Star Trek Infinite: boldly going where no strategy game has gone before (game news).
Shields up! Battle stations! It’s time to man your consoles, push buttons at random, and hope for the best because Star Trek: Infinite is warping into your gaming universe this fall, courtesy of Paradox and Nimble Giant Entertainment. Announced at Geoff Keighley’s Level Up Pool Party (an event presumably only rivaled by Spock’s annual Vulcan Luau), this new grand strategy game promises to beam us all up into an all-new Star Trek experience.
Players will have the opportunity to take command of one of four major galactic powers: the Federation, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, or Klingon Empire. If you’re anything like me, the toughest choice will be deciding which captain’s chair you want to fill with your well-padded gluteus maximus. And while your brain is going into warp speed over that, remember: the Borg are lurking about, presumably ready to inform us that resistance, as always, is futile.
For those unfamiliar with grand strategy games, think of it as Monopoly, but instead of Boardwalk and Park Place, you’re managing entire star systems and dealing with diplomatic quagmires that make the Klingon High Council look like a friendly PTA meeting. And you thought getting a hotel on Marvin Gardens was stressful!
What’s even more confusing than a Targ in a Tribble convention is that the game is set a few decades before Star Trek: The Next Generation, but features TNG-era characters in its artwork. Maybe it’s a space-time paradox, or perhaps the artists just really liked drawing 24th-century shoulder pads. Or imagine, if you will, a chibi-style Baby Picard, staring down Baby Gowron over a brightly colored bat’leth teething toy. Now that would’ve been an artwork worth its weight in gold-pressed latinum!
Unlike the Kobayashi Maru, this game isn’t a no-win scenario (at least we hope not!). Paradox might be steering the ship, but they’ve handed the navigational charts over to Nimble Giant Entertainment, the minds behind the time-loop FPS Quantum League and a modern take on Master Of Orion. Despite one reviewer calling the latter “simply boring,” Steam players have bestowed a ‘mostly positive’ rating. Fingers crossed, Nimble Giant has taken a level in ‘grand strategy’ since then.
Star Trek: Infinite is set to launch this autumn on Windows and Mac. So, set your phasers to ‘anticipate’! Unfortunately, for those of us hungry for more info, the game’s website is as barren as Rura Penthe. However, Paradox promises more revelations come Picard Day (June 16th) – a fan holiday celebrating that time when Picard managed to not vaporize arts and crafts made by the Enterprise’s kids (Saint Jean-Luc, pray for us).
As we wait, let’s ponder the possibilities of a grand strategy game in the Star Trek universe: diplomatic showdowns with Romulans, tense standoffs with Cardassians, the inevitable, multi-season fight with the Borg, and, of course, the chance to finally understand why the Klingons have such a thing for opera. Hold onto your tricorders, Trek fans. It’s going to be a warp speed ride!
