Make it so

You don't need to be a genius to see why Star Trek Online got made, or understand why people would want to play it - you just need to read its title. A massively multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft set in the Star Trek universe, where everyone gets to act out their Kirk, Picard or Janeaway fantasies by captaining their own starship and the chat channels are awash with people speaking Klingon? It's geek catnip, surely, a marriage made in the gamma quadrant - and since its makers can charge a subscription for it, a licence to print money.

The problem is, these MMO games take ridiculous amounts of time and money to do well, and Cryptic, the studio which made Star Trek Online, didn't have an awful lot of either. Rushed out to capitalise on the (sort of) recent release of the enjoyable movie "reboot", Star Trek Online shows signs of being slapped together at warp speed. It's stretched pretty thin for a game that you might spend hundreds of hours playing, and pay £10 a month to play.

That's not so say it's a soulless cash-in, though. Cryptic may not have had time and money, but it did have enthusiasm, noble intentions and a real love of all things Star Trek - and at its best, it shows.

"The ship combat is original, tense and exciting"

It's life, but not as we know it

Star Trek Online is set in the 25th century, after the events of all existing Star Trek films and TV. This means it can set up its own scenario while referencing everything that's gone before - you'll meet Sulu's great-grandchild early on, and visit Deep Space Nine. The main change is that the Federation is at war with the Klingon Empire once again, which in practical terms means lots of shooting.

You start as a Federation character, choosing from a set of famous races (you have to buy some separately, mind) or even creating your own weird alien. You can create a Klingon Empire character after a short while, although at present these poor saps don't have anything to do but fight Federation players and each other in the game's player-versus-player mode. At least it makes all the Klingon players appropriately angry all the time.

The action either takes place on foot, or in space battles between starships. On foot, the game is a cross between an RPG and a third-person shooter, and while it's simple fun, it gets old fast. The ship combat is much more original, and although the big starships move slowly it's tense and exciting balancing your shields, weapons and engines and exploiting enemies' weaknesses.

I'm a doctor, not a videogame reviewer

There's plenty of long-term advancement and customisation, as you'd expect from an MMO, and once again the ships win out here, with loads of options for fitting equipment to them as well as selecting bridge officers, who bring different skills to the table. These bridge officers will also accompany you when you beam down, if you're not grouped with other players.

You'll spend most of your time doing missions - in fact, Star Trek Online doesn't have many other things to do, with typical MMO diversions like item crafting, player-versus-player combat, large-scale raids and an economy being tacked on as afterthoughts. The missions vary in storyline, format and length, but not much in style - the relentless spaces skirmishes and phaser-fights get repetitive, and it's a bit odd for a Star Trek game to be so focused on combat. What happened to that famous Federation diplomacy?

"Star Trek fans will find much to enjoy here."

Live long and prosper?

That said, Star Trek fans will find much to enjoy here - not least each other's company, as it's a great place to trade quotes and trivia and live your Star Trek dream. It's relatively easy to get into for an MMO, it's easy to play on your own if you prefer, it's easy to find action with other players, and it's easy to enjoy in short bursts, especially the lovely ship combat.

But if you're in for the long haul, only a love of all things Star Trek and the burning desire to get your hands on the higher classes of ship (which are very cool, but take ages to reach) will keep you going through the bugs, the repetition and the lack of things to do. And of course, this being an MMO, there's always the prospect of updates enhancing the experience, which is when Star Trek Online could really hit warp speed.

For now at least, Star Trek Online is one for the devotees.

Beam me up
+ Easy to get into, fun in the short term.
+ Absorbing ship combat and customisation.
+ A Trekkie's paradise.

Beam me down
- Shaky ground combat.
- Not enough variety or stuff to do in the long term.
- Buggy, feels unfinished.