Star Trek is more popular than ever thanks to J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the series in 2009’s Star Trek. Now the sequel – Into Darkness – is almost upon us, and you know what that means, right? Yep, another hastily put together movie tie-in that will most assuredly disappoint.

I realize that such an early assessment is really unfair, but Gearbox Software had more than five years to get Aliens right. They flubbed that, so forgive me if I don’t think Digital Extremes can make a competent Star Trek game in a year and a half.

Oh wait, this actually looks kind of good. Sure, it doesn’t look like classic Star Trek, but it looks a helluva lot like J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek universe. That’s only a good thing in my book as his universe is far friendlier to what video games need to succeed as adaptations.

Maybe we can give Digital Extremes the benefit of the doubt here. After all, the studio is responsible for one of the best games of 2012 – The Darkness II. The developer proved it could take a license and craft an awesome game around it then. What’s to stop them from doing it now?

Of course, an adaptation of a comic book gives developers more freedom than a film adaptation, but being allowed to craft their own story that’s not tied to the events of either film may just help it along. I don’t think any of us will have any complaints as long as it doesn’t end up like Aliens: Colonial Marines.