Bethesda quietly unveils Encounters

Since acquiring the rights to games based on the Star Trek television franchise, Bethesda Softworks hasn't wasted time. The company is readying a double shot of Star Trek later this year with the release of Star Trek: Legacy on the Xbox 360 and PC and Star Trek: Tactical Assault on the PSP and Nintendo DS.

But Bethesda has recently released news of another game in the science-fiction franchise, called Star Trek: Encounters, for the PlayStation 2, via a new page on the company's Web site. Encounters, "an arcade-style space combat game," is set to coincide with Star Trek franchise's 40th anniversary, taking place in September, said the company, which also posted six screenshots of the game.

Like Legacy, Encounters will cull from the popular sci-fi series' storied history--specifically, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager--for its game scenarios. But a developer who goes by the forum handle "ChessMess" confirmed on the game's official message board that Encounters is not a PlayStation 2 port of Star Trek: Legacy.

Other details are few and far between. The game's official FAQ says Encounters features more than 60 ships and 11 races--the Borg, Cardassian, Federation, Ferengi, Kazon, Klingon, Romulan, Orion, Species 8472, Vulcan, and Xindi. Encounters will include split-screen and cooperative, two-player multiplayer support. Two other, presumably single-player, modes--skirmish and episode--supplement the multiplayer.

Bethesda had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.