Star Trek: Legacy (Xbox 360, 2006)

The game is fantastic! The skirmish mode is really fun and allows you to compete against other online players or against a variable difficulty A.I. It also allows you to choose the race of your fleet between Federation, Klingon, Borg or Romulan.
The Campaign mode is fun as well. It progresses through the different eras of Star Trek from the Original Series, to Next Gen, to DS-9, Voyager then Enterprise. Several of the scenarios are very difficult and quite challenging. The control of the ships is excellent as well are the sound effects and voice-overs. You actually have the feel of "drift" of a heavy warship maneuvering through space. Weapons respond well and even have a "re-charge" time for phasers.
Visually, your ships are easily seen on the screen and so not appear too small, however, the only drawback I've found to the game so far is the Graphics. They are a little simplistic, but are very easily overlooked and forgiven when you consider the magnitude of the other aspects of the game. There is a LOT that you have to be aware of and control in the game and those positives far outweigh the one negative on graphics.
Over-all, it is a very in-depth and immersive game. Power ratio, weapon and damage control for each ship, targeting, maneuvering, etc... keeps the player extremely busy! I'd have to say that I like this Star Trek game better so far than any others that I've played.
If you enjoy flight combat in a space setting, then you should certainly enjoy the challenges of this game.

Graphics 5/10

The graphics are average in my opinion, you are presented with 3-D models of the ships, and the game focuses on them during the course of the entire campaign. You can't zoom in very far on them, and it's a shame because you'll be looking at them a lot. The space backdrops actually look pretty nice, as far as what you can do with space. Colorful nebula's and lot's of planets and moons inhabit your game playing space. But that's pretty much all there is in the graphics department. When you destroy something it gets a little pologony, huge blocks just kind of get sprayed outward, not the best way to destroy something, but it gets the basic job done I guess. Cut scenes are nothing more than the camera being fixed on your ship while the captain's voice is talking about his current objective, or the reason for your current conflict. So you have ships, and space backdrops. Not much else to the game, except the mini map screen, which I'll get to later.

Storyline 4/10

There isn't much of a story to this game, despite it having a campaign mode. There is a story to be sure, but it feels tacked on, because your story has to span 5 generations of captains. Captain Janeway, Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Captain Sisko, and Captain Archer, those are not necessarily in the same order you play them as in the campaign. It does try to remain linear, but without giving away to much of the plot, it's basically your enemy setting up some sinister plot way in the beginning of the game. She runs away, you chase her with another captain. She runs away again, you chase her again. You repeat this process until the end of the campaign where you finally face off in a massive space battle. During the campaign you will face a host of enemy ships, ranging from the Klingon, to the Romulan, to the Borg. I liked the fact they used all the captains, but I would rather see one solid cohesive story from a no-name captain than a disjointed story for the sake of using the celebrities.

Gameplay 5/10

As far as gameplay goes, it's pretty basic. You control your ships in full 3D space. Only there's not much reason to fly along the Y axis, because most of the action takes place for the most part at a predetermined altitude. There are a couple of fetch missions that have you utilize the Y axis, but they are scarce, and go by quickly.

Overall 5/10

Overall it was a decent game. But it could have been so much more. It was far too basic and simple to draw you in completely like I had hoped it would. If all of the elements had been fleshed out a little more then I could see this game getting a much higher score. But it seems like they got the concept down, and then just ran out of steam and implemented them without the zest it deserved. If you're a fan of Star Trek, then this game will probably whet your next-gen appetite for a Star Trek game. But if you're a casual fan, then this game won't do much to increase your interest in the Star Trek universe. At the end of the day, it's just a bunch of good idea ingredients thrown into a pot, but missing all the flavor it deserves.

I just purchased Star Trek: Legacy for the XBox 360. This game has excellent graphics and the battle scenes are amazing but that is all there is.(And these are totally external with no boarding action.) Star Trek is more than just fight the bad guys. It is exploring the galaxy and meeting new species. It is beaming down away teams to new worlds and solving ancient mysteries of long dead civilizations. I realize that in this fast pace world that most gamers want to blow something up but there are those of us who still enjoy a good mystery. Think of it in terms of an old video game called "Starflight". Even with the limited technology of the time (some 20 years ago), someone was able to produce a space game for the Sega Genesis that spanned hundreds of systems, 8 species (including human), planetary exploration and mining, search for lost artifacts, and space combat. With today's PS3 and XBox 360 technology we should be able to do that and more. Stop substituting a good storyline and mystery for how many ships and aliens we can blow-up. I would like to think that we are more than just our primal urges to see something blow-up, or according to Jeff Foxworthy, something naked. If you want to make a great Star Trek game please remember that Star Fleets first priority is to "Explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man or no one has gone before". Trust me, if you follow true Star Trek lore you will eventually get to blow something up. Let's get a little more cerebral and a little less brutish. As for why did I buy the game. I am a big Trek fan but one of things that drew me to the show as a boy was the new encounters and the mysteries just as much as the space combat. In fact, in the original series there were only three shows that featured actual combat as a central theme. "Balance of Terror" with the first visual contact of a Romulan, "The Doomsday Machine" with Commadore Decker and the USS Constellation, and the one episode (I cannot remember the name off the top of my head) that had the Klingons fighting the Enterprise crew on board the ship with sword starring Michael Ansara as Capt. Kang. The other combats that took place were part of the storyline but not central to the story itself and even with the Kang episode they realized they were being manipulated by an outside force and ended befriending the Klingons. I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys good strategic ship-to-ship combat but it falls short beyond that. Please create a good mystery, let us explore the galaxy, let us truly live the full Star Trek adventure. Thank you.

It certainly beats the prior Star Trek offerings. The Graphics, Sound and Cinematics are superb!!! No doubt about it...

The details are simply amazing. The space environments have nebulas, wormholes, planets, and stars all in 3D!

You can command whatever fleet you want: the Federation, Klingon, Romulan or Borg.

Finally the XBOX Live Multiplayer is too Robust. You can go from low-key engagements to a full-scale war involving multiple systems.

Another XBOX 360 must have for this year 2007!!!

Being a Trekkie, it automatically gets a certain level of "good" just because of the title. That being said, for a Star Trek game it is a pretty decent game. Their is a long story line, and the levels are fairly long. The game lacks a decent "Save Game" ability. You have to wait until each level is completed to Save, which is a pain since some of the levels take about a hour to complete. Asides from that there is plenty of outer space fighting to help keep you entertained. You do have fleet control, which is acctually kind of below par in regards to the AI. At times its almost better to leave your fleet behind, take one ship in do damage, retreat, start repairs, and take another ship in for a run.

Good game if you are a Trekkie. Not the best Star Trek game ever created though.