From Star Trek Game Information
| Source: | G4TV
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| Date: | Saturday, 13th May 2006.
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| Description: | G4TV gets a Hands-On look at Legacy and interviews
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| Dr Ian Lane Davis, CEO of Mad Doc Software.
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| Download: | G4TV
|
[edit] Overview
G4TV does a spot on Star Trek: Legacy in this video. It features mainly an interview with Mad Doc CEO Dr. Ian Davis, but there are also some shots of gameplay to break up the "talking heads".
While not as visually appealing as some of the other videos, this one still gets points for giving us some interesting tidbits about gameplay and tactics.
Again, we see the Kirk vs Kahn scenario being played out, but this time it looks like it's being plaed by someone who knows the game, so it runs more smoothly.
Things to look for:
- About 65% of the way through the movie, the Enterprise makes a hard-banking turn. During that turn, we get to see the heavily damaged underside of the Enterprise. The damage modelling looks very good.
- During that same sequence, the lighting effects are showcased nicely by means of shadows. Also, the impulse engine glow can be seen.
- Just after the turn, the camera goes back to the interview. Dr. Ian Davis gives a nice explanation of the resource management system in the game that allows you to upgrade your ship, and purchase new ones.
If you want the details about what its going to be like to play Legacy, don't pass up this video. While it may not be pulse-quikening or cinematic, it still has it's value in the way of information.
[edit] Transcript
Kevin: Now, new Star Trek video games are met with the kind of intense fan excitement usually reserved for something like,well, it’s not reserved for anything else labeled Star Trek. And these people are easily worked up, but in this case, their enthusiasm seems to be well deserved, because I’m getting a hands-on with Star Trek Legacy.
Joining me now is Ian Davis, CEO of Mad Dog Software. Ian, welcome to the show!
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Thank you very much, Kevin.
Kevin: Star Trek. Ships flying around in space. What are you going to do with this game? It’s an RTS, are there going to be space battles, are we teleporting, what’s happening?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Well, the thing about Star Trek Legacy is that it’s the third Star Trek game I’ve worked on, and when we set about designing this one, I said, “We need to design the ultimate Star Trek experience.” So what we did was, we didn’t say, “Oh, here’s a genre of game and let’s put Star Trek on it, ” we said “Let’s build combat from the ground up the way you would see it in the TV show and the movies.”.
Kevin: Oh, okay, all right, we’re seeing a space battle take place here. If you’re saying this is the ultimate Star Trek experience, I’m assuming it has to span all the generations of Star Trek.
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Oh, yeah. This is the first game that’s ever done that. We go from the Archer era, the Enterprise era, through the original series, through Next Generation and beyond. We’ve got every ship of all the major races in the game.
Kevin: So can I pit the Enterprise E-class versus the Horizon, or do you have to stick to a specific time?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: In the single-player campaign, we have a Federation campaign that goes from the beginning to the end, and you take your fleet the whole way through it, upgrading it, replacing ships when you think you want to. But in multi-player and skirmish, you can have anyone against anyone.
Kevin: Wait, okay, upgrading. So I can actually customize my ships as I’m taking them through battle?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Oh, yeah. What you want to do is, between battles, you say, “I need better phasers.” So you go and you spend some of the points you’ve earned on phasers, and then you stoke up the shields, and then after a couple of battles, you’re like, “Oh, but there’s a shiny new Constitution class out there.”.
Kevin: Tell me, can I put racing stripes and spinners on my Galileo 7? Is that going to be possible?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Well, for you, we can fix something up for you.
Kevin: I mean, give me a mod, give me something in there.
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Yeah, a special mod for Kevin.
Kevin: I love it! Now, resource management is always a big part of these games. Tell me you’ve eliminated it. What’s going on with actually managing resources?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Well, we actually have, in this game, it’s not as much of a real-time strategy game, as a fleet naval combat game. So your resource management only happens between the battles, where the results of what happened in the previous battles give you command points that you can spend in upgrading your ships. So we wanted to give the ultimate Star Trek realism. You can’t build a Sovereign class ship in 30 seconds.
Kevin: Sure. Now, what about the online aspect of this? I know we’re on Xbox Live, what can we do when we’re actually trash-talking with other Trekkies out there?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: You know, the single-player game is great. We designed it for an amazing campaign. But in the multi-player is where you really start taking off. There’s nothing quite like having your friends fighting, and then coming up on them in a Borg cube and assimilating their butts.
Kevin: Right. You’re not disappointed that it’s not on Wii so you can’t do the Captain Picard hands and have it be motion-sensitive, right?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Well, at this point, you know, we haven’t committed to that yet.
Kevin: [laughs] Okay, good to hear. Well, everybody’s going to keep an eye out for it, Star Trek Legacy, coming out when?
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Coming out this fall.
Kevin: All right, sounds good, Ian. Thank you so much for coming on.
Dr Ian Lane Davis: Thanks, Kevin.
[edit] Screen Captures
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