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The long lost game is released thanks to TDK Mediactive. After playing the game, I question TDK’s reasoning in bring the game out, however.
The story of Shattered Universe is actually pretty cool for someone who more or less enjoys Star Trek. Here, you follow Captain Sulu and his ship into a parallel universe. Things are different here. For example, the Federation is no longer to be found instead replaced by the Terran Empire.
The game’s execution is pretty awful, full of filler content. Many of the missions have you shooting nameless enemy ships, but everything is so empty and vague that it doesn’t offer much satisfaction. The same can be said for the “protect the ship” missions. Another mission type is going through checkpoints for some superfluous reason.
The game’s visuals are actually the high point. Considering that they are barely average, that’s saying something. This may be due to the fact that the game was supposed to ship in the fall of 2001 but not the beginning of 2004. Nonetheless, technically, it’s pretty sound. The ships look reasonably good, although the empty space keeps the game from excelling. The CG cut scenes’ character models are laughable. Shattered Universe wouldn’t have been a looker for its scheduled release date, and certainly isn’t now.
There isn’t much on the audio side of things, either. The Star Trek theme isn’t even included in the game. And the voice acting from George Sakai (who plays Sulu) is very unanimated. The actor seemingly didn’t have this game in its list of priorities.
Star Trek Shattered Universe is abuse to faithful Star Trek fans who bought the game simply for the license. It isn’t bad at all times, in fact, a few of the first missions are reasonably amusing, that’s before you figure out that they are all basically the same. Unless you want to pay $39.99 for Star Trek memorabilia, it is best to avoid Shattered Universe. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jun 6, 2004
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