So I'm part of the problem because I won't PAY for a "freemium" game that isn't even free? I just spent $15 no sweat on the everything unlocked bundle for Lego Star Wars, and I've easily dropped probably about $500 or more on apps since I got my first iPod Touch when they first came out, so don't tell me that I'm part of the problem. But charging for a game and THEN having an aggressive iap structure is just ASKING for people to pass on it until it is free. Oh, and for the record, the store is so full of freemium shit because that is the model that is showing the most success for companies actually making big profits from their games on the app store. And how can I be a part of that problem when I have NEVER spent a single dime on iap in a freemium game??
There's no mention of an agressive IAP structure here from what I saw there's skin packs for the different characters/programs or generations whatever you call them, I never saw a paywall that forced you to pay for anything. I guess it depends on the source material as to if people will buy it straight away, for me personally it's only £1.99 so no big deal. But i do tend to buy anything and everything because the games are so cheap compared to when I used to play console games full time and I'd be buying a new £40 game every week iOS games are nothing in comparison so even though I buy tons of iOS games it's still way less in price, Ps, I'm not pointing this at you just saying it in general.
If that is the case, then I'm sure I will find that out by the time I have a few more dollars to spend on apps, then I will get this for sure, as it does seem like a cool game and I'm a big Trek fan, even though I stop short of calling myself a Trekker/Trekkie.
Mmm. Star Trek. I'll be picking this up as soon as I get another iTunes Gift Card (unlike a couple of you guys, my wife does not love Star Trek or games nearly as much as I do!)
I see one TA user rated this with 1 star, but comments (paidmium'd aside) seem quite positive. Could the 1-star rater post why 1-star? There was a description on a previous page saying the game is a mixture of Tiny Tower and Star Trek and it has many cool features. I'm also hovering on the buy button, and the description in the previous posts doesn't match a 1-star rating, but a 4-5 star rating...
If your not in a hurry to buy I'll be trying this out properly tonight and giving it a real play without skipping all the cut scenes and text this time. Then I'll leave some better impressions as to how the progress/game/IAP are.
I really hope the Tiny Tower influence is small on this, I'm hoping for a proper game rather than something you just sit and watch. I shall wait for impressions.
Oh man, I literally just spent the last of my store credit. This looks fantastic. Really looking forward to hearing more impressions, I really want this to be as good as it looks.
Purchased and just about to start playing, I know I'm not a respected member of the forum like Oooooomonkey but hopefully I can quash/confirm the rumours of paidmium!
Lol thanks, think that's the first time someone has called me a respected anything I don't think that just because I have more posts than someone else my option matters more, I suppose people do know what I buy and I always tell it like I see it though. Anyone's impressions are always good to balance how people see it, like I said I've never been a Star Trek fan so my opinion will be on the game only and not the fan service as that will pass me by unnoticed. I'll be playing this in a few hours anyway.
This game is going to be tough to review because there is a lot going on. Hopefully there is some depth and not just some disparate systems bolted together but its going to take some playtime to figure that out. You have all of the licensed Trek content, music, plus Takei's voiceover narration which makes the ambience really strong. The UI is good and looks like the other good Trek games in the genre. There are a bunch of mini-games which seem to be well stitched together. You have to "finish construction" of your ship, ala Tiny Tower, and put rooms in place which are required for the campaign missions and provide resources, etc. There are timers on room build which can be accelerated with the premium currency Dilithium. You can also spend Dilithium on some premium rooms which don't seem to be unique but rather +1 versions of the base version. Remains to be seen whether they are required long term. There is a campaign storyline which I have barely touched which seems interesting and varied, reminds me A LOT of the original TV show, even down to the sound effects. IAP seems to consist of being able to buy the most famous TV show characters to serve as your captain, no big deal there, and to buy uniform packs from the more recent TV shows, also no big deal there. My early impression is that generally people are going to think this is a good game, and Trek fans are going to love it. More to come when I spend more time on it, but definitely seems to be worth the base 2.99 so far.
Right, definitely a good news, bad news situation for me. First of all - it's not paidmium, that's for sure. There's no energy bar in terms of how often you can play and no paywall either. The only IAPs I could find were uniforms for your crew, rather expensive but obviously optional, and the premium currency. Had no problems earning the currency during my first few missions so I don't think it will be anything more than an impatient gamer's tool. There are timers though. Building rooms and beginning away missions take real time but can be hurried with the premium currency. So far, I've only seen fifteen minute timers but still, I know that will put a lot of people off. Now the important part. The game plays like Tiny Towers meets Star Command, but those games are only influences thematically. You build rooms within your starship using various in-game currencies much like Tiny Towers, but you're not shepherding tribbles in lifts to earn but, it's very much more a strategy game. It was hard to get a feel for this side of the game in such a short time but there's definite promise, the grid is huge and the shop suggests many upgrades got he facilities and their capabilities. It's definitely the element of the game that impressed me the most. Now the bad news (for me at least) The core gameplay are the away missions, all nicely written with fun scenes as your pixel crew act out genuinely interesting events. In between, you're challenged to battles which consist of catching energy (in a similar manner to the Sun Energy in Plants Vs Zombies) until you have the required energy to activate one of the attacks from a menu at the bottom. To be honest, I've actually made it sound like there's more action to it than there even is. You're just pressing cubes as quickly as possible like Whack-A-Mole and sometimes pressing a larger cube to act. The on-screen action doesn't change at all regardless of how you're playing the two teams just shoot at each other until the games is other; either by filling the bar that progresses each time you act or you run out if time, at which point one team does immediately. That's all there is to it, so much promise as well. I love turn-based RPGs and I like action-based turn-based RPGs (Paper Mario and Costume Quest for example) but this has nowhere near the complexity of even the most basic of the genre. There are different types of missions, such as science-based experimentation puzzles and diplomacy missions but they play in the exact same way as battles - the only thing that changes are the stats used in determining your chances of success. As a Star Trek casual fan, I can only really recommend it to fans of the same level or higher. There's nothing groundbreaking to it, but there's a huge amount of fan service - from George Takei's fantastic voice over the wonderful sounds and music to series regulars popping up as special unlocks. This is by no means a label of do not buy, it could get so much better with time - I have only put half an hour in and hopefully some others will respond and disagree as I would love this to be a hit. Edit: Forgot to mention that I experienced some substantial lag during battle scenes and cut-scenes on iPad 2. Never game-breaking but still frustrating given the simple nature of the game
Haha, cheers! I look forward to your opinions as an "outsider" as maybe my fandom raised my expectations. I've found forums to be quite clique-y and I could especially understand with this one as low posting members are viewed suspiciously as "shill" posters. I've definitely grown to respect your opinions amongst a few others as someone who likes games that I end up liking; with great power comes great responsibility
Big difference, there. Timers are where you have to wait for something to happen, like a room being built in this game, for example. Energy bars limit the number of times you can play in a given amount of time unless you pay to replenish them faster. The big difference is usually with timers, you can go do something else in the game until the time passes, where with energy bars, you can't do anything until you get more energy or pay, which is why they are more "evil".
