This by far the best write up of STO and cryptic I read anywhere. You hit the nail on the head.I was hoping that Cryptic would have put more polish in this SiFi game. Put they fail in using their own proprietary engine. Bad choice.Tabula Rasa I wish they would bring that back. at least is was better than STO.

I love how you're reviewing STO based completely off of your experiences in the starting area, during beta. ANY reviewer worth his salt knows that it's neigh impossible to review an mmo in a short stint like that. Concider the state of world of warcraft at launch. it was small, buggy, and un-fun. After a year, it became a much better game. ALL mmos do that. Even AoC is decent now, and we all know how terrible that was at launch. You've lost alot of credibility, and I'll never read your blog again.

Boring show me boobs and I may agree

This is a fair and accurate review, i hate to bring the bad news to all those who were waiting for it that haven't gotten in open beta, but the game sucks.

Well arent we the one who got out of bed the wrong side this morning? Didnt get your leg over? (You are old enough for that arent you and you do know what I mean?).The game can be and is being improved all the time. If it carries on the way it is then the game will become an all time classic.You mention the graphics are crap? You need to look at your machine, you might have some gremlins (tribbles) in there. My system isnt the best on the market but I can run the game without any problems at all.Btw, get back to playing WOW, you t!t.

What a load of crap, you obviously haven't played the game past Ensign. Brining up the kindergarten MMo WOW to compare a real MMO to shows the true extent to your ignorance. I seriously hope this isn't you real job, cause they need to fire you. Why don't you actually try the game before you sentence it to death. Eve on line, really, you compare this game to EVE, there is nothing similar between them except they are in space. How about you actually try the live game instead of beta's, its like my 2 year old telling me she doesn't like a type of food that she has never tried before.

Who are you and why should I care what you think of STO?

Someone who has been writing about video games for over 20 years. The same guy who warned you about Vanguard, Hellgate London, Tabula Rasa, Champions Online and countless other MMOs that ripped you off and failed to deliver. Who are you and why should I care what you think?

I'm no fan of WoW by any stretch of the imagination, but I am curious: why do you consider Star Trek Online a "real" MMO, while you consider WoW a "kindergarten" one? One thing I notice in all the hate mail is no one is bothering to explain why they believe Star Trek Online to be good. This isn't surprising, really. Most of the outrage undoubtedly comes from people who foolishly purchased lifetime subscriptions or feel the need to justify their pre-orders.

So you believe it is okay to push a woefully under-developed game like Age of Conan on the public as long as it is somewhat fixed within two years? It's that kind of attitude from gamers, this acceptance of shit and immediate generation of excuses that ultimately leads to more unfinished, unpolished garbage stinking up store shelves and digital download bandwidth. The more you tolerate it, the more it will happen. You gamers need to get some balls and demand to be treated like consumers, not cos-playing losers who lick up any excrement placed before them.

You need to get with the times and realize that nobody delivers a finished product anymore, especially when it comes to MMOs (Thanks Atari). HOWEVER, instead of being massively pessimistic like you, players who actually care about this game will look to its positives, and analyze its potential. Ship combat is AMAZING. I've had more fun in my few pvp matches in my little ship than I've EVER had in all my years of WoW, EQ, WAR, AOC, etc. Character creation is really interesting, and the bridge officer system is truly unique. There are many people who genuinely enjoy this game for what it is, and the prospect of growth makes us tingle. Isn't that what a game is all about?

btw: there IS a death penalty. permanent crew death in pve. you have to buy crew with merit at a starbase.

I have to say I do not agree with this article. I really enjoy the game! In my opinion it is the best Star Trek game ever made. With Bridge Commander coming in a close second.

I personally think that the commenters here are naive. Whoever says we're not allowed to demand this is just a idiot. WoW had bunch of stuff during launch, and even EVE Online had. Yes they've developed during time, but they had good content during launch too. STO in other hand is quite empty, and as people on the forums have pointed out, maybe its due its being developed by cryptic? I wouldn't go blame ATARI, since ATARI managed to publish a well polished car game, Test Drive Unlimited, which I happen to like alot, since it's the closest game to Forza/GT for PC. Do you people seriously think that cryptic can get things working in two years? Well think again, look at the history.. has cryptic been able to bring you quality game at launch? No? Well too bad, because if this game fails, it will bring shame to not only cryptic, but it will make some gamers very angry (I guess most are already at this point). You don't go fucking over good IPs, unless you're purposely asking to be hated.

I find it even more disgusting that fanboys go as far as defend this piece of shit. I'm telling you what you guys sound like. You sound like those StarGate Worlds fanboys over mmorpg.com http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/242/view/forums/forum/604/General-Discussion.html that go defending game that will not return until good 2 years. I know the case is not the same here with STO, but you sound just as sad as those fan boys.

