We had a chance to speak with Eric Krasnauskas, a designer with Mad Doc Software, the developers of Bethesda Software’s newest Star Trek title – Star Trek Legacy.

The variety of ships at your disposal comes from the entire Star Trek series starting with the recently departed Enterprise, and includes The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.  Not only are the original ships available, but ships can also be customized to suit your every whim.

You’ll re-live epic battles from the Star Trek universe, and one example we were shown was a battle from ST: The Wrath of Khan.  Instantly recognizable by any ST fan, your point of view shows the unsuspecting Enterprise approaching the Reliant, with Spacelab Regula One in the background.  True to the movie, Khan quickly gets the upper hand by launching a surprise attack, and it is at this point you take control of the Enterprise.  Severely damaged, the Enterprise needs a helping hand and the nearby Mutara Nebula can help even the odds.  We were concerned about being “forced” to follow a pre-determined course of action, but Eric reassured us that sticking to a movie’s plot wasn’t a requirement for winning a battle.  Although it will be more difficult, it is possible to defeat your opponent without adhering to “historical” precedence.

Starship control is handled from an external point of view, and the ship’s movements are suggestive of their size.  For the most part these are very large ships and they don’t exactly turn on a dime.  Smaller vessels like the Defiant, on the other hand, are quite maneuverable and it’s the variation in look and feel of the ships that indicates the amount of effort that was expended to ensure consistency and accuracy.

In addition to the single player campaign, which spans the Enterprise, TOS and TNG timelines, exists a multiplayer mode which consists of each player having 4 different ships in their arsenal.  In one mode of multiplayer, deathmatch, you start off with a fixed number of credits with which to purchase ships.  Warship selection comes from a depot of over sixty vessels from four different, playable races - Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and the almighty Borg.  Aiding you in your quest for domination, an overhead map view provides positioning of both friendly and enemy ships.  From this view, you can set up waypoints for your ships to follow as you plan your attack strategy.  The visuals we were shown were great with nacelles and other parts being blown off, and damaged ships trailing sparks and detritus before impressively obliterating themselves in a shower of debris.
Of course, no Star Trek ship simulation game would be complete without resource balancing.  By that I mean the ability to transfer power from your shields to your weapons/engines and vice versa, in order to help you win the battle.  One of the goals of Legacy was to make the game more fun by eliminating tedious micro-management.  While not as easy as yelling for a virtual Scotty to get things fixed, resource assigning is still quick and simple, allowing you to get back to the action of battle.

Past Star Trek games have been a mixed bag in regards to gameplay, quality, and sheer fun factor, but if our peek at Legacy is any indication, this could be one of, if not the best, warship combat game to come out for the Star Trek franchise.

Still in production, the game will be available this Fall for both the Xbox 360 and the PC.