Imagine being put at the helm of a gargantuan Federation ship, zooming from base to base, relying on your allies as you gun down a Romulan fleet before laying siege to their luminescent base. Sounds fun, right? Well, Star Trek D-A-C didn’t get the memo, or at least it didn’t get the budget to pull “fun” off. D-A-C stands for Deathmatch, Assault, and Conquest, the three main modes. And if that name seems weak, just try playing this unimpressive game.
The fighting should feel familiar to anyone who’s ever played a top-down shooter. Ships fire lasers, shields lower, and eventually ships explode. As always, floating orbs serve as your ship upgrades. The modes, too, are simple enough. You can attack your enemies, attack their bases, or capture those bases, King of the Hill–style. There’s almost too much simplicity--is one creative idea, weapon, or mode too much to ask, even for the bargain price of $10?
I'm giving her all she's got, Captain.
The gameplay fares little better. At the beginning of each match, you choose one of five ships to fly, but the only difference between the Federation and Romulan ships is their colors and shapes--the fleets boil down to virtuous round blue ships and malevolent spiky green ships. The aesthetic is fairly attractive, and the ships look like Matchbox Cars as they zip across the semi-realistic skies. The music comes straight from last summer’s blockbuster and booms an ironically dramatic orchestra over the laser pings of tiny, implausible ships.
Okay, that’s probably sounding a bit better, but hang on. Although the ships are distinguished by ratings of their health, firepower, and speed, every ship controls equally terribly regardless of speed, and some of the faster ships are actually too fast to control accurately. For that reason, certain large, slow ships have an advantage.
But even those feel more like they’re slipping through space than conquering it, and the laggy controls make complex fighting tactics nearly impossible. Worse, your semi-opaque targeting reticule gets lost in the midst of frantic dogfights, so you’ll find yourself shooting in the wrong direction more often than not.
Fun can be had with Star Trek D-A-C, but only small doses of it--for instance, capturing objectives with a fully decked-out Romulan Centurion is briefly gratifying. Unfortunately, it all feels so imprecise and tacked on that even steadfast Trekkies will surely find a better way to feed their fandom.
Star Trek D-A-C
COMPANY: Paramount Digital Entertainment
CONTACT: www.gametreeonline.com
PRICE: $9.99
REQUIREMENTS: Intel Core Duo processor; Mac OS 10.5.8 or later; 2GB RAM; ATI X1600, Nvidia 8600 GT, or better video card, 450MB disk space. Intel integrated graphics
not supported.
Cheap! Elaborate backgrounds. Simple enough to be straightforward. Music straight from last year’s movie. ESRB rating: Everyone.
Difficult controls. By-the-numbers gameplay. No strategy whatsoever. Just not that fun.