I do blame ATARI because they are THE ONES BACKING THE GAME. THEY DECIDE WHEN IT COMES OUT. Its simple economics. You are an idiot if you think that the beta will be the same as the final product.

"It's only beta" is not an arguement when the headstart is at door and release is in 1 week. There will be no content in the game during the launch, it's simple cold fact.

I have followed Jacks reviews for awhile and I can say without a doubt hes at least 80% of the time right. I am a huge star trek fan and I would hate for this game to fail but it seems to have been rushed. I did not read one review before the game went live because I did not want to know how beta or alpha was I wanted to know how the game play would be myself. Now that I am reading the reviews everything I am feeling is wrong with the game Jack has already said. I am a LC3 got my new ship and plan to play until I am level capped to give the game a chance. So far the "New Game Feel" lasted till about level 5 when I realized all the quests are the same and the game play gets really boring. Maybe it was Cryptic maybe it was Atari all I know is this game could be more enjoyable with just a little more fluff... I know fluff is not really what we look for in an MMO, well not hard core MMO players, but that's what makes star trek so great was all the fluff and exploration. Not killing people and getting loot but exploring new worlds and seeing new things with every level. Also where is the trade system in this game...Beside the exchange, which btw is horrible to use, I see no exchange or trading going on with merchants, that was a big let down as I thought this would be the first MMO I played that did not rely on a money based system.

Plain and Simple..........STO is a Revamped Starfleet Command and Away tema/Elite force. Nothing new to keep you playing. I was expecvting more RPG to immerse myself in the climb from Cadet flying shuttle craft and Away team based missions leading to my own vessel (MULTIPLAYER VESSELS) this is 2010 a small task to get multiple players in 1 vessel each having a console e.g as SWG has been doing multi-player vessels, with success may I add since 2001. I'm very disapointed at what they Haven't done. I'll enjoy my Revamped Starfleet Command until something better appears.

Dimi...I played the beta and I've played the live. It hasn't changed at all. This game is absolute crap. It has teh same depth as a puddle in your driveway. The only thing good about it is the space combat, and even that is rather lacking.As far as death penalty...there is NONE. You respawn a few meters away from where you died with a ship in brand new condition.On a scale of 1-10 I give STO a 3.

Come on guys , you know this game sucks. Champions Online was the worst. Awesome review......

To all the people slamming this review because he played to beta: HE IS SPOT ON! I was suckered into buying a lifetime sub and preordered the game. I was bored after a couple of weeks. Now I have to force myself to even log into the game. Quests are boring and repetitive, sector space maps are small, ground combat is a joke, space combat is a spacebar mash fest, leveling is extremely easy, and there is hardly anything for you to do once you max level. Klingons are supposed to be in the game but they are pvp only, no pve content, and NO character customization options. As a life long Trekkie and mmo veteran, I say this game is a joke. Sure it's going to have a hardcore fanboy following, every mmo does, but for everyone else stay away from this. Your money is better spent elsewhere because this review is very accurate even about the live game.

I can neither agree with, nor dispute Jack. I wanted to play STO, but I've been ripped off too many times by MMO's to just buy the MMO on the word of the developer that "It's the game of the year!". I wanted a free trial of STO, or to be in the beta to give me a pre-look before buying. Denied. Oh, I can get a 5 day trial of the game with a buddy key, only if I know someone dumb enough to have bought STO without seeing it. Lucky me, I met one! Unlucky me, 2 days into my 5 days trial and I STILL can't log in. The server has been wonky for 2 days and seems to be in a permanent state of shit-storm today. "3" days left to see if I'll buy it, but in fact only 1 day, as I work weekdays. So...STO had a shot at my subscription and didn't want it. The got a second shot and it seems that their "Online world" is always offline. So....huh. Is it bad? Is it good? I think the question here is, how can these people release a game that isn't playable? I've played MANY MANY MMO's and there is never one that's 100% from the start, but it can be released playable. Best MMO launch EVER "Dark Age of Camelot" no server crashes or instability. Every known bug at launch had a way to correct it, without the player needing to petition for help. Eventually it was perfect. The only down-side to it was the PVP. It was fun for a bit, but it was supposed to be the core element of the game and never was. Then of course the changed the game entirely to "balance" it, and lost every subscriber. STO isn't losing ALL their subscribers, but alot. Their also losing their chance to expand their customer base with new subscriptions. Or to put it in terms Cryptic might respond to "If new players can't get into the game during the free month/trial they cancel their accounts before the first month is up, and you lose out on ripping them off for at least one more month's fee"

This review is correct. End of! Yes he's talking about the beta but not a lot has really changed. The game is fundamentally flawed and DULL AS HELL!I gave this game 2 months... it's kinda ok but mostly boring. Doing the same thing over and over again shooting the same types of enemy ships. I dread every ground mission and despise every second of running about yet another space station that looks identical to the last or running around on some planet to scan 5 objects... LAMESure it was exciting at first but after a while that initial excitement wore off and I realised that STO is nothing much more than an empty, boring MMO wrapped in a Star Trek shell.I might still play occasionally if it didn't have a monthly sub... but it does and it's, quite frankly, just not worth it!!Really disappointed because I so wanted to love it.

