I love the game. The space combat is considerably better than EVE and requires maneuvering and positioning to be successful. The ground combat could be better and the pathfinding is annoying as your bridge officers can often get stuck. The different mission types are refreshing as well since not all require shooting something to achieve the objectives. I still don't know what all the ship equipment does but it's fun learning how to get more performance out of what you do have. The gameplay can get repetitive but you can always get more missions that require exploration if you tire of just shooting things.… Expand

It starts out with a character generation system outdated by much more than the game's actual age, goes on with a completely heart- and soulless tutorial, an interface that is not only confusing and uncomfortable to use, but also incredibly ugly and leads into mediocre gameplay and horrid graphics. I am incredibly relieved that this game is free to play now, for I could hardly stomach how it must feel to have spent money on this. I'd have to get paid to play it and I'd have to get paid even more to recommend it without swallowing my tongue. Simply horrible and a shame even for the Star Trek franchise.… Collapse

The game is awesome...space combat is extremely well done and fun...ground combat takes some getting used to. All the negatives you read about this game are either the learning curve was to much for that reviewer or is an issue that im sure will be worked out over time. People need to realize that MMO's of this size need some time to work out the issues. Warning this is not a button masher kids game and does take some intelligence to master! THANK GOD!… Expand

Very disappointing to a die-hard Trekkie that really looked forward to this. Cryptic got one very fundamental and important thing completely and utterly wrong. Star Trek is about exploration. "To reach out to new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before." Star Trek Online is all combat, combat, combat, combat, more combat, and even more combat. There is no exploration. Don't get me wrong. I thought the combat, especially the ship fights, was fun, if a bit unrealistic. One lone Federation ship cannot defeat 9 Klingon ships (3 at a time, but still), especially when those ships are warships. Sure, Star Trek is a bit unrealistic, but it has always had a tinge of realism that made you go "That could actually be our future." I did not get this feeling for a moment while playing Star Trek Online. The leveling system wasn't bad, and was a good tie-in to the actual ranks. The graphics were amazing, for what little actually had to be done. You are mostly limited to being in orbit of a planet when in space, while the "Sector Space" - the space where you pick what system you want to go to - was big but felt too much like a "Level Select" to me. Having to buy the Klingon and Ferrengi races (Note: I may not be understanding the method of obtaining C-Points correctly), and only offering the freed Borg as a perk to buying a Lifetime subscription, rubbed me the wrong way as well. All in all, Star Trek Online is an incredibly disappointing game that focuses far and beyond too much on combat and not on what Star Trek is really all about: Exploration. I will not be renewing after the free month.… Expand

At first i was really looking forward to this game. Love the Star Trek Universe aspect with the familiar characters and locals. Space Battles are cool albeit a bit drawn out at times and repetitive. What kills this game for me are the buggy / boring ground battles. I've played alot of first person shooters and i find the ground battles in STO to be about 5 to 8 years behind graphically and engine wise. I will not be playing this for much longer and will not be continuing after my 3 months i paid is up. Just too many better games out that do it so much better.… Expand

I decided to come back to this after buying on launch originally a couple of years ago. Originally I played for about 2 weeks before becoming bored with the repetitive and buggy experience. By now the game should be in better shape, right? First the good. The space warfare is fun. For a time. Now the bad. Over the course of the couple of years since launch it actually appears to have become MORE buggy. How this has been accomplished I have no idea, but the situation is so bad I actually started to suspect some kind of corporate-espionage style sabotage. Over the course of my two days replaying, here is SOME of what I discovered.

1. Certain HUD tooltip elements don't deactivate on mouseover properly, instead flickering in a seizure-inducing manner. 2. The speed control slider moves up and down of its own accord at inopportune moments.

3. Gas cloud texture maps are broken

4. Away team members vanish without explanation on occasion

5. Keyboard shortcuts for abilities sometimes don't work - and I mean don't work at all, not just a long delay.

6. If you 'pin to taskbar' the game icon then try to launch the game from it, it will appear to work until the point of login, when the game will freeze at "connecting to account server". I noticed several people on the STO forums complaining about this and not realising it was related to the 'pin to taskbar' function. They were simply fobbed off or insulted.

7. Planets sometimes appear as transparent circles, showing the starfield behind

8. NPCs vanish (which is annoying when they are required to finish a quest)

9. Invisible phaser beams from invisible enemies sometimes shoot you and your team

Now I'm bored. **** game, forget it.… Expand

I have played the game since closed beta and I still love the game. The space combat and graphics are excellent. The ground combat reminds me of city of heroes, but the option to flank, set up ambushes and minefields makes it a bit better. The setup of the game allows for future missions and capabilities to be added without much need for the expansion packs of world of warcraft, just a simple update. Coming from someone who played world of warcraft, this game is superior.… Expand

overall the game has some solid points. space combat is fluid and just as much fun as other star trek games like starfleet command. ground combat still has some issues like not having an active cover system. a lot of small things is what kills this game. unfinished tool tips. and the lack of a real starting area.

I actually liked the ground combat better. I mean they put so much work into the character creation and if you know how to play right some of the battles are exciting. The ship stuff is boring and always the same. It's always taking place with a different skybox and you use the same set of abilities. You move to slow even with the abilities like evasive maneuvers to feel like it';s got any form of action. Most of all I wanted the space aspect to take place from the bridge with a little more depth then a high end flash game that is ultimately is. Too many "i" people working on this, ruined it. It would have been great if the space combat took place from the bridge and the ground combat just had a little more variety.… Expand

As a huge Trek fan, I will keep my account only in the hopes that it will get better with time. I was immensely excited for the release of the game. I jumped right in when Beta access was granted, and played through head start and launch. I just don't have any desire to play through the content that is currently available. The game, as it stands, is rather dry, shallow, and underwhelming. Ground combat is bland and uninspired. Character classes/specialties are almost meaningless; you can play through the game as a Tactical Officer in an Escort ship or a Science Officer in a Cruiser in an almost identical manner. The positive is the space combat. It is really engaging, and I really enjoy the times when there are tons of ships battling in close proximity. Wait six months to a year, and this game might be really great.… Expand

This game should have taken a note from the 2009 Star Trek film. The film was loud and mindless but constantly exciting, while this game is basically City of Heroes with a Star Trek license applied. Boring, unintuitive, and difficult to get together with other players. What's the point of an online game when ninety percent of the time is spent playing alone? On the plus side the character and ship customization are excellent, and the combat systems while humorously outdated are serviceable. It's too bad you can't explore your own ship, communicate in meaningful ways with NPCs, and create your own story; it's the usual MMO grind-fest which has been done better dozens of times by other developers.… Expand

