Star Trek: The Next Generation - "A Final Unity"

Moby ID: 957
DOS Specs

Description official descriptions

Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Federation starship USS Enterprise-D, is on a mission to encounter an ultimate threat to the known galaxy. The game starts with a Federation outpost detecting an unknown ship approaching Federation space; the Enterprise is sent to deal with this new situation. The mystery ship appears to be a small scout-ship from Garid that has lost power to its engines and as a result has sailed off of its intended course. Suddenly, a Romulan Warbird battleship from Garid uncloaks itself right between the protagonist and the new ship, and thus a new story begins.

A Final Unity is a hybrid game with adventure and strategy segments. Whilst on the ship the player can use the tactical console to engage in occasional battles against enemy, repair damaged systems, and select teams for away missions. These missions constitute the larger portion of the game, and are played like a traditional point-and-click adventure, including item manipulation and puzzle-solving. Dialogues may vary depending on the crew members previously selected by the player.

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Credits (DOS version)

177 People (130 developers, 47 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 25 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 50 ratings with 4 reviews)

Make it so!.....kind of...

The Good
Following the steps of the Star Trek adventure games by Interplay, Microprose released a Star Trek licensee of their own based on the Next Generation series. So, yeah, basically it's a ripoff of the Interplay games with some cosmetic changes... but there are some interesting additions that make it a much more solid title in several areas.

For those of you out of the loop, you take the role of the Enterprise's captain and have full access to each of the Enterprise's major areas and workstations, represented via hotspot-loaded screens which allow you to either talk to the bridge crew, communicate with starfleet, navigate through space, fight other ships and assemble away teams for teleportation while the story develops. It is in these away missions that the adventure gameplay comes into play, as beaming down takes you to the familiar 2D adventure game environment where you have to solve a variety of puzzles in order to complete the specified objective using a point 'n click interface and combining the abilities of each crewmember. That's right, as not every character is able to do everything you'll have to think before you select who you beam down, as Dr. Crusher will have no problem healing a wounded npc, but she'll be completely lost if you use her to repair an engine. Combat situations might also arise, which although completely simplified so as to remain in the adventure genre format, still mean that you are going to have to keep an eye on each character's health and bring a "red shirt" with you, in case you smell trouble. This minor touches helps add some variety to the way you can solve most puzzles and missions, and the alternation between the point 'n click sequences and the ones aboard the ship where you fight enemy vessels and develop most of the major plot point knocks some enjoyment into the stale adventure game formula.

Final Unity's best features however come from a production-values and trekkie fandom point of view: For starters Microprose threw some money into the game and it shows. Not only the SVGA graphics blow the Interplay games out of the water, but they also secured all of the series main cast for the voice acting, included music straight from the series and added rendered cutscenes that perfectly mimick the "vibe" of the show. In fact, the game plays like an episode ripped right out of the TV, complete with a well designed intro in which the first glimpses of the story are laid out, and as impending danger looms ahead the intro cutscene with the Entreprise flying-by starts rolling cued by the familiar music and Patrick Stewart blurting the even more familiar "Go to red alert!". Great care was taken to make the license justice and it shows. The game even comes loaded with a computer database with all sorts of entertaining Nerdy stuff from the series as well as accurate depictions of the navigation system (a 3D cube with complete stellar and planet information, speed management, etc.), Worf's battle station (which allows you to delegate combat control to Worf or do it yourself), and Geordi's engineer control.

The Bad
The biggest problem with a Final Unity is that it's just a classic point 'n click adventure and not the adventure/space exploration, etc. hybrid it sold itself out to be. The rest of the peripheral elements are not only useless junk, but actually bog down the adventure elements.

