JJ Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness is one of 2013’s biggest cinema releases – and the games industry has its own voyage with the Starship Enterprise to look forward to.
But Namco Bandai’s Star Trek: The Video Game isn’t your typical movie tie-in. It’s the result of a three-year development and heavy investment from Paramount Digital Entertainment, the Hollywood giant’s burgeoning games division.
Like Captain Kirk himself, Paramount is on a mission to ‘seek new life’: namely, gamers. After countless tie-in apps and licensing deals, this is the company’s biggest venture into the increasingly mainstream video games market.
“Our biggest challenge was designing a game that was complementary to the amazing universe created for the 2009 film,” Brian Miller, SVP of worldwide marketing partnerships and licensing at Paramount Pictures, tells MCV. “We knew everything had to look, sound and feel as if it had been pulled right from the big screen.
"The game also has the same challenge as the 2009 film itself did: To both appeal to a wide audience and satisfy the hardcore Trekker. The only way to do this was to have an engaging story that appeals to both demographics.”
This story takes place between the events of the 2009 film and Into Darkness. When the Enterprise responds to a distress beacon at a strange research station, events quickly escalate into a race to uncover a Vulcan conspiracy and prevent an invasion from classic Trek villains, the reptilian Gorn