I'll give this gamne maximum points as much for potential as for realization. Anyone who expects - or indeed wants - a Star Trek MMO to be Perfect right out of the gate is either unreasonable, delusional, immature, or all three. What we get for our pre-purchase money is not merely a framework that can expand and grow to hold an ever-deepening MMO universe; we get a game that is playable. One where you don;t have to be an OCD-riddled, ADD-twicth monkey to play and master. Here the reward is patience and a willingness to immerse onself in the genre ratrher than perfect builds, munchkinesque crafting silliness or stabbing other players in the back for the Perfect Drop. STO is, blissfully, wonderfully and magnificently NOT WoW, and for that I am sincerely grateful. You can play this game without having to enslave yourself to it, and good sportsmanship is actually a plus. I am happily subscribed for life, and I look forward to years of interesting expansions.… Expand

If you have A) never played MMOs before, B) are a Star Trek fan, C) only want to play the Federation, and D) only play about an hour a day, you will probably really enjoy STO. However, if you are used to the "standard" amount of content in most MMOs, want to play Klingons, and play alot you will probably find yourself with nothing to do very quickly. To sum it up, STO was released about a year too early. Sure, it could be a great game a year from now, but thats not how reviews work, so see my score above for how STO currently is.… Expand

I tried STO during release and left less than a month into the game. It was horrible. When the recent change to a free to play model was announced, I was curious as to what changes had been made. I reactivated my account and gave it a try. I was pleasantly surprised at all the changes to the space missions and especially the ground missions. Space combat in STO is the strongest appeal the game has. It is unlikely that STO will ever be a mainstream game, but if you are a Star Trek fan, then you should really enjoy STO at this point.… Expand

For the Trek fans, this is an enjoyable and accessible game that's fun to play, if a bit repetitive after a while. Still, the execution is good, the planets and space systems are diverse, and there's plenty of action.

If you like the concept of City of Heroes in space, then go for it. Otherwise don't bother. Check their or the steam forums, they're full of all the issues this game has. I played for 30 days only to realize there was next to nothing to do once you hit the level cap. Add to that the lackluster way they inform you of what your skills actually do. And if your not psychic and you by accident put points into the wrong skills.....too bad for you, there is NO WAY to respec your skills.… Expand

It will all be a matter of content and whether they can keep up with the huge crowd of Star Trek fans. The game was released with a few flaws that has allowed serious gamers to zip through the content and reach max level in a matter of days. But, if you enjoy decent story line and take your time to enjoy the game it can be a great experience although some game play can get repetitive, not so much a grind though. I am enjoying the game play a lot, but I don't see the game lasting much past 3-4 months with out new and frequent content.… Expand

Totally lovin' the game. Ship to ship combat is done very nicely and the ground missions are interesting and fun. Once you conquer the steep learning curve and work out what abilities you like it's a great game to be playing. A must for all Star Trek fans.

Captures the spirit that is Star Trek with the right look, music and atmosphere. Ground combat can be improved but the rest has far exceeded my expectations and with so much potential to expand ahead.

This IS Star Trek. If you have waited 25+ years to finally play in the final frontier, this is the game for you. Spend hours customizing your character and ship, explore strange new worlds, and fight all the classic bad guys that you know and love. The negitive? The offical community is stuck in a vulcan blood fever, so turn off the zone chat and only read the forums if you MUST. Also, patches are coming fast and furious, so server and down time is in line with a game that is one month live. I'm having a great time with frends and family in a fleet. Live long and prosper!… Expand

In a few words: Nice-looking, reaxing, casual. I'm a big fan of Eve:Online, this game gives me what Eve won't - possibility to log in for 25 minutes and actually do something in the game, something more than cheacking in-game mail and undocking from station. I think it's a great choice for people looking for easy fun and rest from harcore "I have to log in at least for three hours or my guild will kick me" MMO gameplay. So far the game is small, and endplay is too limited, but it should change quite soon as new content is added. And even ground fighting have some nice potencial. Most of the bugs were already fixed, now STO should just grow larger and more interesting.… Expand

I have been playing this game for a few weeks now with a friend, and have been enjoying every step of the way. The ship combat is decently done, and the ground combat is not bad in itself, sure there are some things that are to be desired but I have hope that Cryptic will improve on the game and vastly increase the content/quality. All in all, I see great potential in this game in the coming months.… Expand

This is a game that programmers and artists clearly loved, but that managers and executives cynically farmed for cash. Despite staggering beauty in spots, and a few nice visual ideas, the space combat, though modestly clever, gets repetitive, the ground combat is clumsy and jarring, the writing juvenile, and the rest of the game as deep as a TMZ gossip piece. The community is uninvolved in-game, the crafting system is crippled, and the complex, subtle Star Trek universe of diplomacy, discovery, and wonder, is replaced by killing, more killing, and trying to sell a limited inventory of items that no one else wants. Fun for 30 days, but less of an MMO than a desk accessory.… Expand

This game is purely orgasmic. From the first time I logged on, until I logged off, I never wanted to stop playing. It truly makes you feel like a starship captain. Space combat is absolutely fantastic and well worked out. Ground combat is a little lacking, but running up to someone with a Bat'leth is fun as hell. Customisation is far from lacking, you can pick from three ships per tier (for now, more to come) and are able to change parts on your ship to that of other ships, and are also able to change the hull's colour configuration. Character customisation is perhaps the best I've seen in any game. You can create anything from a Betazoid, to a ferengi, a Jem'Hadar, even a Vorta!(I've even seen Yoda ;P) When designing the character you detailed options (more detailed than Oblivion or fallout 3) for the face and body, ranging from eye size and shape, to jaw size, to buffness of your character (and as a treat for us guys, BOOB SIZE!). Cryptic completely went all out with this game, and people are definately anticipating their upcoming free expansion.… Expand

I would echo the thoughts of charlie as STO is a great take on the Star Trek universe. Incredible for fans of ST and of all Sci-fi. Difference of space combat vs ground is nice. PvP, PvE, etc. all welcome. However, Cryptic must devote some amount of time continuing to develop this title as it does suffer from some shallow aspects and some general bugs and unfinished areas. That said, as a fan of the series and of sci-fi MMOs in general, this is a genre that is sorely needed with the glut of WoW and DnD clones perpetually on the market. As it stands, I give it an 8 for a classic theme, sci-fi bent of RPG, and quality of play and variety. If cryptic fully supports this game and continues to release content and upgrades, it could definitely move into the 10 range for me. I will be playing and hanging around to see if that happens. No more swords and sorcery for me for a while!… Expand

You know, here is the thing to me. This game makes the term WoWKiller that everyone likes to throw around laughable. Even if it were possible to defeat WoW, this game is just -not- that good. But thats because it is a game for the fans. I'm a classic fan of star-trek, and I adore it. At first, all of the systems seemed clunky and odd, but I did not give up. After a while, once I got more powers, saw more of the story and started playing with a friend, it suddenly became so much better. Its a good game if you're a fan and have some time to kill, but if you don't like star trek, you will hate this game.… Expand

