The 16 away missions, first of all, cast you as a character from the crew - thereΓÇÖs at least one mission per crew member, including one near the end for Kirk - and beam you over to a base, a planet surface or an enemy ship where youΓÇÖll probably have to use that characterΓÇÖs particular qualities to achieve the mission objective. As Troi, for example, youΓÇÖre sent on a spy mission to a Romulan base, disguised as a Romulan. (That bitΓÇÖs not in the film.) And as Worf youΓÇÖre sent in to the base of the breakaway Klingon faction to sort them out. You can also, as Riker, explore the Amargosa observatory thatΓÇÖs in the film - Spectrum Holobyte actually obtained the blueprints for the observatory from Paramount, whoΓÇÖd designed the whole base even though they only built part of it for the film, and modelled the entire structure accurately.
ΓÇÿYou can tackle the missions pretty much any way you want,ΓÇÖ says Simon, ΓÇÿincluding simply treating them like Doom and shooting everyone with your phaser. But that wonΓÇÖt tend to get you very far. To succeed youΓÇÖll have to think like a Starfleet officer and use a more careful approach. The missions are really about exploring, and solving puzzles. They involve all the sorts of things Star Trek characters normally do: rerouting conduit pathways... Oh, and reversing the polarity. ThereΓÇÖs lots of reversing the polarity.ΓÇÖ
If you examine control panels and things, more detailed versions of them will appear in the corner of the screen for polarity-reversing purposes. And as well as a phaser youΓÇÖre also provided with a tricorder, which can be used to monitor your health and scan for life signs and so on. Plus, thereΓÇÖs a structural map which is available from the beginning in known areas like Starfleet bases, or is built up as you go along in places like enemy ships. YouΓÇÖve also got a communicator badge, so if you get stuck you can call the Enterprise to see if theyΓÇÖve got any suggestions.
The alternative to an away mission is one of the space battles. These take place in 640 by 480 3D graphics,
and in 16-bit colour, and have you fighting accurately modelled Romulan Warbirds and Klingon Birds of
Prey. The multiple screens that A Final UnityΓÇÖs combat sections used have been combined into one, so you
donΓÇÖt get all the confusing jumping between weapons, control, engineering and all that as you try to manage
your shipΓÇÖs systems to reroute power to damaged areas.
ΓÇÿWeΓÇÖve tried to capture the feel of the combat from The Wrath of Khan, the second Star Trek film, because
we reckon that has the best space battles,ΓÇÖ Simon explains. ΓÇÿSo the ships are relatively slow and unmanoeuvrable, and youΓÇÖve really got to concentrate on seeking out the enemy shipsΓÇÖ weak spots.ΓÇÖ
Finally, all this is tied together with some excellent video clips, although Simon is eager to stress that
theyΓÇÖre kept strictly in the sidelines, and no clip is longer than a couple of minutes. The clips crop up at
significant moments to illustrate, for example, a star being blown up and the Enterprise escaping in the nick
of time. Some sections have been digitised directly from the film, although the large team found they had to
create ratherr more of the video from scratch than they were originally anticipating.
ΓÇÿWe kept finding that the bit of the film we needed had someoneΓÇÖs head in the way or something,ΓÇÖ Simon recalls, ΓÇÿso weΓÇÖd have to do the whole sequence ourselves.ΓÇÖ But he seems very pleased with the results. ΓÇÿΓÇÖThe video quality weΓÇÖve come up with is so good, in 640 by 480 16-bit colour, and the 3D graphics are so convincing, that when we sent some of our clips to Paramount for their approval they thought weΓÇÖd digitised them straight from the film.ΓÇÖ
Michael Dorn was finishing off WorfΓÇÖs lines in the background as I spoke with Simon, and the game is described as ΓÇÿalmost readyΓÇÖ. So weΓÇÖre aiming to bring you a review of the completed Generations in our April issue, to coincide with the gameΓÇÖs projected release date that month. You may, however, want to bear in mind that itΓÇÖs being published here in the UK by MicroProse, makers of Grand Prix 2 and Magic: The Gathering.
