Fans of the original Star Trek television series and fans of MMOs rejoiced when Star Trek Online was announced. Some of that enthusiasm was tempered, however, once it was released in early 2010. Cryptic Studios has had 18 months to make good on the hopes of its fans. In an MMORPG.com re-review, Lori May takes a look at today's Star Trek Online and how it's progressed since release. Read on!

Space: The final frontier. A place that, thanks to the highly successful Star Trek franchise, is less mysterious and far more familiar than it was fifty years ago. Before the iconic Star Trek (better known as Star Trek: The Original Series or TOS these days) took us there for each episode of this Sci-Fi television hit space was something left purely to our imagination. But has Cryptic’s Star Trek Online (STO) lived up to those famous roots, transporting us all into the world where no man has gone before in an enjoyable, authentic way that holds its own with other MMORPG titles currently on the market? Let’s take a closer look at STO, a pay-to-play (P2P) MMO which combines ship-based combat and ground activities to create a complex, elaborate MMO in a familiar way.

Read more of Lori May's Star Trek Online Re-Review.

Yeah was wondering the exact same thing.

We can hate Cryptic all we want for what they delivered at launch.

But even I have to admit the game has gotten a lot better over the past year.

Sector space looks much better now you can dissable the horrible grid.

The Episode storyline missions are plain awesome and great fun!

The crafting facility and options at Memory Alpha have been improved significantly and you can now actually craft useful items.

So eventho it's still not the real Trek experience we all wanted (altho the Episode series are really cool), the game really has improved a lot.

Yeah I have to agree with the two posters above, a game moving down in score, when the actual game has improved since the original score, makes no sense at all.

Perhaps the original score was too high? And the once you get over the hype, the game is shallow.

Why not just wait for season 4 to hit the live server before doing another review?

I agree with the posters above. Lowering the overall score??? Yet, the review admits that Cryptic is continually improving things???

One other thing, one of the major "complaints" was in regards to ground combat. Did the reviewer not realise that a MAJOR revamp of ground combat is coming in just TWO WEEKS? Could (or should) the reviewer not have waited at least that long to post this review? That comment alone makes me think the reviewer is not doing his job. Sorry but my opinion.

^^^ Seriously. Season 4 is scheduled to go live July 7th, so doing another review now(and rating it less than the last review at that) is pretty silly.

Bad reviewer. I agree with top posters. Makes no sense to do a re-review when the big patch is less then two weeks away and then on top of it all reviewing it with a lower score then original when the game has in fact improved. lol...GG!

Season4 will revamp multiple game systems so making re-review now is kinda waste.

I'd recommend deleting this and reposting after launch of Season4

Again, a meaningless score from a meaningless system from MMORPG.com.  Remember that article that was asking about what could be done to fix reviews here?  How does a game get a higher score during a bad launch and then a lower score when it makes a lot of improvements?

Either make some kind of meaningful system for reviews or stop giving things a score.

Scores are completely subjective, so why wouldn't they vary over time? Reviews such as these do not necessarily just evaluate a game on its own merit, they evaluate the features and other aspects in relationship with the current market. I read this to indicate that STO looks even worse now compared to other games in the current genre.

Besides, if you really do disagree on the review/score, why not point out that is better/worthwhile? Saying the game is "about" to get better with a new patch won't convince anyone as players are a bit jaded by the numerous "miracle" patches over the last few years that rarely delivery as much as anticipated/desired.

Originally posted by Talin

Scores are completely subjective, so why wouldn't they vary over time?

 

Saying a game has improved yet lowering its score is contradictory. Also, writing up a new review when you know a big update is coming out in 2 weeks and saying your going to do another review afterward is a waste of time.

In regards to the review score - the game may well have gotten better, but if you haven't noticed MMORPG.com is using a new scoring system. Where before it was largely arbitrary of the writing coming up with a number based on their impressions, now it is a matter of scoring 7 catergories, then getting an average. It may be lower than the last score but the new system will be fairer but you will probably expect to see more like this.

Originally posted by shakermaker0

In regards to the review score - the game may well have gotten better, but if you haven't noticed MMORPG.com is using a new scoring system. Where before it was largely arbitrary of the writing coming up with a number based on their impressions, now it is a matter of scoring 7 catergories, then getting an average. It may be lower than the last score but the new system will be fairer but you will probably expect to see more like this.

 

Plus reviews are writing with a lot of time in advance, the idea of waiting for an update would in all possibility bring a review schedule to a grinding halt

Originally posted by shakermaker0

In regards to the review score - the game may well have gotten better, but if you haven\'t noticed MMORPG.com is using a new scoring system.

Originally posted by J4ck_5p4rr0w



That makes no sense. The last review was 7.4, and the game has improved since then. Your saying the game has gotten worse since the last review? I guess this websites own reviewers arent even in agreement.

 

We're in transition to a new system of reviewing games (we'll be announcing it soon) and each review  has been done (and often has been done) by different writers. Scores will vary for this reason, a game's score isn't guaranteed to go up or stay the same with every re-review.

Also, let me add that the review was in progress long before Season 4 was set to hit live servers. We'll most certainly re-visit the game post-Season 4.

Originally posted by MikeB

Originally posted by J4ck_5p4rr0w

That makes no sense. The last review was 7.4, and the game has improved since then. Your saying the game has gotten worse since the last review? I guess this websites own reviewers arent even in agreement.

 

We're in transition to a new system of reviewing games (we'll be announcing it soon) and each review  has been done (and often has been done) by different writers. Scores will vary for this reason, a game's score isn't guaranteed to go up or stay the same with every re-review.

 That explanation is fine...to a point. It still does not justify posting a review in which one of the MAJOR complaints is being addressed in two weeks hence. The review also looks a bit "rushed" in that it did mention "improvements" but barely speaks of them. Bad timing is one thing. Bad management is another (not a personsal reference to you MikeB).

Originally posted by MikeB

Also, let me add that the review was in progress long before Season 4 was set to hit live servers. We'll most certainly re-visit the game post-Season 4.

"Long before"? How long exactly? A week? A month? How much playtime did the author have? Those would be some good things to include in your "new system" at the begining of every review.

Originally posted by Gruug

Originally posted by MikeB

Originally posted by J4ck_5p4rr0w



That makes no sense. The last review was 7.4, and the game has improved since then. Your saying the game has gotten worse since the last review? I guess this websites own reviewers arent even in agreement.

 

We're in transition to a new system of reviewing games (we'll be announcing it soon) and each review  has been done (and often has been done) by different writers. Scores will vary for this reason, a game's score isn't guaranteed to go up or stay the same with every re-review.

 That explanation is fine...to a point. It still does not justify posting a review in which one of the MAJOR complaints is being addressed in two weeks hence. The review also looks a bit "rushed" in that it did mention "improvements" but barely speaks of them. Bad timing is one thing. Bad management is another (not a personsal reference to you MikeB).

 

Rather than throw out the reviewer's work we decided to publish the review. Again, you can be sure we'll check out the game again post-Season 4.