Realism is key for me in games, as I am a hardcore gamer, and a Trekie to boot. To me, this MMO is a poor execution of everything Star Trek means to me. I have a list of things I don't like, most of which people have mentioned already. -scale of star systems: according to the game, it is only a couple dozen kilometers from a planet and it's moon/asteroid belt (!?!). Asteroid belts don't orbit planets. In STO every planet has asteroids, it kinda got to me. No reason not to die. No economy. (WoW clone type economy doesn't count in my book) Repetitive everything. No reason to buy stuff, everything is dropped by loot or mission reward. No reason to socialize. Frankly, no reason to play. :( Things I liked: phasers and photon torpedoes.... ground combat the first few times.… Expand

Now 2 years and 8 months since the game has launched and nearly 2 years since my initial review. In that time STO has not improved much. Failing in a subscription model Cryptic/PWE switched to a F2P model. Unlike many other F2P models, this one is a blatant cash grab and none of the transaction can be considered "micro". As far as content and systems go, nothing from my previous review has been addressed such as exploration, crafting PvP, factional systems, etc... leaving these important game systems in poor shape. In addition, the player-base has received word that the Feature Episode Series has been canceled, these missions were highly acclaimed by the player base. The only deep system the game has is the Duty Officer System, the new Fleet System was recently introduced but is indicative of the heavy grind found in asian MMO's where the reward is hardly worth the effort placed into it. From here, I will review the game's new season, Season 6 Under Seige. With $7 costumes to $20, you can only get per character, and lottery boxes with poor rewards abounding, the direction of economic model of this game will cause its ultimate failure. Season 6 took nearly 8 months to develop and while the system and generally the artwork are great, the poor content, rewards, and buggy aspects far out-shadow anything good. The monitization hooks abound in the Fleet System with some estimates saying the dollar cost of a fully functional Starbase is $1,500. The introduction of Season 6 came plagued with game breaking bugs to the Foundry, exchange, mail system, combat system to which Cryptic has been slow to respond to. In all, Season 6 has a good foundation that was poorly capitalized on by Cryptic. Even though this "shoot-em-up" version of the Star Trek Universe is F2P, I would recommend passing until the game could be fleshed out more.… Expand

Not sure when the last time any of the reviewers played Star Trek Online, but it has come a long way since it first came out over a year ago. So those who gave negative reviews should go back and play it again. I think they would be pleasantly surprised and give a higher rating score. They will be greatly improving ground combat here in the next month or so, and a lot of new things have been added, and fixed. More fixes are in the works. I love this game so much, I shelled out the $300 for lifetime membership, and so far I haven't been disappointed.… Expand

Quit after 5 hours or so. This game really would only appeal to hardcore Star Trek fans in my eyes. Graphics are good for an MMO. Space flight is ok because you can control your own ship. Rest is just honestly boring and not much fun. It is going FTP soon though but honestly I wouldn't even download it if it was free.

This game really had promise one it was out from under the thumb of Atari's negligence. But barely a year from being purchased by the Chinese game company Perfect World, the game has devolved into an asian cashgrab grinder. Expect to grind for months at endgame to (moderately) progress your character, unless you want to buy the in-game currency which everything now costs. The Season 7 update leaves even the Ferengi in awe.… Expand

What an absolute waste of my time. Do you like varied missions? Do you like doing more than engaging in repetitive and mundane space battles over and over and over again without having the option to skip or use stealth to achieve objectives without resorting to combat? Well then look elsewhere, friend. Sure it looks pretty enough and has lots of customizing options, but that's where the appeal ends. This is a Star Trek game for those who hate nuance, intelligence, or diplomatic solutions. This is only for those who want to fight over and over and over again. If you want real Star Trek, dig up Bridge Commander. You'll have plenty more fun than in Cryptic's piece of trash.… Expand

I thought this game was a great take on the Star Trek license! My friends and I are still having a great time with it. I love the customizable ships too. The combination of ground and space combat is a great addition to the MMO genre.

I give this game an 8 and not a 10 because there are 2 areas where this game clearly lacks. The ground combat is boring and is this is a multi-player game. And yet it focuses on the single player experience. That being said the good points are.. The space combat is like nothing you've played before in a MMO. Its thrilling and fast paced. The idea of having other characters you can give orders too and level up is a novel idea and it works really well. Lastly but not least, It is Star Trek after all. If you like star trek then you'll like this. If you love star trek then you'll love this. final comments are its a fun tactical mmorpg with some clear failings but dont let that spoil your fun.… Expand

This has to be one of the best games to come out of Cryptic Studios thus far. CoV/CoH was a great showing, CO was really poor (but in their defense, it's improving- like all MMOs) but STO simply blew my socks off! I was very skeptical when I got into the beta, but enjoyed it so much that I signed up for a lifetime! I've actually even canceled my three and a half year old WoW account. I'll see you in space, Captain!… Expand

The game fails to deliver in many many ways. But, mostly its just devoid of content. The combat system is 'ok' in space.. but, its basically rehashed City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online. Also, the developers have done a poor job of engaging the community. If you played SW:G at release... then, as bad as that was, STO is worse. If the game didn't have the Star Trek IP... it would have no playerbase at all, in my opinion.… Expand

Space combat is something other games can look to take a bit from; not too complex to make you want to rip your hair out, but just enough to make you want more. Ground is boring to say the least; Nothing real ground breaking, for the most part I feel like I'm playing WoW back at level 30(lack of abilities and major difference in characters). The biggest killer is the fact that yet again if you buy it your paying $60 for beta. Zero foresight to at least make the first few weeks bearable. No content to ease leveling for Klingons. And to top it all off the NPCs in the klingon area feel like they dont even have a lootable. I collected more loot in the first 6 levels of the Fed area than in the next 10 levels in the klingon area. Tons of potential but im not paying for the next 3 months to wait for cryptic to release patches to bring the game to "release" status.… Expand

Game gets a 4 simply due to the storyline missions...of which there isn't enough and they are spread too thin. "Finished" the game in under 5 days /played. At max level, can only do "daily" missions, which are literally on a 24 hour timer...and of which there is *one* of. (The other, at the time of this writing is broken...pvp for feds) The klingon side, which would be the pvpers...is drying up as well. Last night's queues: 97 fed, 4 klingons. 75 fed, 2 klingons. 55 fed, 0 klingons. etc. This was for space missions....ground missions had 20+ feds waiting, and 0 klingons across the board. Cryptic blew it AGAIN. I will NOT be giving them any more money, ever. The "bait" of the 45 day patch is crap too.… Expand

