Weekly Poll: Give A Little Bit
GBA Lives On For One More Year

Trek Writer Guides Legacy

United Federation of PlanetsHere's a step in the right direction: game developer Bethesda Softworks has turned to an actual talented Star Trek writer to craft the storyline behind the upcoming Star Trek: Legacy for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and PC.  Dorothy "D.C." Fontana came up with the Legacy plot, and in an article at GameDaily she discusses a little about what makes next generation (as in new consoles, not Captain Picard) Trek games so intriguing.

"Game technology grows more and more innovative, more and more able to match the look of film and high-definition TV," Fontana said. "With the quality visuals now available, it puts the game experience on par with watching a movie or TV episode with the added benefit of being interactive."

"As video games proliferate more and more, more writers may become interested in being involved," Fontana said. " Pac-Man was an amusing game, but it had no story. Today, the games have to have more going on in them -- story, character, crisis or conflict, goals. Because of that, I believe writers will begin to see the possibilities in this form of storytelling."

As I've said, the problem I have with past Star Trek games is that publishers pay through the nose to get the Trek license and then proceed to put together a game that uses new aliens, new characters, and just about anything else that isn't from the actual series.  The way I see it, if these companies are spending all that money to be able to play in the Star Trek world, then they should use the familiar characters and alien races that the fans have come to know.  Give us the Vulcans, the Romulans, the Borg, the Klingons, the Ferengi... anyone with a history in the franchise.  Conjure up the new "ultimate threat" that has no place in the Trek world and, on the whole, the game just won't work.  Hopefully Fontana had that in mind when working on the Legacy storyline.

Comments