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Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus Review: Should You Buy?

Star Trek Online Cover

Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus Review: Should You Buy?

Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus based on the Star Trek franchise is a multiplayer online role-playing video game. It was published by Atari for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2010. Set thirty years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis the alliance of the United Federation and the Klingon Empire are again at war. Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus is almost guaranteed to get a bump from Into Darkness, J. J. Abrams’ newest film based on the franchise.

But is the new, improved Star Trek Online good enough to hook new players and maintain existing ones? 

New and Improved Features Of Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online Screenshot
Stunning graphics of Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus.

Before this expansion, Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus players had a rather limited set of story options. The Federation was the only available faction at Level 1; you had to unlock the ability to play as a Klingon, and the Klingon characters you created began at a higher level. Now, the Klingons are available from the get-go, with a new tutorial and some missions added to provide a smooth leveling experience. More importantly, the expansion features an entirely new faction as well, the Romulans. At last, Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus feels like a fully featured MMO.

Over time, you’ll acquire massive amounts of gear, as well as crew members and skill points. The skill trees, which have been revamped for this expansion, are ridiculously expansive — you can create a character with any combination of perks you’d like from high weapon damage to an uncanny ability to use grenades, to a variety of less exciting but equally useful skills. Of course, the occupation you choose at the beginning of the game (engineer, science, or tactical) will strongly influence your choices as you beef your character up.

Gameplay Experience

Star Trek Online Screenshot
Incredible space battle and fun gameplay.

The gameplay in Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus is divided into two different types. Sometimes, you’ll be acting as the captain of a starship, maneuvering through space and directing your crew to attack the enemy. At other points, you’ll leave the ship to explore planets, equipped with the usual handheld weapons of the Star Trek universe.

The action on the ground will be very familiar to anyone who’s spent a few hours with World of Warcraft (or any other MMO, for that matter). While the combat takes place in real time, it doesn’t have the feel of action — you just click on enemies to direct your character to attack them, and then you engage your special abilities as often as the cooldown timers will let you. It’s kind of like Diablo from an over-the-shoulder view.

While the ships move slowly, there is a great deal of strategy involved — you can cloak yourself and go in for a sneak attack, and many of your weapons will fire only in the direction your ship is facing. Romulan ships are each equipped with a singularity warp core, which charges until it can unleash a huge attack. With this expansion, all non-Romulan ships will receive warp cores as well.

MMOs aren’t just about the combat, of course — they’re also about the addictive character-building experience. Legacy of Romulus excels here, albeit mainly by taking the WoW model and giving it a Star Trek-themed makeover.

Final Thoughts

Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus provides a fairly standard MMO experience in many ways, but it sets itself apart by offering a unique Star Trek story, well-done voice acting, and gripping space combat. Throw in the fact that all the new content is free-to-play — with purchasable enhancements, of course — and you have a game that deserves to live long and prosper.

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