I have to agree with the review - STO is boring. Understand, I've been a Trekker since TOS's original run on tv (yes, I'm old), and I really wanted to like this game. First, the subscription side of things was hosed. I was unable to actually play for the first 2+ weeks because of the dreaded "account billing error". The company did not respond to repeated inquiries, so I had to file a BBB complaint to get their attention. Ultimately they fixed the account problem and gave me a free month of play, which was cool, but after a couple of weeks of play it was obvious how empty the game is. I agree completely with Luke's comment, especially about dreading the repetitive, boring away missions. I saw an in-game comment that summed it up perfectly - "Space is a lot emptier than it seems." lol - that's for sure.Since capping out about 3 weeks ago, I only login occasionally for some quick pvp games - the only part of the game that's any fun, and I have to play FvF because there are so few Klingons left in the pvp queues that you wait forever to play FvK. I paid for a one month subscription (this month, April), but I'm done already. I won't re-up for May. I decided to try EVE, and although I'm still in the tutorial, it is already WAY more enjoyable than STO. What a disappointment, and what a shame. A Star Trek online game done right would be so much fun - but Cryptic has completely dropped the ball. STO is already dead - it just doesn't know it yet, so it's still stumbling around like headless targ.

This review is spot on. And those slating him for it, take a step back. Look at the facts about this game to date...It has gone down the slippery slope on most mmo charts very quickly. A fine example is mmorpg.com. STO started off in the high 8's and within just a few weeks slipped right down into the 6's, its right along there with games like Starwars Galaxies now, if that does not reflect the overall majority opinion of mmo gamers, what does??The current state of gameplay was NOT particularly any better after beta finished. Ok so they opened up Klingon space etc. Which was generally more of the same, all instance based, no feeling of exploration whatsoever in the game, in fact you get to see its limitations within just a few hours of playing. There is nothing worse in an MMO that running into boundaries too quickly and STO has many.Of any MMO out there, a Star Trek themed game should have limitless possibilities. After all, is not Star Trek about boldly going places, seeking out new life and new civilisations??? Not really much of that going on here.The sector map is simply awful, it looks like a futuristic space version of Pirates of the Burning Sea.The ability to walk around and interact with your ship is terible, no point in visiting your bridge, theres nothing you can do, its simply for eyecandy and even that falls way short. The bridge doesn't even really look like a bridge, unless Star Fleet have fallen under some major financial problems and had to start fitting their bridges with just two or three spartan consoles.Space battles are boring and annoying. Its taken the initial Starfleet Command idea andwatered it down and simplified it too much.Many people have been complaining how quickly and easily they have managed to get through all the content and level up to the point of there being nothing left to do, yet they are still paying Cryptic for "x" amount of online time, sad and unacceptable, that should never be the case.Going back to the very beginning, and the original "concept" of STO when it was still in Perpetuals hands, everything looked promising. The idea put forward for this game was completely groundbreaking and very very innovative, which is what MMO's need to be. Ok, so Perpetual went t*t's up and it never happened, but given what Cryptic have released I would rather it have been left that way, at least it would have meant that the door was open for someone else to take on the task and actually deliver something worthwhile.I feel sorry for anyone who was fool enough to buy a lifetime sub to this game, because looking at my own experiences, many others posted all over the net and how quickly it is falling out of favour on many reputable mmo websites, I honestly do not see this game lasting for a particularly long time.I feel many just wanna play mmo trek so badly that they don;t really care, but if you were to strip away the trek franchising from this game, would it really be so popular with those who outright defend it so vigorously?I personally think the answer is no, and what you would be left with is a mediocre space based mmo gathering dust with empty servers and a production team facing the music in the board room.

Yup, I cancelled my subscription. If you want to know why it is because the grinding on the quests was unbearable.Heres an overview of a grind mission. You start in space. You must kill 20 ships all over the map, after said ships are killed you must then destroy various beacons that you flew past not 5 minutes ago. Strange thing is the beacons now have more ships defending them (where were they before?) Oh well, after 30 minutes of space battle your finally allowed on the ground only to fight against hundreds of npcs. Ground combat is awful. You basically have 2 options, shoot and melee. There IS 2 shoot options, but its the same bloody thing. After killing the NPCs (this will take you another 20 minutes) you get to go back into space... only to fight MORE ships.Yep, its not fun. Glad i decided to give it a test run before buying a long term subscription. Seriously, dont buy this game. I am a trekkie, this has nothing to do with star trek except in name.

