Aussie mobile workshop Jumbuck has already parlayed its rights to the classic Star Trek license into last year's Mobile Action Game of the Year, the superlative shooter Star Trek: Birds of Prey, and now its second Trek game is finally making it onto US carriers, almost nine months after its release. Star Trek: The Cold Enemy is an excellent platformer that shows off Jumbuck's eye for licensed material. This game's maddeningly clever level designs, combined with its unusually smooth animation, will keep action fans sweating--whether they're fans of the old show or not.
In Star Trek: The Cold Enemy, the starship Enterprise has come under simultaneous attack from two deadly enemies. The Federation's familiar nemeses, the Klingons, are prowling the ship's decks with disruptors at the ready--and this time, they're accompanied by robotic life-forms that look sort of like outsized, hopping eyeballs. These little guys, the titular "cold enemy," are holding the Enterprise captive from their base on the surface of a nearby planet. As the Enterprise's long-suffering engineer, Scottie, it's your job to get the ship's power back up. Through the game's six levels, you have to fight your way across the Enterprise, investigate the planet's surface, disable the enemy's generators, and finally return to the ship for the final confrontation.
It's sort of odd that Scottie turns out to be the action hero in this game, since the blustery but good-hearted engineman was a frequent source of comic relief in the show. In any case, the butt of the crew's jokes has metamorphosed into an acrobatic phaser marksman. Scottie can jump over pits, duck under enemy shots, blast baddies with energy weapons, and toss grenades at them. He's even able to perform a high jump, by crouching and then catapulting himself into the air. The game's controls are pretty easy to get a handle on, thanks mostly to the presence of three separate jump buttons--jump straight up, jump left, and jump right. This helps to keep the game's heavy platforming elements manageable, especially once you start to encounter tougher jump puzzles on the planet. Star Trek: The Cold Enemy's combat is unusual and sort of counterintuitive. You can simply duck under any sort of projectile attack, and your enemies will never adjust their aim to compensate. Klingons can duck too, though, so a lot of phaser battles consist of faking them out so they stand up into your shot. Your life meter will deplete after four or five hits, but there's an occasional medical pack to pick up, as well as a special spreader rifle, grenades, and score-boosting crystals. The grenades are pretty worthless, but you'll find yourself using the spread shot pretty exclusively toward the end of the game.
Star Trek: The Cold Enemy's even-paced scrolling and great animation are its major selling points. Even though we played the game on an old LG VX6000, it looked and played very much like an old SNES platformer. The character art's large and stands out in relief against the bold backgrounds, and the game runs at an astounding frame rate on a phone that typically plays action games at a stilted, jerky clip. We especially liked the way the screen follows Scottie around the large levels; it actually bobs a little as it readjusts, which facilitates play on the more vertically oriented stages. Indeed, this game's presentation really complements its level designs, which are quite inventive. The first level turns the Enterprise's decks into a maze based on transporters, switches, and force fields. Later in the game, you'll have to explore large caves in order to find generators and even dodge a huge phaser beam that's scouring the surface of the planet.
The Cold Enemy's levels aren't as long or as interesting as those found in Birds of Prey, and its sound, characterization, and dialogue are comparatively weak (though the title theme's there, you'll want to turn off the irritating phaser noises immediately), but it still beats most of the competition handily. Between its six stages and two difficulty levels, this game should provide a good two or three hours of entertainment. This is a top-notch platformer that any action gamer will enjoy.
