Like many Trekkies, I believe the rebooted Star Trek film directed by JJ Abrams was probably the best in the franchise – so far.
If you’re a gamer, you may have tried playing a number of Star Trek titles in the past, only to be disappointed as some fell quite short of the mark.
Fortunately, the upcoming rebooted Star Trek game – developed by Digital Extremes – will go live in early 2013.
Typically, the turnaround from kicking off a gaming project (an FPS) and the title hitting store shelves takes approximately 12-18 months.
However, the latest Star Trek game is apparently on a slower development cycle, due to extremely cautious quality control.
“This has given us time to experiment and prototype instead of making quick decisions. With so much room to flex, last year’s excellent E3 demo wasn’t even a complete slice of the game,” Digital Extreme’s Sheldon Carter told IGN.
“That was still pretty early… It was more, like, to give you a feel. I’m not saying we wouldn’t use some of the stuff that was in that, but that was the feel we were going for.”
And with E3 2012 looming, “you’re gonna see it for real – realized in a lot of different ways.”
Digital Extreme’s strategy is hardly a surprise, as the studio has to live up to the standards of gamers, as well as the standards of some of the most critical Trekkies.
Interestingly enough, the long-awaited game will feature cooperative play options between Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock.
“If you take it back to day one when we started talking about making a game, and you break down what Star Trek is, It really is the story of Kirk and Spock, which is halves of the same whole,” said Paramount rep Brian Miller.
The title includes characters from the new film, with game writer Marianne Krawczyk said to have closely consulted with the screenwriters from the JJ Abrams film. Paramount and Digital Extremes aren’t talking yet about voice actors, but considering the time and expense taken with the games development, we expect the voices of Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine be used in the game.
Finally, the game is said to embrace the Trekkie ethos of exploring new worlds and studying alien technologies. This is one Star Trek title I’m certainly looking forward to.
