As well as providing ample illogical discussion material for Trekkies to debate over their pints of Romulan Ale at sci-fi conventions, the Star Trek licence has actually spawned a few fairly decent games on PC.

Not to be outdone, Star Trek: Shattered Universe on Xbox is actually a decent little shooter. Nicely mixing 1960s kitsch with more familiar Next Generation astrophysical anomalies, we follow the adventures of newly promoted Captain Sulu (voiced by original actor George Takei) aboard the USS Excelsior. As per Star Trek custom, the ship stumbles across a wormhole that transports them to a mirror universe where the Federation doesn't exist and the evil Imperial empire is in power. The newly morphed ISS Excelsior turns against the tyrannical ruler and must fight its way across the galaxy, ultimately to a path home.

Missions are the standard escort/protect/destroy fare, and although story-driven cutscenes punctuate levels, each stage can quickly become monotonous. Every punishing level is harder than a bunch of convict Klingons, and both difficulty and frustration are compounded by the fact that additional objectives frequently pop up towards the end of a level. Annoying is not the word after sweating blood and tears blasting through a level for half an hour, only to have your decrepit ship fall apart on you after the third 'surprise' attack by an Imperial enemy ship.

Each playable ship has various attributes and weaknesses, and although the first few would be better off with spud guns than the laughable lasers they boast, the later ships muster up much meatier weapons.

A 3D space shooter may be the obvious genre for a Star Trek licence, but when done with the capable style here, the result is more big bang than vacuum. Not quite as good-looking as the luscious Seven of Nine, the graphics are still nice and firm, although fine detail is often sacrificed for more impressive scenery and draw distance.

A major advantage of Shattered Universe is the fantastic use of the analogue sticks for your craft's handling. The Left thumbstick controls the general direction, while the Right determines the amount of pitch and yaw, and you'll not always be "going forward 'cos you can't find reverse" thanks to the triggers. It's immensely satisfying to combine these advanced controls during a hectic dogfight and turn on a sixpence to get that final kill shot in on an enemy, though it's just as easy to lazily thrust forward and back when fighting a behemoth enemy mothership.

Shattered Universe certainly doesn't reach Warp 9 by any expectations, but it does the licence no harm at all, and at 20 quid it's top value for your credits. Beam this up for a bit of fun, mindless blasting.

1. Frantic blasting
2. Imaginative use of the licence
3. Great controls

1. Brutally hard levels
2. Repetitive action
3. Never-ending objectives

Power
Everything looks good and there's no slowdown during any of the huge battles.

Style
A good mix of original Trek and Next Gen. Moden ships look odd compared to more familiar craft.

Immersion
No-frills arcade blasting, but at the end of the day there are only so many ways to disguise it.

Lifespan
Linear missions mean limited replayability, though a rock hard difficulty will keep you very busy.

Summary
A decent little shooter that, ifv you can stomach the difficulty, is a reasonably rewarding and enjoyable experience.