Star Trek Online initially released earlier this year on Feb. 2nd, 2010.  Launched by Cryptic Studios (creators of City of Heroes and Champions Online), Star Trek Online actually had a long road to release.  For those of you who may not remember, STO was initially a project start by the now defunct Perpetual Entertainment (also creators of Gods & Heroes).  When Perpetual closed its doors, the fate of a Star Trek MMO was uncertain.  Luckily, some time later, Cryptic studios purchased the rights and content and began to develop it in their own style.

We spent a lot of time playing through the various aspects of the game (of which there are many) from both the Federation and Klingon Empire sides of the game.  Apart from combat (both in space and on land), you can explore unknown systems, gather resources and research new equipment, and participate in a growing number of diplomatic missions.  There have been a lot of changes from the initial release of the game, and many of the complaints that had some players up in arms in the beginning have been fixed and corrected thanks to the attention given by the dev team.

Starting with the first experience you have when you initially enter the game, the Character Creation system is quite impressive.  If you've played either Champions Online or City of Heroes, you know to expect a VERY wide variety of customization options from physical appearance to costume.  In addition to the standard options for race and costumes, there are extra playable races and costume designs that can be purchased through the Cryptic store.

This leaves me with some mixed feelings, as I would PREFER the races not be considered a "premium" option.  I can see things like clothing, pets, titles, etc. being part of the cryptic shop.  But the one thing that bothers me is that it seems unfair to make players pay extra for the race selections like Federation Klingons, Ferengi, Pakled, Caitian, etc.   While I'm glad they have added those options, I would have expected race selections to be considered a more basic feature to be available to all players.

Once you're through the creation process, you enter the tutorial.  Right from the beginning it's clear that your career isn't going to be a simple one of exploration and star charting.  You're throw in to an assault by the Borg, who have destroyed an outpost and a vast number of starships.  You're asked to help out, with more responsibility the further you progress.  After your survival against the Borg onslaught, you (a lowly ensign) are asked to captain your own frigate ship.  You're quickly boosted up to Lieutenant, and your career in Starfleet begins.

The missions in the game are easy to obtain, while some require you to meet someone in person on a space station, a majority are given to you through your communications with your superior officers at starfleet.  You can "hail starfleet" at almost any time to see your completed, ongoing, and available missions.  So, there is no running back and forth to quest NPC's just to update or get a new quest as in many MMORPG's.  In fact, this lack of "time wasting" is consistent throughout the entire STO gameplay experience.

There were some initial complaints about the game by the "hardcore" players who spend 40+ hours a week on their favorite MMO, that it was too easy to reach Admiral and they did so too quickly.  While a number of small changes have been made to add missions and more things to do, some features were also created to combat this.  A difficulty "slider" was added, allowing players to choose from Normal, Advanced, and Difficult settings for their missions.  The higher this option is set, the harder the mission is (typically due to more powerful or a greater number of enemies).  They also added the Diplomacy system to allow players to participate in a non-combative way.

The Diplomacy system involves participating in missions that require you to choose your actions, and the mission can change accordingly.  You may be asked to gather information and settle a trade dispute, or negotiate the return of hostages, etc.  Some actions can and do result in failure, requiring you to restart the mission (sometimes with a waiting period).  There are rewards and a separate Diplomacy XP system, and it's been expanding with each new season in the game.

Exploration and the station of Memory Alpha have also been streamlined since the release of the game.  In the beginning, there were reading and data that could be collected throughout your missions across the galaxy.  This is still true.  However, once you had that data, what to do with it was very unclear and how to advance your abilities to make better items was often confusing as well.  That is no longer the case with the new Research & Development system, and most players should have no problem gathering data and researching their area of choice to create some very high quality items.

In STO, the majority of your time is going to be spent in battles of some form.  The most frequent form of combat is space combat aboard your starship.  Here you're controlling and steering your ship, commanding your bridge officer(s) and their skills, as well as utilizing your own abilities against your enemies.  There are various kinds of starships depending on your needs and your particular "class" (Tactical, Engineering, Science).  You also choose the type and quantity of weapons and other consoles on your ship.  Everything from phasers to cannons, torpedos, and more are available.

You also need to keep focus on your shields and those of your target.  There are 4 separate shield zones on your ship (front, back, left, and right), and the more damage you take, the weaker it becomes.  Once your shield(s) is gone, your ship's hull is left vulnerable to attack and ultimate distruction.  You can transfer power to and from the various sides of your shield, or rotate your ship's position to turn away the damaged shield section.  Whatever way you choose, there are a wide variety of strategies and tactics any captain can employ with their ship.  It seems simple in the beginning, but as you continue in the game the complexity allows for a lot of player choice.

Unlike some games, which seem interesting in the beginning and have a lot of early content only to start to give out as you level through the game: STO starts you off rather slowly and simply.  You'll find that for the first few "levels", you will be doing some simple missions that don't require a lot of objectives.  And you will do several "patrol" missions, which are not complex and typically involve removing enemy ships from a system or solving a small problem of the local peoples'.  However, once you're through your first one or two ranks (somewhere around or before becoming a Commander) this changes quite a bit.

Around Commander rank, missions begin to take on more important story lines.  They also become more complex and require completion of multiple objectives.  Many of the later missions involve BOTH space and ground components, and will often play into a greater story arc for you to participate in.  This is both good and bad, as it may leave some players feeling the first few levels are repetitive or not as interesting.  But it does keep them from getting overwhealmed right off the bat.  I must admit that as a Star Trek fan, I took to this game like a duck to water.  For those who are not dedicated fans or even unfamiliar to the setting, it may take some time to get used to.  And so keeping things simpler in the beginning does have that benefit.

The Klingon Empire
Playing a Klingon (or one of the associated races) is similar to being with the Federation, but with some key exceptions.  First, and most importantly, the Klingon faction is currently more oriented toward PvP and therefor does not have nearly as many missions and interesting storylines as the Federation side of the game.  There is still some PvE to be experienced, and they continue to add this.  But be aware when you play on the Klingon side that your main focus is going to be fighting against other Klingons and more importantly: Federation players.

Boldly Going: Seasons & Episode Content
One of the excellent additions to the Star Trek Online gameplay is the creation of Seasons and Episodes.  Seasons (at the time of this review we are nearing Season 3) can be thought of as "mini-expansions", with larger updates and content additions.  These often add new quest chains and major objectives (especially for the end-game players).  Episodes are weekly added content that add in a string of missions with a common connection.

The recent string of Episodes involved a race called the Breen, and their aggressive invasion into the space of a diplomatic race called the Defari.  Players were given weekly episodes that continued this storyline through to its completion after the 5th episode.  These were NOT level dependent, and could be attempted by players of almost any level.  The mission would simply adopt the player's level at the time it was started.

So, if it's been a while since you picked up Star Trek Online, if you walked away frustrated after the first month from launch, or if you have simply been curious about the game, we would definitely recommend checking in on STO and having a look at the newest changes and additions.  If you're a sci-fi fan, the game has a lot of good futuristic fun.  If you're a Star Trek fan, why aren't you already playing the game?

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