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Star Trek Game Misses The Point Of Star Trek

It is not easy to make a Star Trek video game that stays faithful to the core of the Star Trek concept.  Digital Extremes is the latest developer to try to create a Star Trek game that holds true to the spirit of the franchise, but they missed the mark by a wide margin.  Poor Justin McElroy at Polygon had to suffer through the recently released game for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and PC and while his experience was poor, at least an entertaining review came out of the madness.  You really should read the entire piece to find out why Star Trek fails so much (there are many technical issues holding it back), but my favorite part of the review explains why this game was doomed from the start: it does not understand Star Trek at all.

Is there a worse fit for the world of Star Trek, that subversively powerful force of social equality and acceptance, than a brainless, cover-based third-person shooter? I submit that there is not. (You do get to pilot the Enterprise for one stage, but by "pilot" I mean you play a terrible, poorly explained turret mini-game.) Everywhere else, Kirk and his partner Spock are given optional objectives that emphasize phasers set on stun rather than kill, but rewards are paltry and a fourth of the game's achievements are built on accruing kills. So you tell me.

At one point, a crewmember on the radio refers to the Gorn (the disposal phaser blast catchers that keep you from your objectives) as "creatures." A sentient alien race that happens to not speak English. A Starfleet officer. Creatures.

The "creatures" have absconded with a dangerous, magical MacGuffin that the Vulcans need for their "New Vulcan" colony to replace their exploded homeworld. Kirk and Spock set out to shoot every possible Gorn to bring that MacGuffin back.

The Gorn have also "infected" some Starfleet officers and turned them against our heroes, possibly because developer Digital Extremes already had the character models lying around.

Here's the thing about Star Trek that people don't usually remember: it's not about space battles.  Star Trek is not really an action program.  Sure, characters shoot at each other and starships engage in a little space combat sometimes, but most of Star Trek involves Starfleet officers sitting around a table discussing how they should handle the crisis of the week.  Most of Star Trek is meetings.  Deep Space Nine engaged in more combat than any other Star Trek because it was set during the Dominion War (and there's going to be action in wartime), but typically when the fighting breaks out on Star Trek, it's because the characters failed to find a peaceful solution to their current problem.  Dropping Kirk and Spock into a generic third-person cover-based shooter just doesn't work if one hopes to be true to the characters.

Power Button - Episode 98: Enraptured With BioShock Infinite

After exploring the floating city in the sky that is Columbia, Brad Hilderbrand and I have come back down to Earth to share our thoughts on BioShock Infinite.  Join us for an hour of spoiler-filled discussion about the game's controversial ending, Elizabeth's characterization, the Comstock paradox, the inventive (and stolen!) soundtrack, fun moments, standout elements, frustrating boss battles, padding, and especially memorable encounters.  Columbia is waiting for you!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, or subscribe via iTunes, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @aubradley84, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton.

Power Button - Episode 98: Enraptured With BioShock Infinite

Next Batman: Arkham Games Revealed

After months of nebulous rumors and business chatter, the next game in the Batman: Arkham series has been announced for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, and PC.  Serving as a prequel to the original Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham Origins turns the story back to a point earlier in Batman's life.  Prepare for a Christmas Eve attack of eight villains out to kill the Dark Knight.  Game Informer has the news.

Warner Bros. Games Montreal has taken the mantle of the bat from Rocksteady Studios this time around for Batman: Arkham Origins. WB Montreal has full access to Rocksteady's custom modified Unreal engine to capture the look and feel of the Arkhamverse.  As the title suggests, the game takes place years before both of the previous Arkham titles when a young, unrefined Batman encounters many supervillains for the first time. On our full cover image below, fans will recognize the assassin Deathstroke, who appears for the very first time in a core Arkham game.

