Away Team
I've played the demo of this game, and I can't say that I'm over impressed. The levels I played, although very well presented demonstrated how difficult it was to supervise all your away team members at once. For example, out of a group of 4, 2 went into a turbolift, and came under attack. The others, who were left behind couldn't help out, and it was very tedious to get all the team into the turbolift at once….
This strategy game set in the Star Trek: Next Generation universe is due for release in 2001. the game will consist of a series of varied missions set on various planets. You'll select the members of an Away Team to go down to the surface. Teams will consist of 3-6 individuals. You'll choose from a selection of personnel, covering multiple races, who will be divided into classes, such as engineers, science officers, security and medics. Teams will have a selection of equipment, depending on the specifics of the mission. Your people will gain experience and improve their over the course of missions, making it more important to protect them.
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Star Trek: Away Team This little gem was one of the most pleasant surprises of the show. May 14, 2000 E3 2000 Update Okay, I have to admit that sometimes it's a little difficult for me to get super excited about the latest Star Trek game announcement. While I still love the series, there have been an awful lot of games based on the license and not all of them have been shining tributes to the art of game development. So when I first sat down to look at Away Team, I have to confess that I probably wasn't paying the closest attention. But after only five minutes of demo time, I found myself really excited about this new game. By mixing a compelling story-line with cool characters and a innovative take on RTS gaming, the folks over at Reflexive Entertainment have put together what could be one of the hottest Star Trek titles yet. Let's start with the basic premise – during the Dominion Wars the Federation realised the need for a branch devoted to secret ops. Now that the wars are over, you've been put in charge of just such a Special Forces team. Using secrecy as your main weapon, you must select a team of ops, sneak them into location and carry out missions vital to the continued success of the Federation. "The focus of the game is really going to be a lot on stealth," says Ion Hardie the Lead Level Designer on Away Team. Characters who go running into levels blazing away with their phasers may make a little progress, but will almost undoubtedly fail in the long run. Action takes place from a three quarters view in a rich graphical world that even in its early stages does an excellent job of portraying the Star Trek universe we know and love. Before you get too comfortable, there's something you should probably know… While there are definitely appearances from Next Generation crew members, you don't actually play as any of those characters. That means that any of the members on your team can (and if you're not careful probably will) get killed in action. To keep yourself alive you're going to going to have to choose the perfect team and make sure that they use their skills as a team. Each mission you can choose staff members from five different professions. Security Officers have the ability to use more different types of weaponry. Medical Officers can heal the other team members, can scan objects with a tricorder to get clues about their purpose and operation and can use certain items (like the Neural Phase Disrupter, which drops enemies completely but must be used at point blank range) that are unavailable to anyone else. Engineers can fix damaged items (which could be the key to finishing certain missions) and are the only officer type capable of setting up the Stasis Field (which freezes enemies in their tracks). Science Officers can hack into computer systems and are capable of using high tech items that others may not be able to figure out (like the audio decoy and the invisibility suits). Last but certainly not least there's the Commander, an officer who boasts a few of the skills of each of the other types – very nice indeed if you don't know what you're up against. While we haven't gotten too much word on what exactly you'll be doing during the missions (actually Paramount is still approving the script), we do know that the game will consist of 18 missions in total. We also know that the missions will pit you against the Borg, Klingons, Romulans and even other Federation members (who are obviously up to no good). Missions will take place on loads of famous locations straight from the TV show including Qu'nos, Romulus, Earth and even Vulcan. Inbetween missions you'll be treated to cutscenes featuring voice acting from original crewmembers (no, I don't know which ones yet). We only know a handful of weapons that will be included in the game, but we know that you lot are hungry for any pieces of info you can get your hands on. So far we've seen Concussion Grenades (which are really cool), remote mines that can be blown up from a distance, EMP Grenades that take out electrical systems, Proximity Mines and, my favourite, a sniper rifle. The game is due to actually hit shelves sometime next year. As always, you can count on finding the very latest info (and perhaps even an interview or two) here on IGNPC. -- Trent C. Ward |
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ANOTHER PREVIEW, FROM GAMESPOT:-
Recently, GameSpot got to see Activision's upcoming squad-based tactical strategy game, Star Trek Away Team. It is a game that draws strong inspiration from Eidos' hit Commandos, and promises much of the same puzzle-oriented, tactical gameplay, but set in the Star Trek universe. Away Team uses the Next Generation licence, and focuses on a new threat to the peace of the Federation-Klingon-Romulan political triangle. These three races, plus the Borg, are at the centre of the game's story and all suffering from some mysterious infection, unleashed upon them by either new factions within their ranks or by an entirely new group of villains. We won't know the answer to this mystery until the game ships in March of 2001.
You get to manage a team of elite special operatives working for the Federation. After a few routine missions, you get sucked into this plot to infect the key players of the Star Trek universe and must journey along a multi-mission campaign to uncover the truth behind the troubles. Your special ops crew is composed of a little over a dozen members, who are split between the five specialities of command, security, medicine, engineering, and science. In each mission, you will pick four or six team members - the exact number has yet to be decided - to beam to the mission location and complete your mission objectives. If Activision decides to pare down the number of crewmembers you control to four, it will be because it wants to make controlling your overall team easier and more manageable.
Each crew member will have different strengths. The security officer, for instance, has the most weapons and is the best fighter, using a wide array of weapons that include rifles, concussion grenades, proximity mines, and more. The medic can of course heal your people, but also has an instant death attack, the neural spray, which is similar to the instant-kill knife attack in Commandos. The engineering officer has lots of neat gadgets, including a teleportation device and a stasis field generator, while the science officer also has specialised equipment, like a personal cloaking field and a hologram projector. In some missions, one specific crew member could be key; for instance, you might have to repair the warp core of a ship with the engineer, so he will be required on your team and will have to survive to the mission's conclusion.
The game is still seven or so months away from completion. We got a good look at the game, and its various levels, including the Klingon moon of Qo'nos, the jungles of Betazed, Starfleet headquarters on Earth, and more. Look for a preliminary preview in the coming weeks, and a more in-depth preview after that. In the meantime, here are some exclusive screens from Activision.
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