PAX East 2015 | Hands-On With Star Trek Timelines
I got to go hands on with Disruptor Beam's Star Trek Timelines during PAX East, and let me tell you, it was a blast.I won't lie; before the onslaught of PR emails for PAX East started, Timelines was not on my radar. If asked, I would count myself among the Trekkies in the world. My mother got me hooked on The Next Generation, and I discovered The Original Series, Deep Space Nine and the rest on my own. Star Trek was a major part of my adolescence, so as a fan, how did I miss this game? My only answer was that because I spent more time on console gaming, mobile gaming had really gotten away from me. I'm sure this played a part in my finding Timelines to be so damned refreshing when I played it a couple of weeks ago.
Timelines is at it's core is a strategy role-playing game - an SRPG if you will - that allows you (the player) to use any character from the Trek multiverse in a series of missions to ultimately save the day/universe. (You know, a typical Trek day.) In essence, you create "away teams" (the teams that often left the ship for missions) built out of characters whose skill sets and abilities give you the most promising chance of success. If you've played Assassin's Creed Black Flag it's similar to the naval battles with "Kenway's Fleet" in the game, but in many ways deeper and richer.
Players will beef up their character's skills and levels through successful gameplay, but the definition of that success all depends on the player and a roll for initiative. (Yes that is a very nerdy joke from me, deal with it.) In Timelines, it's not about just completing the mission and "winning," but how you win - the choices that are made based on the character's you selected for the mission and the outcome of your digital dice roll - that matters. Each choice that is made in the game affects the player's story, and ultimately the character's and maybe even choices they may choose in the future. Are you the type that lives by the prime directive, or flies by the seat of your pants like Captain Kirk?