Away Team Update

Activision stopped by the GameSpot offices today to demonstrate Star Trek Away Team, a real-time game that focuses on squad tactics. Away Team is set in the Next Generation universe some years after the Dominion Wars. You lead a special-forces team investigating a biological contaminant that threatens not only the Federation, but also the Klingons, Romulans, and even the Borg. The game adds some new elements to the Star Trek universe, as your team has a new Infiltrator ship at its disposal, which uses holographic technology to mimic other ships.

Data, the incredibly intelligent android from the show, is your mentor in Away Team and will give you helpful advice before you start each mission. Worf will also make an appearance armed with his ceremonial Klingon sword, the Bat'leth. Activision confirmed that Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn, who play Data and Worf in the series, will do voice work for the game.

Before each Away Team mission you will select the team members and equipment best suited for your objectives. Depending on the mission you will be able to choose four to six team members from a pool of different 18 agents. The agents are each specialized in one of five proficiencies: science, security, medic, engineer, and command. In the total pool, there are three or four specialists in each area, so as long as remaining members have the necessary skills, you aren't absolutely required to bring every team member home alive. This will help avoid such frustration and some gratuitous saved game reloading.

Much of Away Team's gameplay is inspired by Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, Eidos Interactive' WWII squad game. As in Commandos, in many Away Team missions, stealth plays a major part in accomplishing your goals, and to help you stay undetected the game includes visual indicators for your enemies' line of sight and your own noise-level. Running will create much more noise and opponents are smart enough to track a running team member even while he's cloaked. The game's 18 missions include expansive 3D environments, and some very high-resolution artwork. One jungle level we saw had a grounded Klingon ship rendered to scale, so that it filled more than one screen.

Away Team has been progressing quickly since it was first shown at this year's E3. Development entered the alpha stage about two months ago and the game still has a number of months of balancing and polishing before its release. Away Team is scheduled to ship next March.