While there's a lot of stuff here that could have been used to extend the game's gameplay into much deeper territories, most of the added features in the "ship mode" are basically useless and badly designed. What am I talking about? Allow me to explain: The basic flow of the game is that you get an assignment from Starfleet to do something and you have to navigate to your destination and deploy your away team. Unfortunately, getting there is slightly more complicated than first advertised, as the navigation system is almost impossible to use (no way to input your coordinates except clicking them in the 3D cube and looking at the systems/planets one by one yourself). Space itself is completely empty. Seriously, the truth is NOT out there... so either you get to the hotspot you are supposed to go to or just waste your time. Fortunately you can instruct Data to just take you wherever the hell Starfleet wants you to go and that's it, which means that the navigation computer while nice to look at, is completely useless. As you approach your destination you'll unfortunately get to face a random number of enemy ships, which takes you to the combat station. Ah... the combat station... I finished the game and I still don't know how to use it. All I know is that while initially it seems as if you are able to do everything from complex maneuvers to individually shielding the bathroom in Picard's cabin the truth is that manual control is completely screwed up and unresponsive, and the only way you'll get something done is if you just delegate the fights to Worf. Ditto the engineering station, which is even more useless than the other two (not once did I touch it).

This leaves the ship as basically a way to waste time as you go between each "real" game area, and to talk to other ships/characters... groan....

Finally the story is only average, and there are some truly annoying moments in the adventure sequences, which involve you waiting around as you send some stupid probes to get some samples, or get around some alien security systems that function on a timer (so you better time those clicks boys 'n girls!.... Man, don't these people know adventure gamers are devoid of reflexes?).

The Bottom Line
For trekkies this game was da bomb, specially as in those days the now common CD guides were hard to come by. As for pure gameplay value the game is your average sci-fi adventure game with some interesting gameplay ideas that unfortunately have to share space with some really ill-conceived features.

DOS · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

A good, if flawed follow-up to Star Trek: 25th anniv. and Judgement Rites

The Good
As with most games of this kind, the story has to shine for it to succeed and shine it does. Without giving anything away, let's just suffice it to say that the story is any trekkie's dream. The graphics are beautiful, if a little cartoony. You'll recognize the gameplay is as simple and fun as the Indiana Jones series and the previous Star Trek adventure games by Interplay.(to clear up any misconceptions, the Indiana Jones games were made by Lucasarts.) The locations you go to are beautiful and you will encounter many races and characters. Also, you get to choose the power setting on your phaser, from 1 (light stun) to 14 (heavy disruption). The voiceovers are done by the original actors and the music is excellent.

The Bad
First, the combat was very poor. Using confusing controls to move and fire, etc. You will just allocate combat to Worf every time. Same with Engineering. It's to difficult to waste time doing on your own and Worf and Geordi are much better doing tactical and engineering respectively than any person could. Navigation is another big hassle. You are given this ENORMOUS cube within cube within cube with which to navigate the galaxy.(the game would be unplayable without the fact that usually you have an "automatic click on the name of place to go there shortcut. Using the phaser is a big disappointment. On the off-chance you bring it with you on your away-mission, all you do with it is the "melt the grate to get through vent" kind of thing. The largest problem which seems to affect nearly every game like this (the pick-up stuff to solve this kind) is the paradox of the impossible puzzle. You know, the kind where you use cheese and pencil lead to make a bomb to destroy the door. Two of these kinds of puzzles stand out in my mind now and if you get this game, be prepared to get online to get help with it. Another problem is that you cannot get killed except in the Enterprise. You can get blasted by the alien phaser turrets a zillion times and get back up 5 min. later. The game is too linear. you may be given "choices" in the game, but these just end up giving you same result as the other one. E.G. alien probe escaped from ship where away-team is, do we follow it or stay on the ship?? If you follow it, you will get this ridiculous "cutscene" where you chase 2 sec. and then it disappears. Then you go back where you came from. The game is riddled with bugs. Aside from the crashes and lock ups, this has the distinction of when you walk towards certain areas of the game will cause your character(s) to shrink(??) into nothingness and disappear.(???) Last, but not least, the game is slow. Your characters will stroll across enormous environments and don't think you won't back track through areas again and again.

The Bottom Line
If you like Star Trek games or you like star trek, you should check this out. Otherwise, it's just another average adventure game.

DOS · by James Kirk (150) · 2003

If Guybrush Threepwood Had Served On The Enterprise....

