Star Trek: Shattered Universe

"These are the voyages of the Starship Excelsior"

Star Trek: Shattered Universe is just one of those games that can be a hit with people, or a major flop. From a Trekie perspective this game is a dream boat, with many references to the Original Star Trek Series and Star Trek the Motion Picture. For those who like flight games it is a pretty decent flight game, I do enjoy it better than Star Trek: Invasion which is the other Star Trek flight game involving fighters. Now for the sections.

Controls:
The controls on this game are very simple, and easy to get along with. Your fighter handles pretty good with one major exception. When your craft is hit your knocked off your current course and left who knows where, also during this time it's easy to get hit by more than one attacker, however this same fact can be exploited against enemy fighters, and you will use many times in defense of the Excelsior.

Music:
I must admit I do not like the soundtrack of this game. The sound effects are great but the music will leave you wanting. Though most of time you'll be so engrossed in what your doing you won't notice it, the soundtrack does not generate the mood some of the missions need. In my personal opinion i think it would of been nice for them to at least use part of the original score to help the game out.

Voice Acting:
The voice acting is great and matches the movement of the characters. It was nice to hear the original voices of Sulu and Chekov along with your non-important characters.

Graphics:
Pros - They are way better than Star Trek Invasion and many first generation Playstation 2 games.

Cons - The graphics are not as good as many of the other Playstation 2 games that are out today.

The cute scenes of the Starships and the in-game graphics are just perfectly fine. The character graphics however are pretty horrible compared to most games. Yet once again they are still better than Invasion.

Difficulty:
This game has four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Kobyashi Maru. I beat the game in two days one Easy, while I have heard others complain that even on Easy it was difficult. Yes, there are some stages that will give you trouble and you will have to try some stages quite a few times, but it's not to bad. Normal and Hard Difficulties are pretty doable and nothing to scary for a experienced flight person. Kobyashi Maru however is a real test of your skills. In KM mode your shields will not regenerate so in about six hits your dead in some stages it's not a problem, but I would almost pay money to see someone beat the last stage in KM mode.

Plot:
You are a shuttle turned fighter pilot aboard the USS Excelsior. Your ship was on a rescue mission to save the USS Ranger and Enterprise when it was transported to a Mirror Universe. As a fighter pilot on the ISS Excelsior it your mission to defend the ship as you fight your way back home. You will face many familiar creatures and make many enemies and a few allies on your quest home.

Overall this is a very solid game. I believe it is better than Star Trek Invasion, yet it is not as good as Star Wars: Tie-Fighter. For a Trekie they will un-doubtably enjoy all the extras goodies in it. For someone who is just playing it for fun, I believe they will also enjoy it. As for the music, put in some Pillar or Linkin Park and it makes things go by faster.

Final Rating: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04