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Star Trek meets Mass Effect in this choice-based adventure game - Star Trek: Resurgence Quick Review
2K View2023-05-23
PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Play it if you’re a fan of Star Trek or choice-based games, but consider waiting for a patch. Star Trek: Resurgence has solid writing, fleshed-out characters, and high-impact decision-making but technical issues detracted my overall experience. The quality of its story helped make up for some of the gameplay’s shortcomings, but there were still times when it felt frustrating to play. At its best, the game reminded me of the first Mass Effect, and I’m hopeful that some of its rockier elements will be smoothed out in future updates.
TIME PLAYED
I played around eight hours of Star Trek: Resurgence, which got me pretty far into the story, but didn’t quite take me to the finish line. Not only does it have a meaty story, but it seems like it has real replay potential. Some of my choices had significant consequences, and I’m curious to see how things would have played out if I had handled things differently.
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Engrossing story. Star Trek: Resurgence captured my interest right from the start, and once things got going, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, but I’m not a die-hard Trekkie, and I was surprised by how much its narrative sucked me in. It may be set in the Star Trek universe, but this is a story that any sci-fi fan can enjoy. While Resurgence splits its time between narrative and gameplay segments, the story is good enough to stand on its own.
• Intriguing cast of characters. Everyone in Star Trek: Resurgence has a distinct personality, even the minor characters, and you can understand what motivates them even when you don’t agree with their actions. The story shows the perspective of two protagonists: cool-headed First Officer Jara and Carter, an engineer who might be too cocky for his own good. Both characters had clear voices, as did the supporting members of the cast. My personal favorite was Tylas, a confident diplomat who’s much more vulnerable than she initially appears to be.
• Your choices matter. Star Trek: Resurgence is at its best when it’s asking players to make life-and-death decisions on the fly. Some of the choice segments are incredibly tense, and there were a few times I made an impulsive decision I regretted immediately. Many decisions have a clear impact on the narrative, and choices also impact your relationships with other characters. I really enjoyed seeing how other characters felt about my actions, even if they weren’t impressed by my decision-making skills.
WHAT SUCKS
• Frustrating gameplay segments. While Star Trek: Resurgence is primarily a choice-based game, it features many other types of gameplay, including shootouts, investigative scenes, and stealth segments. I like variety, but most of these moments were a chore to play through. The controls are clunky, and while switching from a keyboard and mouse to a controller helped, it wasn’t enough to fix the problems. At one point, following the onscreen control prompts didn’t do anything at all. Restarting the game didn’t solve the problem, so I put down my controller to contact support. While I was doing that, the game skipped past the segment and moved forward on its own. I wish Star Trek: Resurgence had focused on doing one thing well instead of trying to do lots of things with mixed results.
• Lackluster visuals. Star Trek: Resurgence doesn’t have bad graphics—I’d describe them as serviceable—but the character animations are stilted, and the visuals don’t do anything to enhance the game. Space may be the final frontier, but here, it looks a little boring. Some areas looked better than others, but this is a game that could have really benefited from a more stylized approach to visuals.
• Limited options for players. Star Trek: Resurgence has two gameplay modes: a standard mode and a story mode that simplifies the game and gets rid of fail states. Since I wasn’t a huge fan of the gameplay, I would have preferred to play the entire game in story mode, but I didn’t have that option. Story mode can only be enabled after you fail a gameplay segment, which meant I had to play through sections twice when I screwed up. I can’t understand why the game would offer this mode, but limit access to it.
💬 Will you boldly try this Star Trek adventure, or will you be exploring different worlds? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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