Star Trek Online: The First Two Hours

Star Trek Online has entered open beta, and we've dug into the first few hours of the eagerly anticipated MMO.
 
Longtime Trek fans and new enthusiasts from last year's movie have high hopes riding on Cryptic's upcoming massively multiplayer sci-fi game. Star Trek Online is scheduled to release in February, when it will mark the first time the deep and complex fiction of Star Trek has appeared in a massively multiplayer format. With the beginning of open beta today, we explored some of the earliest missions and customization features to get a brief glimpse of where the game may be headed.
 
Cryptic Studios is well known for its extensive character customization features, and they seem to have maintained that philosophy this time around. After logging in, players are greeted with the option to create a new Federation officer. Options for the PvP-focused Klingon characters don't currently appear to be available. Gameplay-affecting decisions are relatively light in this initial creation process; you'll only be choosing between one of three general career paths in the beginning. Like in the TV shows or films, Star Fleet officers pursue the tactical, engineering, or science paths. MMO players will recognize these by more familiar terminology - DPS, tank, and support, respectively. What looks to be a relatively deep and complex skill system awaits in-game, but your specialization during character creation ends there.

Visual presentation of your character is a whole other story. Cryptic has provided several template races to get started, including human, andorian, vulcan, bajoran, saurian, and several others. However, given that the Star Trek fiction has always allowed for the presence of hundreds of alien species, players will be able to craft a character likeness of nearly any sort. Detailed facial and body morphing tools are included in the creator, along with numerous preset options for head shapes, hair styles, antennae, and other body parts.
 
Apparently, Star Fleet has seen some profound loosening of the uniform code since the end of Star Trek: Nemesis some 30 years before this game begins. Players will still be required to adopt some variation of the familiar Trek uniforms, often in shades of blue, red, and yellow. However, numerous shirts, pants, and boots help to distinguish your character, along with a choice of insignia. Your final task is to name your new officer, as well as the ship on which he or she serves. Like all the Cryptic games we've ever played, it's easy to spend a long time tweaking and exploring options before even diving into the game proper.

As the game begins, our ship is under heavy attack by a Borg Cube, and we're treated to an impressive view of the battle from the ship's lounge. We're called to the bridge by the captain. He wants us to head to the nearby and incapacitated U.S.S. Khitomer to help repel the Borg invaders, as well as rescue the crew. Our first taste of on-foot combat reveals that each weapon (you'll eventually be able to flip back and forth between two) has its own hotbar of commands. Usually, this means one standard fire attack, and at least one secondary attack that is more powerful, but takes longer to recharge. Fights are straightforward, and don't take long to understand. Your ranged attacks are invaluable, but there's always a close-range melee move to knock back encroaching targets. Objectives throughout the ship break up the action, as you complete tasks like beaming intruders away into space, or repairing a ship component with the press of a button.
 
Departing the Khitomer, we’re offered the option to get the first member of a new bridge crew. These side characters act like pets in other MMO; they follow you and complete simple tasks at your command. Like your base class, there’s a choice between tactical, engineering, and science officers. Eventually, we’ll have all three, and on larger ships later in the game, we’ll have multiple members of each type. For the time being, we grab a new science officer, who ought to help deal with serious wounds during a ground mission, or aid in disrupting enemy shields during a ship to ship battle.

By the time we get back to the ship, it's been hit hard. Most of the bridge crew is dead, and improbably, you are the senior officer on board. Taking charge, we lead our first command into battle. In these early hours, the ship combat that ensues is the most intriguing element of gameplay. Rather than opt for dogfight-like swoops and rapid-fire guns, the space combat plays out like a naval battle. We juggled the remodulation of our ship's shields between its four facings, fired beam and torpedo attacks at the borg ships, and maneuvered to get the best firing arc for our multiple weapon arrays. It's by no means overly complicated, but there is some exciting potential for interesting battles, as it's clear that special abilities and bridge crew capabilities will add some interesting variety.
 
It's worth noting that Cryptic has done a phenomenal job of presenting the space environments. Colorful nebulae often fill the background. Space debris and asteroids litter the space field. Planets loom large and glowing in the foreground. And individual ships have been lovingly presented, remainining faithful to Star Trek canon, but appropriately moving the design aesthetic of enemy and ally ships forward several decades from the last time we saw them in the final Next Generation films.
 
Following the space battle, we beam down to the planet of Vega, where the borg are overwhelming the ground forces. We get a new phaser rifle from our forces on the ground, plus our first kit: a special piece of equipment that provides the use of a certain ability. We choose a photon grenade kit, and head out to finish off the borg forces.

After one more final space battle, we're summoned back to Earth for repairs and reassignment. Warping into the Sol system, we're greeted by the massive spacedock facility, and the first hints of the wider story of the game. The Federation is hard pressed in 2409. War has reignited with the Klingon Empire. The Romulans are in chaos after the destruction of their home world, as described in the recent film. And now the Borg have shown up once again. Star Fleet is in need of capable officers, and our actions against the Borg appear to have put us at the top of the list. We're given command of the ship we commanded in battle and a new commission as a Lieutenant, and tasked with helping the Federation face its many threats.
 
The admiral and his staff hand out some starter patrol missions and planetary investigations, and off we go. From here, the game dramatically opens up, allowing players to further their Star Fleet careers however they see fit. In the coming days, we'll investigate some of those options. We'll examine your choice and upgrading of bridge crew. We'll detail some of the early missions of the game, and how they reward you with skill points that lead to higher ranks. And yes, we'll look into the awesome capability that players have to build, customize, and command their own unique ship. Check back in a few days for more.
 
Tell us what else you want to learn about the game before launch in the comments below.