Yea Startrek online really blew it.I was looking for an alternative to eve, but this isn't it.Far less explorable space in STO than eve. Shitty camera. Piss poor pvp with no consquence to dying. You don't even have to sit out of the battle for 2 minutes.Good thing I downloaded the demo and played the trial cuz in the SOl system you are limited to traveling to earth and the moon.

Agree.The players who are still playing and played from BETA plus claiming they will play it for years...need to get a life! It is very sad to talk to so many players on there who are happy to line cryptics pockets with money for what is probably worth half the price we all paid.I cancelled by sub, paid again for another month when I was not interested in another game then I got Assassins Creed 2 and the attention to detail in that game reminded me true quality in gaming. They even have pigeons on ledges where you can do a leap of faith and the hired gangs follow you with better A.I. than your team in STO.I liked STO as the foundations to a real game. Maybe in a year it will be what we want but just possibly the experiance is ruined for us all. If we're lucky another company will do a new STO and spend 4 years on it before release. That would be smart business.

Cryptic just announced all those "exclusive items" they enticed customers with to pre order the game or plop down $300 for lifetime subscriptions for are now going to be available to every player in the game. Not even out for half a year yet and they are already doing this? This move coupled with the recent "welcome back weekend" are signs STO is dying fast. Sad really because the Star Trek franchise is made for mmo play but Cryptic/Failtari should have NEVER been sold the license to make this trash.Stay away from STO very very far away.. save your bucks for Star Wars Old Republic when it finally comes out, get back on Eve again, or heck go back to WoW.. ANYTHING is better than this garbage and at least the business people behind these other games won't screw you over on unique items or ignore your complaints.

People I have played STO till the endgame... after a suspended my sub for Eve Online hoping STO was better.... IT SUCKED!!!! Get over yourselves.. GOD.. Sony makes better MMOs for god sakes... STO put eve online on a very high pedestal.. ONE CRYPTIC WILL NEVER MEET!!!! Endgame was disappointing, game play was horrible... the first month was more like StarTrek Offline, the servers crashed so much... Cryptic.. just go bankrupt already and stop ruining brand names...

I have been playing sto since the first day of open beta 6 months ago. I have done everything there is to do in that game. Its always the same boring bs. Kill this, scan that, kill this again. It does not change at any level of the game. Once you reach your max level, and that takes about a week if you have nothing better to do then play this boring game you are stuck. You will be sitting there waiting for the next patch like i was. Well that patch was released today and guess what.. it still sucks. You cant even sit in a chair.If you paid money for this game as i did i feel sorry for you also.STO = Trash

I was curious if there was a good Star Trek game and I got very disappointed with the trailer on Startrekonline. Boy oh boy. Is it me or is the whole industry seriously lacking imagination? It's not this game, it's about every game, particulary games of this kind. It's good old Doom again and again and again with only some new special effects. Run, run, shoot, jump, run, boom. I don't get it. Take a look at ARMA II (really: do it, play it, learn it, don't let bugs scare you away) and imagine these developers got rid of the irritating bugs and decided to implement a user friendly interface plus user friendly mission editor. Now that would be something for a start. Next, implement an endless universe based on fractal calculations instead of fixed maps, David Braben showed how to do that in 1985 and 1992 with Elite and Final Frontier. This was 25 years ago on primitive limited computers. With today technology you would be able to recreate a realistic, highly detailed universe with endless possibilities. Combined with the excellent features of ARMA II you'd have an endless virtual reality environment with command structures where you could even build games within the game. You could create Star Trek games, war sims, racing games, anything. Hopefully Bohemia Interactive is going to be recognized for what they've accomplished by serious people in business, who understand that the gaming industry has been in a dead end street for a while and that it's time for a new paradigm.And oh, OFP dragons rising and other rather inferior titles are made by others. BI lost ownership of the brand name 'operation flashpoint' and the legal owner/publisher is just cashing in.

My bf was suckered into a lifetime membership, while I was only half as stupid and bought a year membership because it was a special sale, and we were so excited (our fault for being suckered).What a waste of money!We both deleted the programs from our computers months ago and kissed the money goodbye.STO = SUCKAGEAs life long Trekkies, we are distraught over the state of the franchise, and STO was such a bitter, bitter disapointment in almost every way.They can have all the welcome back weekends they want, we can't see how this travesty can be repaired in our opinions.

well said.