The Star Trek movie was released in the theaters earlier this summer to quite the accolade. People were generally impressed with the modern reimagining of the classic franchise. Of course with any summer movie comes the game tie-in, and that game is Star Trek D-A-C. It's an arcade style top down shooter where players control different ships in three different gametypes. There's no campaign to speak of, rather just a bunch of skirmish battles.
Star Trek D-A-C claims to have a co-op mode, and I suppose by some definitions it does. Players can team up with up to 6 a side and take on AI opponents in Team Deathmatch, Assault and Conquest. Assault plays out like a Domination game mode while Conquest has teams alternating on attack and defense. Both Romulan or Starfleet have the same basic ship types - Flagship, Fighter, and Defender - though the look of the ships are vastly different and true to the films.
As we mentioned, the cooperative mode really is just a bunch of skirmishes with no real goal other than to "win" the map. That's not to say there's no real fun to be had, but Star Trek D-A-C just lacked the depth we desire in our cooperative experience. After playing a handful of matches I couldn't help but find myself bored.
Sure it looks pretty...
The combat is quick and brutal, and you'll find yourself dying quite a bit. When you do die, you can eject from the ship and safely pilot away for a quick respawn, or wait until the counter reaches zero for a slightly longer come back. I just felt like there was very little strategy invovled, even in some of the more strategic maps where structures helped define choke points.
So while the Star Trek movie was a top notch film, the Star Trek game falls short on so many levels. The co-op experience is extremely shallow, which matches the depth of the gameplay as well. Only the hardcore fans will want to check this one out, otherwise stick to some of the better top down shooters out there like Geometry Wars 2 or Super Stardust HD.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
The Co-Op Experience: The game is a top down shooter featuring a co-op multiplayer mode. Any combination of human and AI players may be used up to 12 via LAN.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.