Star Trek D-A-C for Xbox Live Arcade hands-on
Relive the blockbuster "Star Trek" reboot one more time...from a top-down perspective.
- Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
Haven't had enough of your "Star Trek" fix now that the J.J. Abrams reboot has sent America into a Trek frenzy? Has the week rolled around only to have you cry out in despair, "more, more?" Well, Paramount Digital Entertainment is there for your desperate cries. Its movie-based multiplayer shooter, Star Trek: D-A-C, hits Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, exclusively for the 360, costing you a cool-as-Spock 800 points.
What does D-A-C mean? We don't know. And you don't get to know that until you play through the game (we're serious). Set across a series of self-contained top-down arenas, you pilot the U.S.S. Enterprise (or one of five other ships, two more Federation and three Romulan) in one of three different battle games along with Trek-minded others on Xbox Live. Imagine if Geometry Wars and Star Control II had a child, and that child was half-Romulan.
No, this game does not have local multiplayer, making this an online-only affair (which, considering you've downloaded this on Xbox Live Arcade, shouldn't be too much of a problem). Matches can be arranged between two teams with six players each in three different game modes: Deathmatch, Assault (a base-capturing game), and Conquest (a turn-based attack/defend mission). Gameplay is smooth and full of parallax as you glide over vast 3D planets and asteroid belts, with dual-stick controls feeling much like Geometry Wars. The size, speed and weapon variations across ships was very Star Control II - but, unfortunately, you only have two races represented here, and three ship types (Flagship, Fighter, and Bomber).
Ideally, some future game will have a host of races and ships. Romulan versus Federation just doesn't cut it long-term. But if you want a Trek-infused quick shooter fix with pretty graphics, this only costs as much as movie ticket.