This doesn't appear to be that Silver Age Batman title that people were discussing last year.  In addition to the home console title, there's a handheld companion game for the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PlayStation Vita entitled Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate that continues the story from the actual Arkham Origins game.  This title is a 2.5D Metroid-style adventure from Armature Studio (boy, they sure get around).  There's lots of potential here.  Normally I'm concerned when a franchise decides to step back and start cranking out prequels as it means that the main story has run out of creative juice (and the subtitle Origins is way, way overused this gaming generation), but superhero franchises can usually make this kind of thing work.  I just hope that these new developers playing in Batman's world can do the franchise justice.  We'll find out when the games release on October 25, 2013.

EvilCast Recap - Episode 171

I'm guesting on the Games Are Evil podcast again this week.  In fact, I've taken appearing as a guest to a new level by hijacking the usual introduction and claiming absolute power.  That sort of thing is bound to happen when one is invited over enough.  I join Blake Grundman and Keri Honea to discuss the depressing news of the week (mostly studio closures and layoffs at places like LucasArts, High Moon Studios, and Square-Enix), the Ouya's rough launch, and hit on a list of the best game-breaking video game bugs of all time.  There's also some non-spoiler discussion of BioShock Infinite, a look at Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and time spent with the latest Gears of War.  Spend some time with us.  I bet you'll enjoy it.  You can find Episode 171 of the EvilCast over at GamesAreEvil.com.

Forty-Five Minutes In Columbia

The gaming community is rushing to consume BioShock Infinite for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and PC before the story can be spoiled by those who just want to get their kicks by ruining the experience for others, but there's no harm is seeing how the story begins if you're on the fence about jumping into the game.  BN Games has recorded the first forty-five minutes of the game (PS3 version) and posted it to YouTube if you'd like to check out what's essentially the prologue and first chapter of the story.  I started on Infinite last night and am already captivated by what was presented.  I won't spoil anything on this site without fair warning, but I will say that the prologue area really drew me in and is the best introductory sequence I've seen in a game in quite a while.  You really should see it for yourself in-game.  Explore.  Experience.  If you can't wait for that or need a little push to get you interested, then watch the video below.  Hold out otherwise.  I'm giving away two copies of BioShock Infinite this week, so be sure to enter the contest for a chance to win.  If you just can't wait and want to see what's in store, however, I completely understand.

Sonic Fans Port Unleashed Levels Into Generations

2008's Sonic Unleashed took a lot of deserved flack from critics and general audiences for slowing down that sweet speedy gameplay with slow, plodding werehog brawling levels.  There are some great parts of the game, but they all take place during the daytime stages.  2011's Sonic Generations did right by the Sonic style, thankfully, and is made up exclusively of speed levels.  If only there were some way to take the good parts of Unleashed and drop them into the superior experience of Generations.  Thanks to talented fans, now you can.  All you need is a decent PC and a copy of Sonic Generations from Steam.

This unofficial project ports most of Sonic Unleashed's daytime levels from the Xbox 360 version into Sonic Generations on PC. It also includes any improvements that are deemed as necessary to accomodate to the better control scheme, higher resolution graphics, and much smoother framerate.

There are even some new features included such as an original soundtrack and a few other surprises.  I'm not one to rebuy games I already own across multiple formats (portable versions excluded), but I'm tempted to double dip on Generations in order to try this once I get a more powerful PC.  Unleashed's levels have never looked so vivid and bright.  The sense of speed on display is impressive and I applaud the modders for making this happen.  I can't imagine that it was easy.  No word on what Sega thinks of this, but if it sells more copies of Generations, perhaps they'll turn a blind eye to what could have been a fantastic downloadable expansion.  Not that Sega was really moved to create much DLC for Generations.  That was a missed opportunity.  I'm still waiting for the Casino Night Zone DLC to come to the PS3 version of the game and I have a feeling that I'll continue to wait for a long, long time.

