I want to just preface this review/commentary, right up front, that this game is no longer available on Steam. I have no idea about any other platforms or physical releases.
Also probably notable, I have only watched maybe 2 episodes of Star Trek Prodigy, and I don’t remeber them. That didn’t stop me from enjoying the Transformers Earthspark game though, and it hasn’t stopped me.from enjoying this game either. Its worth mentioning Earthspark a bit here. Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova, which is a dumb mouthful of a name, felt a lot like Transformers Earthspark. And so I checked and, its the same development studio. Different publisher though.
That said, it actually plays a lot different than Transformers Earthspark.
Star Trek Prodigy is one of a handful of animated Trek shows. I have only seen a few episodes, but I skimmed a wiki and have seen a few other bits and pieces here. It involves some younger characters (think, teenage probably, not like, young children), who come across a derelict Starfleet ship and then, go on adventures or something. The wiki looked into about the ship suggests the show mostly has ties to Voyager. Chakotay is a character, the ship has a hologram Janeway who sort of, helps keep the kids in line.
The base gameplay has you controlling Dal and Gwyn, two of the show’s maim characters and crew. The rest of the crew shows up as well, Janeway runs mission, this dude Jakom-Pog is engineering and lets you buy upgrades. There is a big rock girl, named Rok-Tahk, a little robot named Zero, and a slime called Murf. I’ve seen these characters in promo materials and they seem to be everyone important to the core plot. Though most of these characters have to be unlocked as you play, for plot reasons.
Its also notable, unlike the Transformers game, all of the voice cast here is the same voice cast from the show. Including Kate Mulgrew as Janeway. In fact, given the 3D CGI styling of the show itself, this game looks, very much like the show as well.
So anyway, gameplay is kind of interesting, because its an action game, but you control 2 characters. Its kind of similar to the LEGO games in a lot of ways. You can also plug in a second controller and play it as a Coop game. I played it all solo however, and swapping between each character was smooth and easy, though overall, Dal’s skill set is a bit more useful.
Each of our heroes actually does play differently. Dal is better at ranged combat (which is why he is overall better), while Gwyn is better at close range melee fighting. However, both can do either. They also each have several special abilities to solve puzzles, though often this still means splitting up. Dal can lift heavy objects so Gwyn can crawl through to new areas. Gwyn can make little rope bridges for Dal to run across. Dal can cloak and get past security cameras.
That sort of thing.
And you will need these skills for the puzzles, which basically make the game. There are combat moments, but the combat is slow and repetitious and a little clunky. The game throws alternative weapons at you to help give some variety, but I found the base weapons (Dal has dual phasers, Gwyn has a sword), were the most versatile and easiest to use. All I really wanted for upgrades was better heat control on the phasers so they would cool down faster between shots. The enemies are all variants of these little crab triangles called Watchers. Some are slightly larger and have different attack patterns, all of the fights are just, swarms.of enemy waves while you are locked into a space. You can’t avoid them either.
But back to the puzzles. They all pretty much involve manipulating the environment to get past an area, and as the game progresses, they add more and more elements. Sometimes your characters split up using one of their abilities. You have to slide blocks or move power diverting cubes, and pull levers, etc etc in the right ways to navigate through the path. It does sometimes feel a little weird that sometimes the wayforward is blocked by a door, and your character can’t just, jump over the short wall nearby. But what kind of a game would it be if that were the case?
I found the puzzles fun, and it was definitely the driver behind wanting to keep playing, because the combat was boring real quick.
The plot was decent as well. The ship, the Protostar, crash lands on a planet, you have to recover parts to get it going, which uncovers a larger plot involving a dying star in the system being used for a weapon of some kind. But then you find out that its all run by this evil robot dude with the goofiest name of System Slayer. All of this relates to some sort of plot I have not seen in the show. Or at least, characters from a plot I have not seen in the show, with The Watchers.
Its still pretty Star Trekish, with the back and forth between planets in the system to rescue your friends and gather materials to stop the star from going supernova.
It’s a reasonably short game, around 12 levels, each taking around a half hour to finish if you rush. If you want to go completionist it will take a bit more time since you have to repeat levels. Repeating levels is probably my biggest complaint with this title. Not because I dislike repeating areas after unlocking abilities, but the game is designed in a way that you cannot skip dialog or cut scenes. Every revisit, it acts like its your first run. Which is extremely obvious on the first stage (which requires a rerun after unlocki.g Jakam Pog), because it runs through like its still the tutorial. Complete with lock out of basic skills like shooting and melee attacking.
Overall, I enjoyed this game. It probably would be fun with two players as well, working through the puzzles together. The main potential issue here is, its likely a lot harder with two players. Playing solo, your partner takes no damage during combat. You never have to revive them, and if you get low, you can swap and basically be full health instantly. In a two player scenario, I would guess this is not the case. And the clunkiness of the battle system means you often get soft locked using an ability while still able to take damage.
