| Trek: Road to the Aztecs | |
| Developer(s) | Trek Development |
| Publisher(s) | Trek Development
Sony Computer Entertainment (PlayStation 2) |
| Platform(s) | PC
PS2 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Successor | Trek 2 (cancelled) |
| Release Date(s) | October 18, 2009 (PC)
June 6, 2010 (PS2) |
| Mode(s) | Single-Player |
| Age Rating(s) | E+10 |
| Media Included | Download
Optical Disc |
Trek: Road to the Aztecs is a platform game developed and published by Trek Development. It was released first on the PC on October 18, 2009. The game was later released for the PS2 on June 6, 2010 and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment. This was the first game to be developed by MrDjThompson, the founder of Fusion Studios.
The game follows the protagonist, Trek, as he got fired from job at the Supermarket. He went back home from a Arcade one day as he found an ancient stone from the Aztecs in his room. He decides to go to South America to give back the Aztecs. While the evil Aztec sprit, The Mumba Lord, throws in his minions to not let Trek give back the stone to the Aztecs so he'll be sucked into the stone when put into a temple. The game offers a large range of missions and minigames as well as puzzles and platform elements that the player must complete to proceed.
This was the only game to be developed by Trek Development because after the release of the PS2 version, Trek Development closed after 3 years because of production and mangagement issues.
Gameplay[]
Trek: Road to the Aztecs is a platformer in which the objective is to gather items to progress through the levels. The player has access to abilities such as double-jumping, rapid spinning kick, and glide punching. Injuries are accounted for by way of a life meter, which decreases as the player character is hit by enemies, falls long distances, and makes contact with hazardous surfaces.
The game revolves around the collection of Ruby Stones, which can be earned by fighting enemies, paying for them via Aztec Coins, accomplishing platforming challenges, and other methods. The player character "Trek" punch and kick attacks and can also utilize various Golden Skills to augment his skills temporarily.
Trek: Road to the Aztecs offers several collectibles for the player to gather. The main objects are "Ruby Stones", which are used to power machinery to reach new levels. "Aztec Coins" function as currency and can be traded in for Ruby Stones at several locations in the game. Another collectible, "Technopolo's Cash", appear on every level. Collecting all seven "Technopolo's Cash" per level rewards the player with a Ruby Stone.
The game contains three bosses whose defeat earns the player Ruby Stones or allows the player some method of progressing further in the game. However, not all bosses are mandatory. The boss called the Dark Ruby Dragon is only defeated in order to gain a Ruby Stone and to remove the hazard, spiked tentacles, from the jungle area in the game. Another boss, a Alligator named Devian Cross, must be defeated in order to enter the mountain pass. To do so, players must collect enough Ruby Stones to utilize a drill and unblock a path, allowing access to him. Once he is defeated, the areas beyond his lair are accessible.
A large part of the gameplay revolves around "Gem", a type of colored energy that comes in six different forms.
The player is able to utilize Gem powers by either collecting small amounts of glowing Gem particles or fully charging through Gem vents. The Green Gem, the most common of the six types of Gem, restores health. Blue Gem increases Trek's speed, attracts Aztec Coins and small clusters of Blue and Green Gems towards him, and activates certain machinery. Red Gems increases attack power, while Yellow Gem allows the player to shoot bursts of energy through Trek's hands.
The other two types of Gem only make appearances throughout the game and are not actively used by the player. Small amounts of Dark Gems cause damage upon contact with the player, and falling into a pool of Dark Gems results in instant death. Light Gems is seen and used only during the final boss battle. It is a combination of all other types of Gem with the exception of Dark Gems.
Plot[]
Setting[]
The game is set on our planet incorporating fantasy elements.
