Star Trek: Away Team

Developer: Activision
Publisher: Activision

System Requirements Pentium 166 Mhz, 32 MB RAM

Recommended Pentium II 300MHz, 64+ MB RAM, 17 inch monitor

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics: 8 - The level of detail in each mission is outstanding. Audio: 8 - Good sound effects and voice acting, but repetitive music. Interface: 8.5 - Simplicity works here. All pertinent information is immediately available.	Play Issues Solo Play: 6.8 - I wish I could raise the score a bit, as I did have quite a bit of fun. But the unresponsive away team made things much more frustrating than they had to be. Mutliplay: 4.0 - I don't have a LAN, so I didn't get to play it-'nuff said. Still, it is there. Replay Value: 6.0 - There are secondary objectives that can be completed, but one time through is probably enough. Learning Curve: 8.0 - Everything is very easy to manipulate, and the pause feature will undoubtedly help people who prefer to move at a slower pace.
Other/Notes Documentation: 8.0 - Thorough and clear, with nice little bios of all the away team members. The two times I needed to consult it, I found the information right away. Pros: Great use of the license, very diverse and detailed levels, and a generally interesting story. Cons: Too much babysitting of your team is required, and adds way too much frustration to the fun. Overall: 7.1

After the train wreck that was Star Trek: New Worlds, I was not looking forward to reviewing Star Trek: Away Team. I just couldn't stand to see another game butcher its respective license…but little did I know that I would not only enjoy Away Team, but would become pretty addicted. My back was killing me after sitting through a few five-hour sessions. But my addiction is sort of a paradox, because the game has quite a few noticeable flaws that keep it from reaching the level of quality I think it could have-and quite frankly deserves.

The best description of Away Team would have to be Commandos in space. You control a group of heavily armed soldiers through various scenarios, with each member of your team having unique capabilities that need to be exploited. Away Team follows the story of a newly commissioned ship, the U.S.S. Incursion, meant to handle galactic incidents with discretion. In Away Team, a mysterious encounter between a Romulan Warbird and a Klingon Bird of Prey leads to an investigation of a secret cult that is planning to conquer the galaxy by spreading a contagion that swells its ranks. They have already brainwashed several Federation and Klingon officials and it is up to the Incursion's crew to put a stop to it. OK, so I have seen a similar setup in more than a few episodes, but the story does an admirable job of requiring the player to visit quite a few locales. In the course of about 15 missions you will go to the Klingon capital city, a Borg Cube, and even Starfleet Academy. The story is told through convincingly narrated mission briefings, with Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner (playing Worf and Commander Data, respectively) adding a bit of authenticity to the game. Sadly, there are only two movies, so those of you spoiled by Star Trek: Armada's generous portions of CGI will be disappointed. It would have been nice to see one of those factories you sabotage blow up instead of just getting beamed out and given a congratulatory speech by the captain.

Unlike the game Commandos, where there are six soldiers, Away Team lets you assemble your group from a choice of seventeen individuals. You can tell the design team was trying to keep things as familiar as possible, as many of the characters bear a striking resemblance to various television regulars. For instance, there is the Vulcan named Slovaak (Tuvok from Voyager), a man named Quint Freedman that sports a large face tattoo that honors his native ancestry (Chakotay, also from Voyager), and get this, James T. Kirk's great nephew, Sinjin Kirk. It is, however, quite a diverse bunch, and depending on whom you pick, you will hear different comments made at the start of each mission. The game, however, never really uses the characters to full effect. The story has nothing to do with the history or relationships of any of the Incursion's members, so you are more or less left to imagine that aspect on your own. It would have been cool to have a rivalry going on, or something else to spice up the story a bit. You do not get attached to the crew the same way you did in Star Trek: Elite Force.

