Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Voyager - Across The Unknown

11. Up: Pew Pew

Space combat is back!

Assign battle stations and take an offensive or defensive stance against a range of Delta Quadrant opponents straight from the series itself. While straightforward in its execution, the skirmishes between Voyager and her opponents allow the assigned crew to display their combat talents. Paris offers some added flair to the flight while Tuvok provides a tactical manoeuvre to better tackle an opposing ship. 

It's more than a few button pushes, though, because there's also a limited number of photo torpedoes to use, and damage sustained might affect future encounters. The impressive piece here is that there's no magic reset, so it's key to place the right personnel in the right areas to rebuild defences and repair the hull. This Voyager can take a beating, but, over time, the wear and tear does have an effect and a strain.  Even in battle, players have to manage shield power and could have to take on a new stance to allow their defences to regenerate. A full-on frontal assault on the Vidiians might not be possible if the forward shields are down. In that instance, players will need to pilot Voyager defensively and take damage to port, starboard and aft and bide their time.

This is one of the ways Across the Unknown is a more "realistic" Voyager than Voyager. The episodic reset more than occasionally gave the series room to breathe, but in this game, the effects are cumulative, and a phrase that will be echoing back to players in their sleep will be "Your Actions Have Consequences".

Only a slight gripe, but Voyager can only engage one enemy at a time, which does detract from the feel of the battles a little; however, one ship at a time is often just enough to deal with!