You know, it’s not often I get excited about movie tie-in video games, but boy does this new Star Trek game sound awesome. In a nerdy, “getting-excited-by-the-word-‘Gorn’-is-exactly-why-girls-don’t-like-me” sort of way, but awesome nevertheless.
Collider has collected an Enterprise-load of images, a teaser, and a press release all about the upcoming game set inside the universe of J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek (and timed, of course, to coincide with the upcoming sequel). It’s a co-op experience where players don the roles of Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Commander Spock to take on – deep breath, Trekkers, deep breath – the villainous Gorn.
Oh, you don’t know what the Gorn is? Well, let me direct you towards Arena, one of the single greatest hours of sci-fi television ever produced. Stop reading this, go watch the episode (it’s on Netflix and Amazon, you have no excuse), and come back when you’ve been educated. I’ll wait.
You back? Okay, good. The Gorn, as you now know, is an evil, reptilian alien race, most notable for the one-on-one fight between Kirk and the Gorn Captain. In the game, though, you’ll get to fight against a whole mess of Gorn. I hope they still look like men in rubber suits.
The game presents an original story penned by BAFTA-award winning writer Marianne Krawczyk, with assistance from the film’s screenwriters, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The game is being developed by Namco Bandai in conjunction with Paramount Pictures. The press release does not specify consoles or a release date, but I’d expect it to hit at least the PS3 and Xbox 360 near summer 2013, the release window of Star Trek 2.
Read the full press release below, enjoy an extensive image gallery below that (if nothing else, this game will have gorgeous graphics), watch the game’s teaser trailer afterwards, and to wrap it all up, revisit the Kirk v Gorn fight. Come on. You know you want to.
LOS ANGELES, CA (June 5, 2012) – Paramount Pictures and leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today gave fans the first look at the key villain to be featured in the upcoming Star Trek™ video game inspired by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) film reboot. The announcement made at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), revealed that a legendary lizard-like race known in Trek lore as “The Gorn” will play the destructive and villainous role in the video game releasing in early 2013. The co-op game is based on a standalone storyline that continues the adventure of iconic characters Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock as they work together to stop the Gorn, an enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.
“The Gorn are among the most iconic villians in the Star Trek universe and their role in this game certainly lives up to that persona ,” said Brian Miller, Senior Vice President at Paramount Pictures and lead game producer. “Kirk and Spock find themselves in an incredibly challenging amount of mayhem as they confront the Gorn throughout the game.”
More than just lizard-skinned foes, the Gorn are a blood-thirsty race determined to conquer the galaxy. A true military dictatorship, the Gorn are made up of billions of self-sacrificing warriors across thousands of colonies, each focused on the conquest of alien races. By utilizing their chaos-causing infectious venom, the Gorn seed mayhem and destruction as they destroy populations and deplete planets of their resources.
“Great villains give our favorite characters a chance to become heroes in the process of attempting to eliminate a powerful threat, and Star Trek fans have been eagerly anticipating the moment when the antagonists of the game would be revealed,” said Carlson Choi, VP of Marketing at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “This is one of those moments and we couldn’t be more excited to give gamers a glimpse at the challenges that lie ahead for Kirk and Spock.”
The Gorn range in size and abilities, infecting their foes with venom that can poison, cause hallucinations, and even kill. From the smaller infantry Gorn Rushers, to the larger Gorn Warriors and the massive Gorn Brutes, the Gorn provides a serious direct threat, while the wall-climbing Gorn females showcase the cunning for which this race is feared. Technologically capable and possessing the antithesis of Federation ideals, the Gorn pose a devastating threat to Starfleet, the Enterprise, and its crew.
With a storyline occurring after the events of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot, the Star Trek video game puts players in the shoes of seminal heroes Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, inviting them to work together to take on the ferocious Gorn in this epic action adventure. Built from the ground up as the ultimate co-op experience, players are set on a journey of immense proportions across unexplored planets and enemy battleships with the latest 23rd century weapons and gear. Kirk and Spock’s complementary personalities result in the most fully realized and varied co-op experience for this console generation.