The characters are divided up between various categories, such as Science, Medical, or Security officer. Plus, each one has a unique assortment of Star Trek gizmos that lend some more diversity to how you assemble your team. Each mission, however, requires you to bring along crewmembers with specific skills such as the hacking ability, which limits your choices, somewhat. But usually you will have a few members with each respective skill to choose from, and then various attributes such as stealth will further affect your decision. This is where the game's biggest flaw resides, however. In some missions, specifically the end five or so, it really matters who you bring along. Having that extra electro-magnetic pulse grenade when facing off against the Borg can really cut down on the stress levels. But for the majority of the game, the most important hardware is phasers--lots of them. This crew must have had their away team training in the Klingon Academy, because a majority of the game consists of blasting your way through guard after guard. Sometimes you'll mow down close to a dozen enemies, something I doubt the Federation (and yes I'm speaking hypothetically) would want. Away Team misses its chance to be extremely unique because it is heavily focused on reflex action. The manual even states that players who prefer strategy to reflexes should use the "pause feature", during which orders can be issued. I tell you what though, I prefer strategy, and I didn't use the pause feature once. There was no need to. You can do just fine by luring most guards around a corner and then having all six crewmembers phaser him. Sure, some missions require that you keep the body count low, but even still, getting around is generally a matter of sneaking past guard posts when they're not looking rather than utilizing complex tactics. Also, more often than not you will move your away team as a group rather than coordinate an intricate plan. What would have made for a better gameplay experience is some action mixed with a bit of discovery. In every mission, you receive the objectives right away. I recall only one mission where your orders are unexpectedly changed in the middle. It would have been very cool to have missions where you go down to peaceful colonies to investigate an occurrence and uncover a conspiracy, and as a result have to figure out how to get your team out of their alive. Instead you're generally ordered to plant explosives, gather some data from a central computer, and phaser everyone who gets in the way-peaceful negotiations this is not. This also has the effect of making quite a few missions much easier than they should have been.

To be fair, while you may get through the first ten missions or so with relative ease (and this is on normal, the only other difficult level being easy) the last missions require a lot more subterfuge and patience, and they are infinitely more satisfying. I would have liked to see some type of mission editor or creator, however. As it stands, the only reason for replay is to try and complete some of the secondary objectives you might have missed. The multiplayer mode is only available with a LAN, with which two people can play the missions cooperatively. Still, a lot of this game's appeal-and the reason I was so addicted-comes from seeing familiar locations and characters, and getting to say, at least to yourself, "set phasers to stun". Despite its emphasis on action, Away Team uses its license to full effect and really immerses you. All of the hardware in the game--though some is better realized than others in terms of actual gameplay--has that distinct Star Trek feel. For instance, one device is a portable transporter that lets you beam away dead bodies so they won't be spotted. Even the sniper rifle shoots out a burst of energy rather than a projectile.

The graphics in the game are quite good. The levels are meticulously detailed and the effects, such as phaser fire and concussion grenade explosions, are convincing. The only complaint I have with the visuals is that your crewmembers and the enemies are a little small, and therefore seem a bit blurry. While it is quite easy to tell a Borg from a Klingon, I found myself having trouble discerning which human crewmember was which, and I was required to click their portrait on the side of the screen to select them. But this is a minor quibble. The sound being equally good, with recognizable weapon effects and good voice acting for the crewmembers' responses to orders, Away Team is an aesthetically solid game. The music, while ultimately forgettable, provides a nice amount of tension during gameplay.

The game's interface is remarkably easy to use. I did not have to use one hot key during gameplay because everything is right there. All of your crewmembers' details are positioned to the left, while the mission map, inventory details, and options for currently selected weapons sits on the bottom. There are also icons for selecting all crewmembers, reviewing your objectives, changing movement stances, and one to turn on blue cones that let you see the visual range of enemies and security cameras. Manipulating your team in the game world is just as simple. Select your member, left click on a spot to make him walk, double click to run, and right click to use weaponry. This isn't exactly Advanced Astrometrics (ok, bad joke). Unfortunately, your actions are a bit underrepresented in the game world. This has to do with the all around poor AI. For instance, if you have multiple team members selected and right click on an enemy to fire your phasers, only those within range will fire, even if "out of range" is about two feet. You would think that they would be able to move into firing position. Instead, when you think five guys will fire only one does and he/she ends up dead. You'll also find that your team members and enemies will fire at an obstruction instead of moving to get a clear shot. The AI flaws also affect movement. When you select a movement point you may find that two people get there while others a bit further away just stand there. You then have to select and guide them. Also, enemy aggressiveness seems sporadic. In some cases they will react to your presence with brutal efficiency, while other times they seem to just forget you were there. They will sometimes get hung up on obstructions while chasing you as well. In essence, the game requires a lot of babysitting and this will ultimately turn some people off. Also, my copy froze up on me a few times, but this was the only technical problem I experienced.

If a patch is released to fix these quirks, the game will be a much more pleasant experience. As it stands, it is a good title that, while a bit lighter on strategy that I would have preferred, has a great Star Trek feel. Diehard Star Trek fans will definitely get into it, but those of you for which Star Trek is not in and of itself a selling point, definitely try before you buy.

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Reviewed by Anthony Micari