"Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise..."

Who knew what the late Gene Roddenberry would be starting with back in 1966, when he launched the serial sci-fi show Star Trek on television? It has since become a cultural icon for many, through its numerous movie releases and TV show spin-offs, and has gathered a huge fan base, known as Trekkies, who follow its every move- sometimes maybe just a little too closely. And yet, with such a vast license and its moderate success, game developers just haven't "gotten" it. A lot of Star Trek licensed games have ended up being nothing more than Tribble drool, due to the fact that not much thought was put behind their development or the appeal for such games never surfaced in the first place. I think the last good Star Trek game I played was an old Sega arcade game in the 80's. Past that, it's just a void.

Bethesda Softworks, however, looks to change that this fall, just in time for the show's 40th anniversary. The house that brought us the much-heralded Xbox 360 role-playing game Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV is now headed for Starfleet Command with the forthcoming Star Trek: Legacy, a game that looks to have a lot of promise going for it. That's because it's actually being built from the ground up with full dedication to the Star Trek license, instead of just a game being built around the license with little interest. Credit Mad Doc Software, the game's developer. They're building the game on a fresh start, instead of using a pre-existing engine from their previous Star Trek: Armada II.

In the game, you actually have a number of options available. Instead of just choosing from a captain on the Starfleet, you can actually choose from a number of races and step into their shoes. You have the option of taking your place with Starfleet if you want, but you can also give the Romulans a try, see what life is like as a Klingon, or go for full metallic dominance and don some Borg gear to show those pesky humans what they're made of. No matter which race you choose within the game, they all have their specific advantages and disadvantages, and the battlefield will be the place that decides your fate. We'll get to multiplayer combat, one of the game's heavy features, in a moment.

But let's talk first about the Federation Campaign mode in the game, where you take control of your captain and lead your army into a series of missions. Each battle unfolds in real-time, but has the kind of controls that lean more towards technical appreciation rather than quickie-shooting scenarios. That means that you actually feel like you're in control of a starship and not some stiff-controlling vehicle that doesn't know how to handle its turns. However, that also means you should take care of the ship, as it can obtain real-time battle damage, just like you see in the battles in the film. Even Scotty won't be able to maintain everything if you find yourself taking heavy blows from a series of enemies. Nope, not even if he "gives it all he's got, cap'n".

One of the cool things about Star Trek: Legacy is that it doesn't base its universe off of one specific Star Trek program. In fact, you'll find the essence of the entire Star Trek universe throughout a series of scenarios. Some will take their place from the original Star Trek program of the 60's, and then put you into battles that raise their essence from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and even Star Trek: Enterprise. How these campaign missions will unfold has not entirely been revealed yet, but it's probably going to work in a timeline manner. For instance, if you finish all the Campaign business for Star Trek, you'll more than likely jump into Picard's boots for Next Generation. We're sure that the tie-in for each of the universes will be one of comfort, and not just a jumble that is bound to confuse the player.