Video games tailored for young adults and children have grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Thanks to publishers like Peeded Games, our projects feel faithful and true to their source material, delivered in an engaging way with a quality that even older audiences can appreciate. That’s the case with Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova, an action game based on the animated Nickelodeon series that even sees actors reprise their roles for extra authenticity.
The story revolves around the young crew of the Primitive Asterisk as they continue their journey through space. A team led by captains Darrell (Brett Gray) and Gwendara (Ira Purnell) stumbles upon a system that includes three planets facing the most central The threat of the destruction of the star, which is being pushed into a supernova. Upon reaching this system, the Protostar spacecraft was attacked and soon found itself crashing on one of three endangered planets, with the crew captured and held captive at various locations. You must lead Dahl and Gwen to repair the protostar, save the crew, and then stop the star from going supernova to save the species that call the surrounding planets home.
While the storyline is basic, it does have enough intrigue and mystery, especially for younger audiences who will struggle to capture the more typical and predictable plot twists. It has all the beats of Star Trek, has unusual and alien adversaries, and an overwhelming and time-sensitive mission to overcome, all brought to life through a plethora of sci-fi lingo.
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As for the actual gameplay, it’s fairly basic in design and revolves around two main concepts. On one side are the environmental puzzles that you have to solve to continue through the levels. These could be using Dal and Gywn’s abilities to illustrate each other overcoming obstacles and dangers, or it could be moving blocks and rewiring to overcome electrical obstacles. Lots of variety, but the puzzles are difficult and should be challenging but not frustrating for youngsters.
Another part of the main concept revolves around combat scenarios that call for Dahl and Gywn to hack, strike, and shoot at a variety of different alien enemies. While many will be robotic spider-like creatures known as watchers, sometimes native flora is involved, leaving another danger to be evaded and conquered. Combat is very fluid and simple, and the main challenge comes down to timing the evasive moves perfectly so that you can avoid fast strikes and incoming projectiles. Like a puzzle, this is the perfect challenge for younger audiences.
While I do like the balance between confusion and combat, I would say one area that frustrates me is the balance between Dahl and Gywn. Gameplay often requires you to switch between the two to guide each other through danger or blockages, the problem is that the AI can be so stupid and incomprehensible that characters you can’t control get stuck or go in places you don’t want it to mean The gameplay often feels repetitive because you have to repeat a lot to get both characters to where they need to be. This is a problem that can be solved by giving non-player-controlled characters more initiative and common sense. It just makes the gameplay smoother, for example, allowing your follower allies to do basic tasks like pressing buttons at the same time as the protagonist. Obviously, this game is designed for two players, and you’ll need a little more when you’re diving alone.
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While the time I tested Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova was pre-release, it should be said that I ran into quite a few bugs and issues, many of which were just fixed by simply reloading the game or restarting the game entirely. Some issues come from enemies being trapped out of attack range, others from no interaction points appearing. Considering that Prodigy: Supernova isn’t a very complicated game, you can’t help but notice it when the few game systems it offers break or fail.
However, all in all, I enjoyed my time with this game. It’s simple and straightforward to dive into, and has enough charm and personality that you can enjoy getting lost in the world and narrative. The progression system and collectibles in each level also provide plenty of reason to go back and replay previous levels, as well as a way to provide a co-op mode at the end of a level to celebrate which player defeated the most enemies and earned the least KO, and so on, means you and your family/friends can continue to have fun long after you reach the end of the storyline. But it’s worth mentioning that this is a game tailored for younger fans and won’t appeal to seasoned players due to its basic game design elements. However, those who want to keep their kids busy for a few days, look no further.