Another unfinished mess by Cryptic. Pointless skill trees, worthless itemisation, broken combat and just like their previous failed MMO Champions Online: Retarded game changing last minute decisions. Not to mention that this POS has a cash shop despite being a pay monthly game, and has purchasable content despite it's only just released. Why wasn't that content part of the game? Because they are greedy idiots with no long term plan for this game.… Expand

STO is a poor game all around. No 360 degree movement in space combat making space combat a 2d snoozefest, the AI in the PvE portions of the game is awful, ai combat movement is limited, they rarely reinforce shields or take any defensive measures, difficulty(and there is very little of it) is attained my the usual mmo convention of adding more power the npc (ie. they're weapons do more damage than my identical weapons) instead of actually developing a decent AI, instead artificially inflating damage and shield power but not making combat anymore interesting and less fun as the game progresses. Exploration is nowhere to be found(star clusters are a joke), Ground combat is more of the same old loot and dice-roll based combat, which was a fine system in the 1970's when rpg's were played on paper, but its become archaic and laughable in an interactive game. Graphically the game is a mixed bag, the 3d models look fine as do the back drops in space but the texture work is some of the worst i have seen, the ship damage texture is awful, and the death animations for space are embarrassing; the ships disappear and are replaced by a stock explosion, no ship parts or debris flying off, (reminds me of space invaders). The future does not look bright for STO if the first real "content" patch is any indication, badge grinding and raiding seem to be the focus going forward. Sad that no company has had the guts to break free of the eq/wow mmo mold. With STO, Cryptic solidifies itself as the shovelware king of the mmo industry with this timid, soulless and boring approach to one of the best sciFi IP's around.… Expand

Worst game ever. Already beat the game. Nothing special on this. Don`t buy it wase of money. Crypt = money $$$$. Don`t fall in this crapy game its not even close to a "standerd" mmorpg. Its more Starfleet command 4 not star trek online. However if you buy don`t cry. The misions are at 1 point nice if you follow the "story line"but when hit the maxs level its all about pvp/patrol misions. And let me say its real borring. I know i will go on the bad light but let me say this i have warn you. Don`t fall in this crap like i do. Even i have buy the Special edition and life time subscribe "yah stupid" so let me say don`t fal.… Expand

Buggy, laggy, and not fun. Yet another game that imitates a MMO in order to charge a monthly fee yet offers no incentive or motivation to actually team up to accomplish a task. Why are there games that do more for multiplayer while not charging a fee? Cryptic excels at squandering potential when it comes to game design.

Your generic quest/grind MMOG. The multiplayer elements are completely ignorable as it is solo game by design with co-op elements added in. Not really impressed as it just like many other MMOGs out there right now who have already perfected their genre. I guess if you're a fan of the new age star trek (enterprise, the new movie and such) this is for you, older trekkies will find too many plot holes and retcons of the older series. TL:DR This game would be worth it if it were free, however the monthly fee is not worth it.… Expand

Pretty good game. It could still use a lot of work and polish, but it's got a solid foundation. Space combat is REALLY fun, but ground combat could definitely use some work. The customization of your ships, avatar, and even officers is really amazing.

It's got some way to go before I could honestly give it a 9; it needs more content and bug-fixing. But the game itself I enjoy, including the ground segments that other people seem to dislike. It's also apparent that they put a lot of work into making this a canonical sequel to Nemesis (and the start of Star Trek XI), and they should be applauded for that. I could just do with some more fixes, please.… Expand

This game is a shame. It has no StarTrek at all. It is all combat, at space mainly, even the combat at ground is bad. I admit the space combat is fun to play, but all is space combat, no exploration, no diplomacy, no Star Trek at all. The skill system is useless. What is the point in having four officers with a punch of skills to level up, when you can only use five or six skills at maximum? It has no sense to raise for example 2 space skills per officer when you can only use 5. The missions are mainly go there and get an object, or go there and kill those guys. The klingon faction is a waste of time, no fun missions, no content, just a bit of pvp with a painful difficult level. Stay away from this game please.… Expand

This has got to be one of the worst MMOs ever created. Even the term "MMO" doesn't apply since it's so over-instanced that it might as well be a single player game. What little content actually exists in the game is bland, boring, shallow and extremely repetitive. The ground combat is an utter joke. Space combat is also trivially easy and gets boring very quickly. Furthermore the utterly disrespectful way in which the developers are treating their customers is enough for anyone (no matter how much they love Star Trek) to quit instantly. This game is a definite no-no even for hard core Trekkies.… Expand

For a Star Trek game there is NOTHING about this game that is Star Trek but it's look. After 10 days of playing i had cleared ALL content on the federation side. Cleared all content in 10 days of an MMO, WOW! No diplomacy No exploration (what they have is a joke) Combat TOTALLY untrue to Star Trek. (ya. i was blowing up Negh'var Klingon Battleships in a 200 year old Miranda class.) I could go on listing massive issues with this game and its relation to Star Trek for a while. It really is that bad and i couldn't be more sad about this outcome. A game i had been waiting for for 10 years. A game I wish steam would give me my money back on. If you like mindless almost endless combat, this game is for you! If your looking for a Star Trek game, this one is FAR from it.… Expand

This game is so incomplete. You have 3 missions, all with a different skin on it. You have 3 ship type to choose from. There is a complicated amount of weapons/equipment that have stats that will mean nothing to most people. Ground combat, ai, the enviroment are all in need of reworking. Looks worst then other older mmos looked on the planets. This game has nothing new to offer, and without the star trek name would probably not have made it past testing.… Expand

Some really nice visuals, but the game itself is horrible. Every mission falls into 2 catagories - 1) fly a couple of patrols killing ships at each waypoint (about 90 percent of the time) and 2) going to a planet and playing a very badly designed 1st person shooter (about 10 percent of the time). The space combat is not 3d, and is so mindless you might as well be shooting at a block - the ground combat is so buggy and mindless you just need to turn on autoshoot and walk forward an inch every 40 seconds or so. Stay far away from this one folks, your gaming money is better spent on something worthy.… Expand

As a Star Trek fan this game is enjoyable to play. The ships are well designed and the choice of colours makes your ship unique. The ground combat can be difficult at times, but I have enjoyed it. I think the game will improve as time goes on. the bugs will vanish and hopefully some new content will add to the experience of Star Trek.

