One thing that the original Star Trek television series could have used a little more of was huge spaceship battles. Sure, the characters were well-drawn with intriguing backgrounds, they wrung compelling drama out of the intersecting relationships between different personality types aboard the USS Enterprise, and the examination of alien life forms and social issues on newly discovered planets was fascinating and a relevent commentary on contemporary society. But for a videogame fan, all of that pales a bit in comparsion to the butt-kicking spectacle of a good old phazer-blastin' spaceship war, doesn't it?

Thankfully, in the upcoming Star Trek: Shattered Universe from TDK Mediactive, the focus on outer space warfare is front and center for a change. You control the good Federation starship USS Excelsior, under the watchful command of Captain Sulu (first seen in charge of the Excelsior in 1996's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). As the game begins, the Excelsior gets caught in a space vortex and is sucked through a portal to the Mirror, Mirror universe, another dimension of outer space where everything is the opposite of the way it is in real life (the Mirror, Mirror universe was first seen in an episode of the original Star Trek series). This means that the good Federaton is now evil, the Klingons are now good, and the Romulans... well, they still have pointy ears. Best of all, if you've ever secretly wondered what it would be like to mount an attack on the USS Enterprise, you'll get to do it this game.

This being the Mirror, Mirror Universe, your main opponent in the game is Pavel Chekhov--who would normally be a friendly Federation ally. Chekhov weaves in and out of the game's nineteen missions, and he's a smart captain... His ship will retreat if it's in danger of being destroyed, only to return on the offensive during opportune moments in later missions. The player assumes the role of an unnamed fighter pilot who must lead the Excelsior to victory and ultimately back out of the Mirror dimension into your home galaxy. Your guide as captain of the Excelsior is Hikaru Sulu, who offers strategic advice and gameplay tips from the ship's bridge. Actors George Takei and Walter Konig reprise their roles from the original Star Trek televsion series as Sulu and Chekhov, which is great because there is a substantial amount of dialogue in the game.

The style of gameplay is straightforward aerial dogfighting. Shattered Universe is all about constant action, huge space battles with dozens of ships, and outmanuevering your opponents to keep them in your crosshairs. The melees take place in a full 3D outer space environment, and ships will attack from above, below, in front, and behind. Though the action can get hectic, you have plenty of firepower at your fingertips to keep up with the opposition. Besides the Excelsior, you can acquire other allied starcraft to add to your campaign. There are six ships total in the game: Three Federation starships (including the Excelsior), a Klingon Bird of Prey, a Romulan Warbird, and an Orion starcraft, which is an all-new type of battleship created especially for the game.

As you fight your way through the galaxy, you acquire the spoils of victory to add to your fleet's arsenal. There are three levels of upgrades you can earn to improve your ship's firepower and defensive shields. Each of the six ships is in turn outfitted with three basic weapon types: the classic phazer blasters, photon torpedoes, and a pulse cannon. The functionality of these weapons varies widely from ship to ship; some have homing torpedoes that lock on and seek out enemies, while others have more powerful phazers or different shooting styles.

We had a chance to play an early build of the Xbox version of the game and get a feel for its controls. Acceleration is handled much like a racing game: the right trigger propels the ship forward, while the left trigger slows it down to a stop and will activate the reverse drive if you continue to hold it down. The analog stick steers your ship (also aims the crosshairs), and each weapon is assigned to a different face button on the pad. The straightforward control scheme made it relatively easy to get the hang of things. Soon we were simultaneously acclerating around enemies while dodging fire, angling the crosshairs to keep the biggest threat targeted, and furiously blasting away with the best weapon for the job. Though the action can get hectic quickly in the middle of a fleet hellbent on your destruction, the heads-up display is very well-organized and helps you keep your bearings.

The upper left-hand corner of the screen displays a small diagram of your currently targeted enemy, which helps immensely when you want to shoot a specific ship out of a swarm of both friendly and hostile starcraft. Even distant ships can be picked out of a crowd thanks to this feature. In the opposite corner is a minature 3D radar map of the stage, showing color-coded enemy and allied starships relative to your position. The freedom of full 3D aerial combat often comes at the price of being somewhat disorienting, but developer Starsphere Interactive's inclusion of these two points of reference go a long way towards taking the confusion out of the experience. However, not all of the missions have full 360 degree movement; there are several "wormhole" interludes in which you blast enemies as you are propelled forward along a fixed path--similar to the on-rails style of Sega's Panzer Dragoon shooters.

The graphics have an appealing look and the early demo version already sported convincing explosions and weapon effects, dozens of ships cruising onscreen at the same time, and a smooth framerate during intense action. Lots of attention has been given to the model designs of the Star Trek ships, and it really does evoke the look and feel of the universe from the TV show and movies... With about ten times more violence and explosions!

As for the famous Captain Kirk, he's not in the game... But then they would have had to call it Shatnered Universe.

Star Trek: Shattered Universe beams up to the Playstation 2 and Xbox on star date November 6, 2003.

· · · Teddman