Story[]
The game follows the protagonist, Trek, as he got fired from job at the Supermarket. He decided to go to the Arcade after what happened. He went back home from a Arcade one day as he found an ancient stone from the Aztecs in his room. He decides to go to South America to give back the Aztecs. While the evil Aztec sprit, The Mumba Lord (voiced by Collin Thompson), throws in his minions to not let Trek give back the stone to the Aztecs so he'll be sucked into the stone when put into a temple. Trek finally made it to the Aztecs home only to find out that all of the Aztecs were slaughtered from the Mumba Lord. The Mumba Lord also explained that the reason the stone was his home was to burn down your home and still something valuable (the thing was never explained). He turned into a giant Godzilla-like monster and fights throughout the temple. He gets defeated as Trek puts the stone into the plate where it is supposed to be and sucked him into the stone. Trek then walked back to his home.
Development[]
Development on Trek: Road to the Aztecs was first concepted around March 2005 by MrDjThompson. The project was first called "Project Trek" and had an odd moment of development when it was called "Sally's Infinite Loop of Platforming: Project Trek" meaning that Trek was probably not always going to be the protagonist. He formed the studio, Trek Development, on July 27, 2007 and eventually hired 5 people by a week. The game was originally going to be a RPG for the PS3 but was scaled back and put on the PC for consumer reasons. On January 7, 2008, Trek Development posted a photo on their newly-created Twitter account of an early version of the temple with the tagline, "It's about to get serious in there!"
On June 10, 2008, Trek Development officially announced Trek: Road to the Aztecs with a release of a trailer. The game had a different name, Trek: Legend of the Aztecs but was changed before the game was announced for unknown reasons. On June 23, 2008, The game was given a release date around Q2 2009 and was the last piece of information for many months onwards.
Many critics and gamers were thinking that the game was cancelled. On September 14, 2008, two fake reports said that Trek Development has post-poned the game to 2010 and that the game might be abandoned due to production troubles. But, they were confirmed fake a few days later.
On January 5, 2009, Trek Development offcially confirmed more information on the game and a second trailer which included an cut multiplayer function but was never seen again. On May 18, 2009, the game was officially delayed to October 4, 2009. Trek Development later revealed more info on July 30, 2009. On September 27, 2009, Trek Development revealed more info and that the game was going to be delayed again to October 18, 2009.
Reception[]
The PC version received mixed to positive reviews from critics and gamers. Reviewers praised the gameplay, characters, etc while complaining on it's weak story and not-so good gameplay. However, the PS2 version recieved better reviews due to fixing problems the PC version had.
After it's release in October 2009, the game sold well on went on to sell over 700,000 copies in two months. As of Q1 2014, the PC version sold over 3.2 million copies while the PlayStation 2 version sold poorly only selling 400,000 copies.
Ports[]
The game was successful enough to spawn a PS2 version which was released on June 6, 2010. The game had water-down graphics for the aging console. However, the PS2 port had better reviews and fixed all of the problems the PC version had. But due to the console being over-shadowed by the PS3 and Xbox 360, the game sold poorly in sales.
Around the release of the PS2 port, They're were rumors of a a PS3 and Xbox 360 port being released in 2011 but it was never confirmed.
Sequel[]
On July 28, 2010, Trek Development confirmed to Kotaku that they're working on a sequel and will come out in 2012. Rumors were saying that it would've been called Trek 2 and would've took place between right after the first game and two years later and the gameplay would've included gun combat. But, on November 6, 2010, the game was confirmed to be cancelled by Trek Development. On November 9, 2010, Trek Development confirmed on there Twitter that they are closing down after only 3 years. This was due to production and mangagement issues.
Many people didn't know why the game was cancelled but some people say that it was due to the closure of Trek Development.
On June 20, 2012, Fantendo trademarked a name called Trek II. Many people were thinking that the game was in Fantendo's ownership but it was never confirmed by Fantendo.
On November 23, 2014, former creative director of Trek Development and creator of Trek, MrDjThompson, said that Trek 2 was cancelled due to contraints from the Xbox 360 and PS3 meaning that this was going to be a next-gen game. He also confirmed that it was also cancelled due to the closure of Trek Development.