I tend to learn quite a lot from modern cartoons and what’s trending among the younger crowd with the titles published by Outright Games. Without their titles, I wouldn’t have known about cartoon adaptations of Spirit and The Fast & Furious, for instance. It also shocks me to find out that almost every single show being aired nowadays happens to be a derivative spinoff of something much older than even its core audience, in a clear case of the death of new ideas. But I’m not here to talk about existentialism or complain about “things being better back in the day”. I’m here to talk about the brand new Star Trek (yes, really) game released for modern consoles, courtesy of Outright and Tessera Games: Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova.

I had to do a bit of research in order to understand where does Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (as well as its source of inspiration, the Star Trek Prodigy cartoon series) fit into the massive(ly convoluted) Star Trek canon. I have to say, I complain a lot about the new directions taken by the Star Wars franchise, but I have to be glad they are nowhere near as confusing as what Alex Kurtzman has done with Star Trek. The fact that Star Trek Prodigy is a straight sequel to Star Trek: Voyager, aired between 1995 and 2001, is just one of many questions I have in my head after finding out about the cartoon series and playing Supernova.

Thankfully, as a game as a whole, Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova isn’t terrible. In fact, it might actually be one of the best Star Trek games released in decades. Granted, it mostly achieves that by simply not sucking, but all in all, it is a fun little title, which takes advantage of a tried and true gameplay formula that, weirdly enough, has never been attempted by anyone else other than its main creators: the Lego games.

I don’t mean that Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova is a cathartic and OCD-infused collectathon like the Lego games, as amazing as that would have been. It’s mostly due to its gameplay loop. Remember how the older Lego games were fixed-camera action-adventure/platforming hybrids with an emphasis on simple puzzle and combat sections, resource collecting, and optional co-op? Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova is pretty much that, with decent controls, excellent framerate, and a similar, albeit smaller in scope, gameplay loop. And it gets the job done.

The game revolves around rescuing the crew of the USS Protostar, which crashed on a planet whose star is set to go supernova in a few terrestrial days. You go from level to level, gathering new crew members, which can then be used in previous levels in order to reach previously unreachable areas, just like Free Play mode in any given Lego game. Enemies are pretty easy to deal with, and puzzles usually center around picking up an energy cube and placing it on top of a switch, unlocking a door.

Keep doing this until you reach the end of the game. In the meantime, you’ll also have the chance to talk to your crew members, all voiced by the cast of the show itself. That also includes Kate Mulgrew reprising her role of (the hologram of) Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, easily the highlight of the game as a whole. Sadly, the great voice acting is hampered by something that is present in pretty much every game published by Outright: poor sound mixing. I get that the voice acting is a highlight, but it overshadows everything else in the game’s sound department, turning the soundtrack into something barely worth noticing.

The other main issue I had with Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova was its visuals. I appreciate that the game runs at a blistering fast 60fps, and it does take advantage of the PS5’s SSD structure to pretty much not have loading times at all, but damn, what an ugly game. Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova looks, at best, like a mid-tier licensed game from the PS2 era, with some really underwhelming character models. It doesn’t help that the game is based on a CGI cartoon, so you can basically look at each character, do a quick Google Images search in order to find out what they were supposed to look like, and notice the shocking compromises taken in order to put them into the game.

Cheapness and slight amount of jank aside, Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova is actually a pretty decent game. It does what no other game has done so far, for some weird reason: it takes the core gameplay loop from the Lego games in order to create an easy-going action adventure for a younger demographic. It has everything needed to please fans of the show: an original story tied to the series’ canon, decent controls, and the show’s cast all reprising their roles, Captain Janeway included. 

 

Graphics: 5.5 Even though Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova runs at 60fps, it looks like a mid-tier PS2 game at the very best. Can’t say I’m not disappointed.	Gameplay: 7.5 An easy-going action adventure akin to the Lego series of games, with easy puzzles, simple combat, and cathartic MacGuffin collection. Unimpressive, but absolutely functional and very responsive.
Sound: 7.5 I appreciate the voice acting, featuring noteworthy folks such as Kate Mulgrew reprising her role as Janeway. The soundtrack is decent, but not exciting. The problem lies on something that plagues more titles by Outright Games: poor mixing between voice acting and music.	Fun Factor: 7.0 In the realm of licensed games based on cartoons and TV shows, Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova doesn’t impress, but doesn’t offend either. It takes the core gameplay from the Lego series (minus the cathartic character collecting loop) to create something that fits perfectly within the series’ overarching plot.
Final Verdict: 7.0

Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova was provided by the publisher.