A good attempt at the franchise but they could have used another year of development for the ground combat system (Champion's Engine), and the space combat is only good because Cryptic didn't come up with it, its a dumped down direct rip of the combat system in Starfleet Command 3. Personally, I'll rebuild an old system and play SFC3, rather than pay Cryptic. As a trekkie my expectations were pretty low, and even Cryptic was able to fly right under them without any effort, literally. Not good.… Expand

This is one of the best MMO's that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. The graphics are great and it really feels like you are in control of your own Star Trek show. My only complaint is that they didn't spend enough time developing the game before release and it has quite a bit of bugs, needs more content (Read content for Klingons here) and they need to balance the 2 factions a bit better. On the Federation side you get a ton of quests and just from running your quests you will be well equipped shortly after reaching the next rank, including all of your Bridge Officers, also you are able to do some crafting on the Fed side that just isn't available to the Klingons. On the Klingons side of the house you have PVP and a few PVE missions. the first few PVE missions take you around show you where things are and give you 3 Bridge Officers, then you get the repeatable PVP missions, and PVE MISSION no that is not a typo, most of you Levling will take place in PVP which will give you all the credits you need to get equipped or you can do the Kahless Expanse. Which will give you different kinds of credits that will get you pretty much the same equipment. This is where we come to the disparity. The Feds get some pretty good Rare equipment starting in their Tier 2 mission (Level 11 through 20) Where as the Klingons will only get the PVP/Exploration equipment that the Feds can also get. Cryptic is supposed to be working on some PVE content for the Klingons that should fix this disparity in equipment but until they do my Liberated Borg Klingon will be staying at level 9.… Expand

In its current form, it is not complete as are most starting MMOs. But if you are a new buyer, don't let the ex-champions players dupe you into avoiding STO. Currently much of a hate towards STO is by these people who are upset because Champions Online failed, which was Cryptic's MMO before STO. Course part of the fault was due to Cryptic but thats another tale. Its not perfect yet but if you are a WoW player who wants something new, something fresh to try. Look no further than STO. It is a fun experience and the potential it has is enormous which is why I rate it an 8 instead of a 7. The Trek IP is just a gold mine for this game and the main storyline does not disappoint as you move into the Romulan sectors. Give it a shot!… Expand

This is game completely miss what Star Trek franchise was about. It only looks like star trek on the surface under the hood it everything that made the shows great. And manages to mess up all the other things it tried to do to make it fun. Ground combat is a joke, the space ship combat could be fun expect that all the super hero powered ships seem to encourage button mashing spam. The crafting is bad joke. And so just about everything else about this game.… Expand

Whilst the game is great for Star Trek fans, which I am one of them, it will slowly fade into the nether regions of "terrible games". Visually, it's a nice game. Content wise, it's a decent game. Long-term playability it's dismal. I've counted up about 4 different activities you can do and all the missions are a randomization of those activities. There is a lot of positive reviews of this game because it's new. Give it 6 months and you'll find membership dropping and those positive opinions changing to "mediocre".… Expand

Has growing pains like any newly launched MMO, but it is a great start, and the upcoming free content will only add to the fun. Cryptic has been very respectful of and faithful to the IP franchise, and the game is great fun, especially for an old hand at the Starfleet Command series.

I have been with the game since open beta. The game has definatly evolved through beta and now that its live its a totally different game. The space battles have become more challenging, requiring more of a tactical approach. The ground missions break up the monotone of space but still need some polish. I like the game and I feel it has alot of potential, but we are a long ways from that.

Has a lot of potential, was very shaky at launch with many server blackouts and random disconnects. How ever this game has a lot going for it, although end game content is lacking it is still very enjoyable for the casual gamer. If your a trekkie fan pick this up, if you are not a trekkie fan but are interested...watch the shows first then pick up a copy. If your just looking for another random MMO to play, hold off for a bit while the game is being polished more.… Expand

For me it's the best MMORPG I ever played, even with the 2 possibilities to fight in space and on planetsand/or stations - it is just great fun! Although I am a great fan of Star Trek, I think this game would even make sence for non-Star-Trek-guys. Thanks that my childhood dreams became true and I can be a real Captain with my own Crew!

A disappointing and embarrassing attempt to recreate the TNG-era Star Trek universe in a massively multiplayer setting. Persistent, unresolved, showstopping technical problems with the servers and the client are the primary reason why I rated this game so low. Due to the promising space combat, I would rate the game a solid 5.5 if all the technical issues disappeared. But even that very nice-looking space combat gets boring after a while, because the game is so repetitive. Highly recommended to avoid, especially if you are a Star Trek fan and don't want to ruin your opinion of the franchise.… Expand

I have a feeling this game would have been so much better if not made by cryptic. Since it was though it was released far to early with a lack of content, boring quests, horrendous ground combat, and without any real fun factor. Also with all the instancing I don't think it should be called a MMO. I regret my purchase, Buyer Beware.

Brilliant game. Space combat is pretty damned good and all that. I can't get enough of it! Then theres the forming of fleets that you can modify, put your clan tag on and the like. It's just sweet, 10 outta 10, ESPECIALLY if you are a trekkie! Let's not forget, you can customize yourself and your ship to the 'nth degree and well. It's brilliant.

I believe most people agree that the space combat components are the best part of this game (other than the eye candy that is the spacely environment). I myself found the ground combat interesting and it's refreshing to not have to be dependant on other players to accomplish group missions. It's nice to be able to either play with your friends or make your own away team, so regardless of your situation you have the basic components to almost every MMO. I also find that gearing up two different Avatars is an addictive concept. Gear is easy enough to get and progresses at a rate similar to leveling. The big down side to this game is the extremely predictable quest line. It has a very elementary feel to it.… Expand

This game is very fun. Space combat is far more strategic than combat in other MMOs I've played. It is almost like dogfighting where you push a hole in enemy shields and try to line up torpedos on that front (or the permutations from using other weapons). Ground combat is fun, but can be very... boring unless your skills are designed properly. Not much worse than say LOTRO when you are wailing on a boss as a tank. End Game content seems very underdeveloped, though. PVP and Fleet Actions seems to be the only major effort at that stage, but it will take a month of extremely dedicated play (hundred(s) of hours) to get there. Consequently, it is worth the money. Trek fans will love it.… Expand

STO is a very good game. It needs some improvement, but the developer Cryptic has shown that they love giving away free updates that fix and improve the game. The flight sim of space might seem complex at first, what with a million complex button options, but is actually very easy to grasp. The storyline is very simple yet still richly detailed, allowing both Star Trek fans and novices to understand and enjoy. In my opinion, the best battles are on planets with your away team. There are possibly a thousand different weapons - from phaser rifles to disruptor launchers - that each have their own unique sense of purpose and belonging. In short, this is a great game that nobody will forget any time soon, and I strongly recommend buying it.… Expand

