Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Good
It's easy to see what the developers were attempting with this game. There were obviously memory limitations with the NES that meant most games were platformers which heavily recycled graphics. Difficult then to incorporate the dense slower moving world of 'The Next Generation' into an 8-bit console.

It was a worthy try they had too. The problem with the other NES Star Trek game (25th Anniversary) was that whilst it had a story it was too short. Here the developers have tried to extend the game by introducing a random element for missions. Never leaving the bridge players must complete a randomly created mission from a limited selection of scenarios, such as travelling from planet A to planet B to engage an enemy, or beam up/down someone. Each mission is given a time limit and at the end you are evaluated. Complete it in time and you rise up a rank from ensign to Admiral.

The Bad
It's an interesting try. If only the mission had more depth and complexity. There's never a twist or plot development and once you get used to the pattern it quickly becomes dull. Not that they're ever easy – far from it. Progress up a few ranks and the missions become nigh impossible as deadlines shrink and the controls become too cumbersome.

Many of the missions involve combat, which is really nasty to play. It's a simplified flight sim where you have to dogfight against the opponent, but the Enterprise is too lethargic making it a headache. In fact general control of the Enterprise is difficult as there's too many functions for the A and B buttons to handle. For example you cannot control the speed and direction at the same time, making precision impossible. You get to cycle through the various bridge stations by a horrible A, B, select and start combination that is not intuitive and even after repeated playing still got wrong, wasting valuable time in combat.

The Bottom Line
I would have preferred less of a multi-mission approach and more in depth stories focussing on one thing at a time. Always being on the bridge feels cramped and isn't even offset by decent ship to ship combat. Star Trek 25th Anniversary still holds my award for the best Trek experience on the NES.