Saints Row IV Revealed

There were plans last year for a Saints Row 3 expansion entitled Enter The Dominatrix, but publisher THQ made the call to cancel Dominatrix as an expansion and instead focus on increasing the new content to justify the release of an entirely new game.  Now that THQ is no more, Deep Silver has picked up the Saints Row franchise, developer Volition, and a few pages from the THQ playbook as Saints Row IV has been revealed with a trailer that showcases some of that previously seen content. Here's the press release:

In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Deep Silver Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak's mental grasp. Escape the simulation that's trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.

Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.

Save the world, Saints Style.

There are elements of that canned Dominatrix expansion here, sure, but also plenty of new material that takes the Saints Row franchise further and further from its original status as a Grand Theft Auto knock-off.  Following on from the last Saints Row 3 downloadable expansion which introduced superpowers to the gameplay, it looks like Saints Row IV has been injected with portions of inFamous and Crackdown.  It also looks completely insane (which is what I've come to expect and demand from this franchise).  Good thing?  Bad thing?  We'll find out this August.

Power Button - Episode 95: The Force Is With Neil Sorens Of Zen Studios And Star Wars Pinball

Zen Studios has been releasing creative and innovative pinball tables for a variety of modern gaming platforms over the past few years.  Working with famous properties like Plants vs Zombies, Street Fighter, and of course the Marvel suite of characters and storylines such as Iron Man and Civil War in addition to the company's own original IPs has exposed new and old generations to the wonders of pinball.  Now the company has taken on its greatest challenge with a series of ten pinball tables based on aspects of the Star Wars universe.  On this episode of Power Button we welcome Zen's Creative Director, Neil Sorens, to discuss the new Star Wars Pinball tables — The Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars, and Boba Fett —  to Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX 2.  Neil takes us through the process of acquiring the Star Wars license, outlines the voice casting process, details elements left on the cutting room floor, covers how Zen chose which parts of the franchise to use in its tables, and so very much more.  We even get Neil to spill the beans and share a little of what Zen has in the works for future tables for both Star Wars and Marvel, but if you want the details, you'll have to listen to the show!  Join us for just over an hour of pinball action without any boring trade negotiations.  Friend of the show and pinball pro extraordinaire Blake Grundman brings his unique perspective to things when he sits in this week as well.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, or subscribe via iTunes, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @aubradley84, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton.

Power Button - Episode 95: The Force Is With Neil Sorens Of Zen Studios And Star Wars Pinball

Mini-Review: Star Wars Pinball

Zen Studios has shown that it can take a popular license and turn it into a fantastic series of pinball tables.  Consider the company's past work on familiar properties like Plants vs Zombies, Street Fighter, and Marvel heroes like Iron Man, Wolverine, and Spider-Man.  After working on so many heavy-hitters, where do the creative folks at Zen go from here?  To a galaxy far, far away, naturally.  Zen has released the first in a series of pinball tables based on the Star Wars universe for its suite of platforms Zen Pinball 2, Pinball FX 2, and as a standalone package for various arrangements of the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, iOS, Android, and PC.  The Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars, and the bounty hunter Boba Fett provide the source material for these tables and show that when it comes to adapting one of the most beloved fictions of our time, the Force is with... aw, you know the rest.

Assassin's Creed IV Trailer Sails The Seas

After taking the mantle of "industry's worst kept secret" last week, Ubisoft has officially revealed the first trailer for the pirate-packed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, their next generation successors, Nintendo Wii U, and PC.  Players take on the role of Edward Kenway (of the Assassin's Creed III Kenway family) in the year 1715 across locations in the Caribbean from Kingston to Nassau.  As was discussed last week, perhaps annual Assassin's Creed installments are starting to wear a little thin.  While this looks great on a technical and presentation level, I think that I need a break from the yearly releases even if Ubisoft doesn't.  Considering how quickly Assassin's Creed III dropped in price and how the complete edition including the alternate history George Washington DLC is already on the way, I may just wait until Black Flag is released as a complete, patched title.  Until then, let's all marvel at the pirates.  They sure sound piratey, eh?