I've been playing since launch, and while I will say that the game is very enjoyable, it is just that...An enjoyable GAME. People expecting the kind of MMO experience that will suck you in and you won't want to leave are going to be sorely disappointed, as Cryptic hasn't even been able to provide much more than a few story driven missions, coupled with a massive number of generic missions that have little to no story. To add insult to injury, Cryptic neglected to put into place any system that would allow any group of people larger than 5 to get into the same instance. There is no "raid" group function, and therefore it is virtually impossible for a fleet/guild to actually be able to get into the same instance of an encounter. This makes the Multiplayer aspect severely limited and makes the reasoning behind joining a fleet to be somewhat laughable. On top of that, may of the developer interviews have been oddly reminiscent of City of Heroes when Cryptic decided to implement changes that completely alienated existing gamers, causing them a loss of 54% or so of their players, and triggering the sale of that game to NCSoft. It is a great game for fun, and reminiscent of SFC III, but if you're looking for an engaging MMO that lets you do more than fly in and shoot to blow things up, you will be sometimes happy, and most of the time disappointed. I'm hoping Cryptic will be more forward thinking, but for my money, I'll be going into something else as soon as my sub is up.… Expand

For a star trek fan I found this game to be a breath of fresh air over the typical MMO grind. It has strong and heavy PVE content geared torward the PVE types. The quest content far superscedes any other mmo in PVE content. Clearly it requires Klingon content and has an unfinished touch but the company is working on those items. Many changes have already taken place hence the 9 score. In the beginning a 6 or 7 would be more fitting but not in the games current state which has already made a huge improvement and more to come!… Expand

I'm going to have to agree with Don H. on this. First, fanboy expectations of this game are a little ridiculous and quibbling over nonsense like the scale of the star systems is stupid. Do you really expect for space travel from Earth to Bajor to be in real-time? That would make for one exciting experience, wouldn't it? Beyond that, the jury was out on this game way too early. I'm not an MMO player and I wouldn't give someone a nickel to play WoW as I have no interest in the genre but I am a gamer and a Star Trek gamer at that and I bought a lifetime mebership as well only for the fact that if I get two years out of it, it will be paid for. That being said, I haven't played the game in over a month and I just got back into it this week and the improvements that have already been made have been dramatic. I'll be the first to admit that I began playing this thinking to my self, "that's it?" as there really wasn't much of a difference between the closed-Beta version of the game and the initial release. I'm amazed at how much better it has become in just the past 6 weeks. The complaint about not having any incentive to team up... gone. I have been in a multiple battles in the past three days that have required assistance from fellow players or I would not have been able to beat them and that's in space and on the ground. One of the biggest complaints I had was that the missions were dull and simplistic with little storyline and and the same generic tasks. That to, albeit not perfect, is improving. Cryptic seems very receptive to the input of the players and they seem to want to make the experience improve by continuing to evolve it. In my opinoon what happened s that they released this game ealrier than they really wanted towhich is why it seemed "not finished." Also, something that really bugs me is when players complain that an MMORPG is subscription based. Grow up, you big babies. It's an open-ended environment that need to be constantly maintained and Cryptic doesn't bombard you with advertisements and doesn't make you buy upgrades. if you had asked me last month where this game ranked, I'd say a 5 but today it's a solid 7.5. It's not quite an 8 so I'm leaving it at 7 but Cryptic that they really care about this product to improve what needs to be improved.… Expand

Don't listen to most of the people saying this is a terrible game i played the beta and when it first launched and i thought it was fun but it did have lots of annoying gltiches and it was very limited. Now i've come back after 7 months or so and found 95% of the bugs have been fixed, theres is no crippling lag, they are constantly adding new content and everything has generally been improved. I've noticed some people are **** about "all you do is kill kill and kill some more there is none of the diplomacy or exploration that was what the star trek universe was all about" there are exploration missions with minimal rewards and there is some trade and diplomacy involved in them but THEY ARE THE MOST BORING MISSIONS IN THE GAME. What people are forgetting is that without the warfare this game would cease to be fun. Would anyone be playing a game like WOW (i personally hate the game just using it as an example) if all you were supposed to do was explore, trade and do diplomatic missions with a little combat? NO. now onto the actual combat. The ground combat is very dull though i've found its become more enjoyable since they removed almost all of the glitches. The space combat is amazing as a huge fan of games like Starfleet Command and Star Trek Bridge Command among others i found they took most of the best elements of both, put them into a single game and improved the graphics and gameplay by about 10x and while it is true it gets a little tedious after awhile but really doesnt any mmo? my biggest problem with the game is that you cant buy ship upgrades with your energy credits (money) from the vendors you need badges of exploration to do that which means doing the boring exploration missions.… Expand

I was not one of the players that was there during beta or launch but as someone who has jumped into the game 9 months after it was first released I find STO to be a very enjoyable Star Trek video game experience. It is evident from the game's website that Cryptic is working to correct any mistakes that were there during launch and while I can understand bad feelings because of the game feeling unprepared when it was released, it is definitely worth checking out now.

At this point, what the game does well:
+ Beautiful graphics created in the Star Trek universe
+ In depth and interesting character and ship customization options
++ Featured Episodes (the studio has implemented weekly episodes or missions based around a new story arc being introduced into the game) + Space Combat (from what I've read this has been one of the highlights since launch)

The negatives (at this point)
- Ground combat is still repetitive (although being able to flank and dodge has been fun)

Overall, if you are a Star Trek or Sci-fi this is definitely a MMO worth trying, especially since the demo is free. That's how I got hooked.… Expand

Alright so Startrek Online has finally turned one. The game has come a great way from its beginning, less then a month after initial reviews Cryptic rolled out their first set of content updates. These â

The game is repeating it self over and over again. Exploration is about seeing exciting new worlds, finding/solving mysteries, discovery, adventure, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Well with STO I felt like I didn't want to explore after a point, of endless silly scanning around for anomalies. Ground combat is appalling and most focus is on space combat, of which I am not a great fan. After playing STO for about a year I would describe the game as mediocre, only thing great it was hearing Spock talking and the jokes in chats about Sulu and Kirk. Now I returned playing WoW and EVE for sometime (like most ppl I know) and am waiting for SWtOR which looks quite promising btw.… Expand

Great Trek game bundled with hours of fun. There are two forms of combat, space and ground. Space combat is intense and fun, ground combat is currently not as fun. The foundry is a groundbreaking quest building utility that allows players to create their own missions for others to play. STO is not a perfect game and not for everyone, the game was a little rocky upon release but as someone who took a years break after the first month I have definitely seen massive improvement.… Expand

Its a 'Marmite' title at no mistake, I think the haters are very wrong though, it is expansive, exciting to watch and play, filled with Trek lore and a really fun game to play. A really refreshing change from the dull grind and raid of most MMORPG's out there.. Think original mass effect mixed with Earth and Beyond and your not far off what this title delivers. I love it!!

