs only $20 and has multiplayer functionality, this may not stop Star Trek fans from playing the game, as Castro acknowledges: "Encounters won't shatter the bank account."

Finally, in what is certainly good news for Star Trek fans outside of North America, WorthPaying and Aussie-Nintendo.com are reporting that Ubisoft will bring the games to Europe and Australia-New Zealand respectively in December.

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