The Good
Star Trek: The Next Generation - "A Final Unity" is probably one of the best video game adaption of the Star Trek franchise.

Most of the game uses the adventure gaming format, perfected by the likes of Guybrush Threepwood, with a couple of action based battle sequences involving the enterprise.

The game features excellent graphics, music and sound effects. Some of the early CGI special effects may seem goofy today, but they were cutting edge in the early 1990s.

If you know how to play Monkey Island, then the you should have little trouble interacting with characters, exploring the planets and solving inventory-based puzzles.

As an added bonus, most of the stars of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show did the voice work for characters in this game.

It would not be too much to say that, when this computer game was released, Star Trek fans throughout the world were in a state of pure joy, almost.

The Bad
Star Trek: The Next Generation "A Final Unity" attempts to continue the Star Trekian tradition of a mixing in serious social commentary and sophisticated philosophy into the science fiction action and adventure. Notice, I said “attempts”.

The main storyline involves the Next Generation crew getting in the middle of an “internal” dispute on another planet.

The alien race of beings on this planet follow a strict class hierarchy, which does not really suit the folks trapped in the lower class, or some of the liberal members of what I am guessing is suppose to be an educated, middle class.

Eventually, Captain Picard comes to the conclusion that the best way to settle the matter is to locate the civilization's missing law givers, who -- hopefully -- will preach a more egalitarian gospel, although that is taking a pretty big gamble.

After all, no one knows much about these missing wise men -- or what forgotten laws they would be more then happy to impose on a civilization that they long since abandoned.

But, seeing how the Enterprise has nothing better to do, it might as well try to solve a civilization's complex and deeply-rooted, backwards class hierarchy by putting all its space eggs in the "lets-hope-the-missing-lawgivers-are-not-crazy" basket.

OK, I appreciate the effort of the game's developers to try and add serious social commentary and sophisticated philosophy into a graphic adventure game.

Adventure games are no stranger to such story elements and the Star Trek franchise has often dealt with issues of discrimination, oppression, fairness and justice.

I just think that the writing in this game is not good enough to push the player to care -- much -- about the outcome of the well meaning, social justice storyline.

For the most part it is not bad writing -- although the gender commentary surrounding the planet where men are second class citizens is pretty bad -- it just never seems to reach for the stars.

Likewise, while the developers clearly were familiar with the ST:TNG characters, their is little in the way of character development.

The Enterprise crew members that you control on the different planets do tend to act like they would in the TV series, but they also tend to stay pretty much the same from the start of the game to the ending.

The result is that while, most, of the serious social commentary and sophisticated philosophy is indeed interesting and certainly pro-Trekkie, it could have been developed and told in a much better way.

Lastly, something should be said about the technical challenges in getting this game to run. If you have a working computer, as it was in 1993, and are good at DOS, then this game should not be too difficult to successfully install and run.

Star Trek: The Next Generation "A Final Unity" was developed and published before it came commonplace for computer games to be designed to run under Windows.

This may date me somewhat, but throughout the 1980s - late 1990s, it was common for computer games to only run in DOS or have have some "issues" running in any version of Windows.

Heck, I can recall how the fact that having a computer game designed to run on Windows 95 or Windows 98 was a big deal and often highlighted in the advertising for game.

What does this all mean? Well, the short answer is that it may take some technical skills, even Vulcan mind tricks, to get a copy of "A Final Unity" to run on a modern computer.

The Bottom Line
Star Trek: The Next Generation - "A Final Unity" offers superior graphics, music, sound effects and even many of the voice talents from the TV Series.

The point and click, adventure gaming format works well for the Star Trek franchise, as this game demonstrated. Sometimes the writing and story development is bit too average. However, if you can get the game to run on your computer, you will be glad that you did. Live Long and Prosper!

DOS · by ETJB (428) · 2014

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Different from its standard box contents, the game's "Collector's Edition" additionally comes with an individually-numbered collectable box including limited edition pin and an exclusive poster.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Accatone, MAT, Jeanne.

Game added March 4, 2000. Last modified February 23, 2024.