Mission Critical

Moby ID: 1651
DOS Specs
Buy on Windows
$6.99 new on Steam

Description official descriptions

Mission Critical is a first-person graphic adventure. It is 2134, and the human race has been at war for 50 years since the Alliance declared independence from the stifling rule of the UN and its anti-technology policies. The Alliance is losing the war to the UN's greater numbers, but recently, Alliance scientists discovered an alien artifact on the planet Persephone.

You are onboard the USS Lexington on its top-secret mission to investigate the artifact, and hopefully change the course of the war to the Alliance's favor. But the UN's spies are everywhere, and before the introductory movie is over, the Lexington has been ambushed and Captain Dayna has been forced to sacrifice almost the entire crew of the Lexington to destroy the attacking cruiser Dharma, leaving only you behind, unconscious.

When you awaken, you discover yourself alone on a damaged ship. You'll have to patch the holes, prevent reactor overload, and bring the ship's computer back on-line before you can attempt to successfully complete the Lexington's original mission.

Until the Lexington's condition is stabilized, there's a real-time clock ticking away (you get several hours). There are lots of inventory-based puzzles to be solved. You'll also have to defend the Lexington from UN attacks in a simple 3D real-time strategy game (which has an adjustable difficulty level if you have trouble).

Eventually, you'll be able to land on Persephone, investigate the artifact, and use its power to save mankind.

Spellings

  • 绝地任务 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (DOS version)

92 People (89 developers, 3 thanks) · View all

Game Design
System Design
Writing
Interface Design
Project Management
System Programming
System Optimization
Game Programming
Graphics System
Dialogue Programming
Dialogue System
3-D Combat System
Alternate Interfaces
Help System
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 22 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 36 ratings with 2 reviews)

Best Sci-Fi Adventure

The Good
The puzzles in Mission Critical were all logical and had relevance to the storyline. For a point-and-click adventure game there was a lot of depth in both story and atmosphere. The eerie, ambient soundtrack helped as well. The protagonist was sensible and direct, making voiceovers comfortable and never annoying.

From the first objective (regaining control of the derelict starship), to one of the last (landing onto a planet surface to investigate an alien civilization), both the challenges and storyline were extremely engaging even though there was little interaction with other characters - most of the time the protagonist spent his time alone.

The Bad
There was very little to complain about with Mission: Critical. There was perhaps one puzzle that was too confusing for me, but other than that the game flow was superb.

The Bottom Line
Mission: Critical didn't sell well, but according to Legend Entertainment veteran Mike Verdu it was praised by critics who had the chance to play. The story was very solid, the [voice] acting as well. The puzzles were all logical and relevant to the story and the anti-climactic ending was very poignant. Ten years have passed since the release of this game and it still ranks as the best adventure game I have ever played.

DOS · by James P. Wong (2402) · 2003

Kinda sterile atmosphere, but rewarding

The Good
This is the one and only adventure I ever played where all puzzles were LOGICAL. I mean REALLY LOGICAL. You could turn away from the pc, ponder the problem and think "how would I solve this in real life" -- and it works. Well, most of the time. Unbelievable, how rewarding it is to solve a puzzle by thinking instead of trial-and-error... Another good point: in the middle of the game, your spaceship is attacked and trying to find a means to defend it, you find yourself in a little, but cool tactical space-war-simulation. Nice idea.

The Bad
The atmosphere was a bit sterile (well, you are on an empty spaceship), the actors (the actor of Star Trek's Worf plays a role) don't fit into the rest of the graphics very well. Later in the game, the puzzles get less interesting.

The Bottom Line
Good adventure, no highlight among Legend's other works, but solid, original and well thought out.

DOS · by Kaliban (83) · 2001

Trivia

The modules needed to repair the parabolic dish, are named EC2001 and EC2010. They are a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by andyhat.

Windows, Linux, Macintosh added by Cavalary.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Boston Low, CaesarZX.

Game added June 15, 2000. Last modified September 19, 2023.