I am an avid Star Trek Fan. I love this game. I played it in BETA. When the game was like 3 years away from being released... The graphics are good, Sound good... controls are excellent... The problem you will find with this game like myself, is the boring gameplay. Not that the gameplay is boring, but you get bored doing the same thing over and over and over again!

The space combat is new and fun but that is the only redeemable quality about the game. The ground/planet combat really just looks and feels incomplete, like it received no love from the developers. There also isn't enough built in emphasis on playing with others, something that is more and more common and necessary in MMO's. I also, and this might just be me, wanted to be a member of a ships crew and work as a team. That was not the direction they chose to go with STO where everyone is the captain of their own ship. I really think that was a mistake and that someone will strike gold when they figure out how to design an MMO around that style of gameplay.… Expand

STO is now F2P so i gave it a try for 4 weeks.
The first 3 weeks of gameplay was interrupted by daily patches and daily server shutdowns to fix the broken patches.
leveling was extremely fast,and boring doing the same cookie cutter missions over and over at each level.I reached the level cap in 1 week and thats when the real boredom started.After reaching the level cap there is nothing to do except a few STF missions which you need to do hundreds of times each in order to try to get the good gear that you need to participate in pvp.
The game seems to be a typical low budget cash cow game. The community forums require a cash payment in order to gain access to them. some of the mission rewards called mystery boxes require a cash payment in order to open the box and receive your reward for completing the mission.
A never ending stream of bugs and glitches seems to be the major features of this game.
STO makes the same mistake that many other F2P games make, they seem to feel that since it is F2P that all the user can be treated as,and used as,beta testers to weed out and report the bugs and glitches that infest the poor quality patches and updates.If I want to be a beta tester I`ll go play a beta game. when I play a live game,either F2P or P2P, I don`t want to be the lab rat that tests the poor quality patches and updates.If they can`t be bothered to do a quality job creating and testing their patches and updates why should I have to be burdened with finding and reporting the bugs and glitches in their patches and updates.
overall the gameplay reminds me of some cheap knockoff of an old NES type game.
As with many other F2P games the customer service in this game is dreadful at best and non existent at it`s worst. This game is hardly worthy of the Star Trek name, I expected much better.
If your just looking for another pointless low budget,generic grindy, cash cow game then you`ll love this game.Personally I wasn`t the least bit impressed with it.… Expand

I was looking forward to this game for ages and did initially have fun playing, the space combat is well polished and the fleet actions are great fun and quite epic at times. However, the game lets itself down on the ground combat... it feels robotic and a bit cut and paste with no smoothness and its not that fun after a while. There are also still a lot of bugs in the game, some of which definitely should have been ironed out in the beta and the game does get repetitive quite quickly :(. i hope that cryptic do continue to invest in the game as there is a lot of potential here that just needs to be realised and perhaps in a few months time it will be worth paying over £10 (thats right £10) a month but right now i will play for my free time and that's it.… Expand

I like watching star trek but not a fan of it like some people are, however i do like scifi and mmo games. So what could go wrong with a game like STO ? Well just rip the mmo part off because if this is cryptic idea of a mmo then they have got to be kidding. If you disagree fine, but the whole aspect of a mmo is that you dont feel alone but are playing with thousands of other players. There might be some hope but as the game stands now maybe the true star trek fans can enjoy it I however was quite bored after 2 weeks. And i really tried it but its just the same thing over and over. But there is still potential however i will look at it again in a few months see if it has improved. But there are better mmo's out there.… Expand

It's a pretty standard MMO with a very thin veneer of Trek on it. In short, this game is more MMO than Trek, and the MMO part of it is nothing special. Even old Trek games got the LCARS-style UI in the game right, but not this one. Missing are all the great Trek bloops and bleeps you hear when interacting with a colorful, stylized interface. Voice response is spotty and often wrong ("left shields failing" instead of "port shields failing", for example). The game is a standard leveling treadmill. The skills list is vast and confusing. Itemization is a standard collection of stats and like in every MMO after you upgrade anything you'll be hard pressed to tell a difference on your next outing. Ship combat is a boring affair of button mashing, with players blowing up enemies by the dozen; missing is any sense of strategy or diplomacy. In the Trek universe, ship combat is an elegant dance where knocking down a target's shields is usually enough to get them to open hailing frequencies and negotiate; in Star Trek Online you just blow up the whole enemy fleet (one player can kill half a dozen enemies easily) and maybe something drops loot. For ground combat, there doesn't seem to be a stun setting; again, you just kill enemies by the dozen and win the occasional loot drop. Traveling anywhere is slow and boring, and it seems that every star system is just chock full of asteroids that don't obey the laws of physics. Available activities presented by the game are unclear, as are the player's options when setting his own goals. Save your money.… Expand

This game is a really fun casual mmo and now that it has been launched, I can only see it getting better with more content constantly being added. This mmo does have some flaws, but what doesn't? I quit WoW for STO. =) Full customization of your character and ship rocks!

The Game looks great and does have some fun qualities. But it quickly got REAL boring for Me...Way too much repetitive Space Combat and not nearly enough Ground. I actually did not mind the Ground Combat, for what it was worth. Not nearly enough true Planetary exploration for a Game with this IP...I know it's early, but this Game did not catch My attention enough to Play it for more than the 1st week...I was REALLY disappointed overall...… Expand

Sadly, once your get past the eye candy what you are left with is a game troubled with mediocrity, at best, and outright disdain for gamers, at worst. Yes, the rabid fans of STO will defend it to the end but the simple truth is that we have been offered a shallow, poorly constructed, shell of a single player game. Perhaps it can be saved but I highly doubt it. If you read their forums things have gotten so bad that they are banning "I quit" threads. The question to ask is if this is for the benefit of the community are a desperate attempt to impede opinion. Thanks Cryptic for putting the final nail in the coffin of Trek games.… Expand

While this game is nothing like the other MMO's out there, it does bring alot ot the Industry. It's ability to have so much relation to the story i grew up with even the TRIBBLES. I look foward to more content as it gets better and better. Like most MMO's its not perfect but has alot of potential.

A heck of a first salvo. The game looks beautiful and the universe is vast. There is much repetition in the quests and the ground combat is rather stiff and limited. Exploration on planets is limited and you can't wander around the starships. However, it's a fresh MMORPG and the potential is infinite. If Cryptic really puts their collective noses to the grindstone, this is gonna be the greatest online game ever made. Blizzard, with their World of Warcraft, should be looking over the shoulder. This one is coming at 'em at light speed.… Expand

First impression; The game is really complicated. I am, however, really enjoying it. I find that I am able to fill my inventory with unknown objects, quest, and read tutorials, in very tolerable doses. I've only been playing for a few days, but so far so good.

