STO - Hands-On Session

In a hands-on session of Star Trek Online the Ten Ton Hammer editor had amongst others this to say:

One of the very first things that stood out for me when playing STO is that, if I didn’t know better, I might not have ever realized that the game was being built using the same in-house tools as Champions. It’s no secret that I’ve been spending a good deal of time scampering, tunneling and swinging my way around Millennium City and beyond over the past few months, so I’ve gotten a pretty good feel for how fluid the movement and combat can be on the engine. What’s interesting then, is seeing how tightly controlled movement and combat feel in STO both in space as well as on the ground with your away team. That’s not to say that the pace of combat is slow by any means, but more so that the more tactical approach to combat that’s synonymous with the IP is readily present, which also speaks volumes about what Cryptic is capable of as a developer;  in other words it certainly isn’t just a one-trick, spandex-clad pony of a studio.

STO’s space combat was easily the most talked about gameplay element over the two days I spent on the show floor at PAX. Nearly everyone I spoke to had either played it and had something positive to say about Cryptic’s approach to space combat, or were trying to find time to sneak away from their own booth to get some hands-on time with it. Considering the caliber of the developers and titles on display at the show, the fact that STO’s ship combat was generating such a high buzz factor really speaks volumes about the potential of the game, at least if initial impressions based on a single looped demo mission are any indication.