Star Trek Legends, recently released on Apple Arcade, plays a lot Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, Disney’s Sorcerer’s Arena, DC Legends and countless others turn-based mobile RPGs. But without energy meters or annoying microtransactions. As result, it feels like one game and not a treadmill designed to take you to a store.
Star Trek Legends includes a large cast of characters, both good and bad, of different Star Trek shows. How do they all hang out and fight each other? The Nexus, that great energy ribbon thing off Generations, is back and Starfleet has designed a special new ship to enter it. It’s a bit of a paper-thin, hand-pulled way to set up the game’s story, but it works.
And once you are in the Nexus and interact with other characters, the game benefits greatly from this setup. If you want Star Trek, which you probably do when you read this far in this post, there are tons of jokes and references that will make you think, “Oh yeah … I know.” None of the stories in Legends are masterpieces, but they tend to have some nicely written bits of dialogue with characters interacting with each other in a fun and authentic way.
The gameplay is pretty standard for this type of game. You have a small team of characters, each with their own abilities and skills. You take that team on missions, which consist of combat segments, short cutscenes, and even some moments where you have to decide what to do next. Combat is again, nothing incredibly fresh or new, but it works. You attack enemies, back and forth, in turn, until one team stands up. Fortunately, you can speed up the animations during combat. They look nice, but in the end I just want to kill the bad guys and move on.
G / O Media can receive a commission
Which really elevates Star Trek Legends, the reason I’m writing this blog is because the entire game is free from MTX or paid currency. There is no way to spend money in this game. There are also no ads. This is standard for Apple Arcade releases, but it really makes this type of game that much more fun to play. I still play Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, but every month it feels like something new has been added designed to keep me crunching or making a ton of money for months on end. And with energy meters, it quickly becomes difficult to actually play the game unless you pay money. Or wait.
In Legendsbut you can just … play the game. Unlocking characters is fun, not an expensive job. Completing missions is exciting, not a drag.
I can’t explain enough how weird it is, after years of playing this kind of mobile RPG, just to be free to play it as many times as I want. It’s fun. Plus the game is a nice looking celebration of Star Trek, both old and new. It’s a game made especially for me. It makes me happy.
Yes I know. It’s on Apple Arcade. And yes, I know that means you or some people you know can’t play it. That sucks! I think Star Trek Legends is good enough that I would like to see it transition to other platforms. But only if it keeps the nonsense of the mobile RPG at bay.