All the bad votes are from the beta players, i for one was also a beta player but unlike the other I understand what beta means, yes during beta there was lag and server down time aswell as loads of buggy missions but on day of launch all those issues have all gone. if you like your trek then you should enjoy STO, this is more of a casual online game and its not hardcore like WOW or EVE but probably more like guildwars.… Expand

The game is a very detailed journey through the star trek universe. It has some very strong points that include space comment. Ground combat is fun with a friend and once you get your away team geared properly can be very fun. It got a 9 from me because of the occasional disconnects and lag. However it is an excellent diversion from WOW.

Great entertaining game, that immerses the player into 25th Century Trek, a time where the galaxy is at war, a conceit that's really necessary for a game of this type, despite what many of the impossible to please Trek purists might tell you. This game makes a refreshing change from other MMO's that I've played, and provided Cryptic give it the love that the IP deserves as time progresses they have a good foundation on which to build.… Expand

Star Trek Online is a blast to play from the very start. You'll command your own starship within an hour. You will be blasting Borg, Klingons, and Orions left and right. Strange new worlds and familiar sights await you. This game is very faithful to Star Trek canon. All series and all movies but Star Trek 5 are accounted for. (ST 5 is an abomination) Some downsides: The game is very buggy when it comes to ground combat on stations but not planets. Currently the Cardassian and Romulan factions are not playable since they are being held until an expansion comes out. Still, this is a game every Trek fan should check out. Tribbles included.… Expand

Some peoples first thoughts will be "it cant compete with wow" but its not wow its Star Trek Online. Its from the worlds biggest franchise, it plays and feels like the Tv series. Graphics: are just beautiful and the game will run most systems. Not washed out graphics like wow but clear detailed graphics. The different worlds are different from each other. The layout of the interface and controls are nice with the awesome shield system. Audio: The sound is terrific and adds the star trek theme really well. The phasers to the computers voice are just exciting and well done that make you feel a part of the adventures not just a 3rd person watching. The theme of star trek is really added with the music. Gameplay: Its excellent once you know the controls.The controls with the players can be hard at first but its no different to any other third person mmo such as wow. Lasting play? Already STO has made a great showing of what Cryptic can do and it can only get better as time goes on. Yes it was buggy but that's a mmo and this is not just a wow style mmo its a complex one in many ways, its star trek. You cant compare wow to Star Trek its to different and in my opinion i much prefer STO because i love scifi. Its nice to see 1 more scfi mmo in the world i was becoming sick and tired of swords and magic.… Expand

Anyone who says this game has a steep learning curve needs to play Eve Online. That being said, the game is mediocre and boring after about the first 20 levels. As said they also forget what the star-trek universe was about, exploration. If it weren't combat based however itwould probably just be a boring game. All in all, we see a lot of what Cryptic has copied, or just plain done wrong (ship combat becomes boring after you kill the same sets of mobs 50+ times), and little that seems to be interesting, or done right.… Expand

This doesn't feel like a game that should be charging a monthly sub. The starship combat is tons of fun. However, everything else, particularly the ground combat, just feels like an unwelcome distraction, and I find myself praying that whatever random encounter I'm in doesn't lead to an away team mission. I even suspect that the space combat will lose it's luster in 30+ hours. Also, low difficulty curve, high level variance, and lots of instancing doesn't leave this game very multiplayer friendly.… Expand

If I haven't played them all I've played many of the more interesting MMOs out there. Eve Online, Star Wars Galaxies and Lord of the Rings Online all rank in time I've spent living there. For a roleplayer, like me, a game's about living an experience as much as gaming the mechanics. Star Trek Online definitely ranks up with Lord of The Rings Online in an attempt to capture the feel the setting and, more, it incorporates some unique gameplay elements to that end. Space combat feels much like a more simplified but fun, action packed, version of Star Trek games like Starfleet Command. Ground combat has the potential to be tactically interesting as you groom your bridge crew/away team in skills they'll need to help you succeed. There's more than a little X-Com-like attachment to your guys and, well, even more because they can be customized in name and appearance and possess four unique traits beyond skills alone that define their abilities. There's exploration in several clusters that offer a small variety of randomized mission types in a large variety of different graphical environments. More needs to be done here but for daily, pick up n' play, content no MMO comes close to being this entertaining as it is for casual gamers. There's already a big roleplaying community and the influx of dedicated Trekkers certainly helps. While we have ship bridges they're largely non-functional breakrooms and hangouts. There is no bridgeview combat or travel yet and certainly it seems hard to imagine multiplayer ships will be in soon. For those so inclined there is PvP, including a barebones Klingon faction, and one minor Raid instance. In the next update the Klingons are going to get much more PvE and more Raid will be introduced. A continuing sticking point is the sheer amount of combat in the game. While this fits Cryptic's vision of a Federation at war it's not necessarily the kind of Federation many Star Trek fans are comfortable with. The developers have indicated they're definitely expanding on the non-combat aspects and this will be focused into the Exploration/Genesis content. Overall, I'm having a ball and I've been here since Open Beta. Get with some friends that love the setting as much as you do and you'll have fun. STO's not perfect yet but there's room for growth in so many directions and no great flaws that will keep it from getting better with time.… Expand

Coming from a back round of EQ, WoW and countless others, it's rare to find a game where it's more challenging to level than simply walking to a man with a question mark above his head. One of those games that I somehow "lost" ten hours the first time I sat down to play it.

Being a huge trekkie I was so excited about this game. It is fun, has a great Trek like soundtrack, beautiful and interesting. It is just severly lacking in content. This problem in an MMO is huge. There are many people hitting lvl cap already, I'm personally am 3/4 there without playing night and day. The game is very repetitive, and has a terrible crafting system. PvP is really fun, expecially Fed vs Klingon but there are some serious imbalance issues. It was a fun game while it lasted, but there is no way this game is going to keep most people interested more than a month in the state that it is in. It's an MMO though, and will continue to grow over time.… Expand

Fun, addictive, and totally incomplete. Yet another MMO launch in which the product was evidently rushed out the door by an eager marketing department, ST:O features a great core game obscured by dozens of critical bugs, server failures, and omissions of features common in almost all other MMOs (things like chat spam filters, the ability to sort the auction house, set the home base for your character to use a recall to, etc). Cryptic's support has been totally overwhelmed by the amount of user complaints, and as such it's taking a while to get everything in shape. Still, there's a lot of potential here, and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. As for gameplay itself, it's a pretty standard MMO design in many ways. Space combat is a lot of fun, and the different ship types really do require different styles. Ground combat is cookie-cutter and boring, and I haven't seen such a dearth of mission environments since the original Mass Effect - almost every ground mission looks like one of 4 or 5 different templates and has the exact same goals. Still, the joy of flying a starship can't be understated.… Expand