8,732
edits
Changes
→1100? That's 12, right?
'''— LB'''
=Review=
==Star Trek==
Star Trek is a creation of Sega
Enterprises and a production of Texas
Instruments. It gets its name from the
popular Paramount Pictures Corpora
tion film.
This space shoot'em up is one of the
handful of cartridge-based programs
produced as a cooperative venture
between TI and major software devel
opers. All were released during the
fourth quarter of 1983 and no more are
expected.
Performance: Star Trek is a well
designed, fast-moving game that gets
more difficult as your skill improves.
In other words, the more Klingons you
destroy the deadlier their replace
ments get until they manage to des
troy you. You cannot "win" in this
game.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The game starts immediately after
selecting the Star Trek option follow
ing the title screen. The Star Trek
them is played as the game's title
screen appears. Pressing any key
results in a male voice saying "wel
come aboard, captain," if you've got a
speech synthesizer attached.
The screen is divided into three rec
tangles. The upper half of the screen
includes two rectangles. One is the
Radar Scanner, which shows an entire
sector of space. The other contains a
group of bar-graph type indicators
that monitor your energy shields,
photon torpedoes and warp drive.
The lower portion of the screen pro
vides a simulated. 3-D view from the
bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
Play starts upon "boarding" the
Enterprise. You find yourself in Sector
1 with several Klingon vessels and a
single starbase. Starbases cc.1n provide
the Enterprise with one energy shield,
one photon torpedo and one warp drive
unit. To receive these items, you must
use impulse power to pilot the Enter
prise directly over the starbase.
Of course. the Klingons don't just go
away. Even though you've docked
with a starbase. you still must destroy
all of the Klingons in Sector 1 to
advance to Sector 1.1. You may do this
by firing your phasers at close range,
or by firing a photon torpedo when the
target is out of range of your phasers.
A photon torpedo is capable of destroy
ing several Klingons when it explodes.
The Klingons will be firing at the
Enterprise throughout the game so
you must try to maneuver your star
ship in such a way that the Klingon
shots will miss. Each Klingon hit costs
yo·u one shield·.
But that's not all the nefarious Klin
gons will do. While there are 2 classes
of Klingon battle cruiser-red·, which
pursue the Enterprise, and yellow,
which attack starbases-they will
change color if not destroyed and
commit hari kiri by colliding with the
Enterprise. Each collision costs the
Enterprise two shields.
And, as the captain, you mustn't
forget the blue Anti-Matter Saucers
1that are allied with the Klingons.
These appear randomly and try to att
ach themselves to the Enterprise,
draining it of its warp drive energy.
They can be destroyed with phasers
only, and are worth 5,000 bonus points.
Nomad is another Klingon ally. This
little device appears in the last level of
a sector. It scatters explosives
throughout the sector and detonates
them when the last one has been laid.
It moves rapidly, but if you can des
troy it with your phasers before it has
finished its work you will gain bonus
points and the Enterprise will suffer
no damage. Easier said than done.
Having destroyed the Klingons in
Sector 1.1, you advance to Sector 1.2,
1.3 and later to Sectors 2, 3 and beyond
As you progress through the sectors
the action gets faster and deadlier. If
you can get beyond Sector 6. you are a
better starship commander than I.
The graphics in Star Trek are clean
of line and functional. There's not
much to see in outer space, you know.
Sound is used to represent the explo
sion of torpedoes and the firing of
phasers. You als6 hear a plink when a
Klingon crashes into the hull of the
Enterprise. The voice synthesizer is
used more effectively in this game
than in Parsec. The voice is much
clearer in this game. It announces the
sector number as you enter it and
offers such encouragement as "excel
lent manuevering, captain" during
the course of the game. Color is well
integrated into the game. both in
terms of function and appearance.
Although the 3-D viewer takes up
half the display screen. its function is
limited. It provides a close-up view of
oncoming Klingons and torpedoes and
has a targeting feature to use with the
phasers. However. if you haven't
already destroyed the Klingons before
they loom large in front of the bridge
you can be sure that the Enterprise
will suffer damage. Everything on this
screen moves fast as you rotate the
bridge to put the target in view. You
will be able to watch only one screen at
a time so your best bet is to destroy the
Klingons before they get near the
Enterprise. The depiction of Klingon
vessels and other objects is more fully
developed in the viewer than the gra
phics used by the radar screen.
Points are scored for each Klingon.
Anti-Matter Saucer and Nomad des
troyed. Points are also accumulated
for using a starbase. though you can
get four times as many points for not
using a starbase. A multiplication fac
tor is used in tallying the score based
on the .. round" number. For example.
Sector 1.1 is round 1 and Sector 1.2 is
round 2. This factor affects points
awarded for all but the Anti-Matter
Saucer.
Ease of Use: This game can be
played with joysticks or the keyboard.
I prefer the keybaord because not all
joystick commands come naturally.
For example. to move the Enterprise
forward in warp drive. you have to pull
the stick back. Very unnatural.
The keyboard commands use the
left and right arrow keys for direction
and the H-J-K-L keys for everything
else.
Documentation: TI has once again
provided an excellent manual for its
software. It includes strategy tips as
well as the usual how-to material.
Value: I enjoyed playing this game,
but I reached my level of competence
after several hours. I've little hope of
getting beyond the sixth sector. But for
those who think they can do better
everytime they play a game. this one
will provide quite a challenge.
'''— JK'''
