Star Trek

Star Trek from 2013 is a cooperative action game based on the movie Star Trek Into Darkness, developed for PlayStation 3 by Digital Extremes in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, with Namco Bandai Games as publisher. Players take on the roles of Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock and journey together through a story that runs parallel to the film's plot about searching for the lost starship USS Enterprise, but expands it with its own side plots, planets, and hostile factions that never made it to the big screen. Combat combines taking cover behind obstacles and firing phasers adjustable between lethal and stun settings, with occasional use of the tricorder to hack panels, scan the surroundings, and solve simple cooperative puzzles that require both players to work together - one typically holds a position and provides covering fire, while the other flanks an enemy or activates a mechanism. The game also slightly differentiates each character with small special abilities, so the choice between Kirk and Spock affects how the pair approaches each firefight.

The PlayStation 3 version benefited from the power of that console generation - the interiors of the Enterprise and alien planets are rendered with a level of detail older platforms couldn't handle, and the game supports both split-screen for two players on one TV and online co-op through the entire campaign. Unlike the later mobile and browser titles carrying the Star Trek name, this is a cohesive, linear experience with cinematic cutscene direction and voice work from part of the reboot trilogy's original cast, presented as a standalone story that complements the films.

Why play it: This version is a good fit for pairs of fans of the film reboot trilogy who want to experience their own side story to Into Darkness in local split-screen or online co-op, without having to invest dozens of hours the way the MMO Star Trek Online demands.