Of course, if Stellar Cartography and the space conflicts are the two veg of Generations, the real meaty bit is the 3D mission. Using a fairly primitive 3D engine, there are about 15 run-around-in-3D sorties, a mixture of outside and inside scenarios where you control a member of the Next Gen crew. If itΓÇÖs a mission with Riker or Worf, for example, then the action content is greater. If you beam down to a planet and youΓÇÖre controlling Data or Troi, you can expect to tip-toe through a more puzzle-based outing.
ItΓÇÖs tempting to describe Star Trek: Generations as a Doom-style action game. But itΓÇÖs not. Star Trek: Generations is an action-adventure that has more in common with something like Normality and Realms Of The Haunting than its gun-crazy counterparts. There are times, however, when you feel that Generations is desperately trying to be like Dark Forces. It has crouch and jump controls and a ΓÇÿrunΓÇÖ option, but you donΓÇÖt tend to rely on them as much as you do with the LucasArts game. Besides, both Dark Forces and Doom rely heavily on a target-rich environment for gameplay. Any puzzles tend to be simple lever problems - red keys
open red doors and a lever pushed on Level 2 conveniently opens a door on Level 3.
Generations is a lot deeper than that. It has a fair degree of action (there are Romulans to be shot, Klingons to be stunned, etc.), but the adventure part always dominates. As such, half the screen is taken up with a tricorder display (this shows your health, a map and a mission summary) and a large inventory. To pick up an object, you simply walk over it until it appears in the central display. A simple click and drag will then deposit it into your Star Trek bag of holding. The whole experience sometimes feels like A Final Unity but with a 3D display. Similarly, when you walk up to a control panel or a cupboard, it appears on this central
display and you can click on it to activate/search. Double-clicking on an object youΓÇÖve already collected
will use the item, i.e. use an illuminator light to fix a broken panel, use a key to open a locked door, click on
the correct side of a control panel to shut down a leaking reactor, and so on.
The missions are wide and varied. During space combat with a Klingon Warbird, the Enterprise manages to
disable the ship and Geordi beams aboard in search of Soran. Heavily damaged, the engineer with the
headband must shut down the reactor, by flicking the appropriate controls on a computer panel and
searching the dead crew members for useful objects (like keys, power cells, etc.). In another mission, Worf
has to infiltrate a Klingon spaceport, Data has to investigate a deserted, war-ravaged city, while in one
strange sortie Crusher has to explore a planet thatΓÇÖs a single living entity. Just as there are action missions,
there are also touchy-feely, band-aid ones. Why save the world with a phaser and a vulcan neck-pinch,
when you can save it with a triangular bandage and a futuristic syringe that goes ΓÇÿfffttΓÇÖ?
In each mission, the atmosphere is built up and enhanced by voice-over communications. Wandering about
the dark, smoky corridors of a Romulan ship or dodging large blue antibodies in a living planet gives the
game its unmistakable Star Trek feel. You could almost be in the middle of an episode, and the sense of
realism is much greater than it ever was in A Final Unity. As youΓÇÖd expect, the missions are really about
exploring - light on frantic combat but heavy on Trekky things like re-routing plasma pathways, shutting
down reactor cores and stabilising containment fields in, er, cargo bay 5. Not to mention the odd polarity
reversals. Everything is as accurate as possible. MicroProse even obtained a complete blueprint for the
Amargosa station to design the first Generations mission.
With its stunning FMV clips and incredibly detailed presentation (even Majel Barrett returns to provides the
computerΓÇÖs distinctive voice-over), Star Trek: Generations is an excellent adventure game. If you have been
expecting Doom with Star Trek, then youΓÇÖre going to be disappointed, but in many ways this provides a
more engrossing, long-term challenge. ItΓÇÖs pointless to take Quake on at its own game, so MicroProse have
opted wisely to head off in their own direction and theyΓÇÖve succeeded brilliantly in re-creating the unique
atmosphere that only Star Trek possesses. And we can only love them for that. DEAN EVANS
