When Star Trek went off the air in 2005 I complained and moaned about how it was just starting to get good. As the months went by I had the chance to reflect on the franchise and realized that after five shows (six if you count the animated series) and a string of movies, it was in dire need of a reboot. J.J. Abrams did just that with last years Star Trek and boy was I grateful for a Trek movie I could take my girlfriend to without feeling like I was force-feeding her cold liver. Thrilled as I was with the movie, when the opportunity to review the movie tie-in game came up I accepted more out of a sense of duty than enthusiasm. Movie tie ins are notoriously crap and I had little reason to expect more out of what clearly looked like a rush job to milk the movie’s success.
![Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.43.24 AM.png](http://themacgamer.com/wp-content/gallery/startrekdac/Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.43.24 AM.png "Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.43.24 AM.png")
Star Trek: D.A.C. (Deathmatch. Assault. Conquest) is not a crap movie tie-in. It’s a mediocre shooter that’s had the art direction of the new Star Trek movie grafted onto it like a bad Borg implant. Everything from the bridge sounds in the main menu to the sounds of weapons fire feel tacked on. Let’s set aside any pre-tense that this is a game of the same calibre as the movie. It’s not, but that’s okay.
DAC is a simple top down, asteroids style shooter, except instead of asteroids you’re shooting enemy starships. You can play as Romulans or Federation, the differences between the two being aesthetics and power-ups. Power-ups, which you’ll find scattered throughout the universe, give you Cloaks, Quantum Torpedos, an instant wing man, invincibility, and so on. They add a pretty thin layer to the combat mechanics.
![Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.46.35 AM.png](http://themacgamer.com/wp-content/gallery/startrekdac/Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.46.35 AM.png "Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.46.35 AM.png")
You control your ship with the keyboard and aim and shoot with the mouse. It’s a little frantic at times and feels less like skill and more like random finger twitching in the general direction of the bad guys. Ultimately the action is a fairly repetitive mix. The ships have a bit of momentum to them so at times controlling them feels like you’re playing a hockey game and you’re the puck. You give your speed a little oomph by going into what I imagine is supposed to be full-impulse, but half the time this just causes you to slam into some bit of space junk that’s there for decor. No matter the size of the map I would always end up running into it’s edges. I would have much preferred a “wrap-around” map, a la asteroids.
In addition there are a few game modes that vary the rules of the gameplay. Survival mode is fairly simple and sends wave after wave of enemies after you. Team Deathmatch pits 6 vs 6 in a race to rack up 50 kills. Assault has you rush to capture and hold four bases on the map. Conquest also has bases but instead you’re aiming to lower the defenses of your enemy’s main base and capture it. Entertaining enough and playable either as multiplayer or with bots.
![Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.47.23 AM.png](http://themacgamer.com/wp-content/gallery/startrekdac/Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.47.23 AM.png "Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.47.23 AM.png")
As a Trek fan I was more disappointed than not. The game doesn’t feel like it has anything to do with the Star Trek universe. There’s the initial rush when you see the starships and you think there will be something exceptional about flying around in the Enterprise but ultimately it could just as easily been WWII fighter planes.
![Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.48.15 AM.png](http://themacgamer.com/wp-content/gallery/startrekdac/Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.48.15 AM.png "Screen shot 2010-02-24 at [Feb 24, 10] 12.48.15 AM.png")
Bottom line: if you have every Star Trek series on DVD, at least one Next Gen coffee mug, a book in Klingon, a model replica of any ship in the series, a picture of you dressed as Spock when you were a kid and have a pet named after a character from the show, then go ahead and buy this game. What’s another ten bucks? If you haven’t gone off that particular cliff of fandom then you can safely skip this mediocre offering and watch the movie instead.
I completely agree… I purchased Star Trek D.A.C., and I regret that $10 purchase…There’s nothing there, literally… As you said, it could be WW bi-planes just as easily… And there is no need for skill, it’s more of a game of twitch response.
I felt the same disappointments by playing it in PS3. Did’nt recognised anything from Star Trek in the game, except the soundtrack (a copy-paste from the movie) and one or two ships.
My opinion is that a Fallout-style game would be great, as much as the movie required money to make a great reboot, a little more cash, working… and a real desire to make a Star Trek game could make it awesome.