STAR TREK V

 I had glimpsed STAR TREK V at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show; the
individual screen shots were rendered beautifully in very high resolution with a
photographic color palette. Moreover, the screens related the story of STAR TREK
V, a film that hadn't even been released yet. As a Trekker since childhood, I
was particularly excited by the meticulously faithful appearance of the
game-in-progress, and I had high hopes that the game as a whole would live up to
its potential. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version.)

 Alas, the high point of STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER (the Mindscape computer
game, not the movie) is, in fact, those graphics. They're amazing, but they're
supporting a game that's lacking in play value. It pains me to say this, because
Star Trek seems such a natural topic for games, but there have been few decent
products based on this theme: Simon and Schuster's STAR TREK: THE KOBYASHI
ALTERNATIVE is a text game with a maddeningly limited parser; ST: THE PROMETHEAN
PROPHECY is a much improved text game, as is ST: FIRST CONTACT; ST: THE REBEL
UNIVERSE is a pretty good computer role-playing game on the Atari ST, but
dreadful on the IBM-PC; and STAR FLEET I and II (Interstel) are excellent
strategy games whose basis is clearly in the Star Trek mythos.

 But Trek fans are still waiting for a 100% Star Trek game as exciting,
challenging, and involving as the TV shows, books, and movies. STAR TREK V (STV)
is exciting and challenging, but it's very cut-and-dried and -- in a word McCoy
might use -- "unemotional." That's primarily because it's an arcade game with
minor strategic elements; there's no exploration, no sense of confronting the
unknown, no mystery, and no real goal -- other than to keep the ship in one
piece. Thus, STV succeeds as an arcade game but fails as an encompassing
adventure.

 When the program loads, you specify your video adapter and your difficulty
level (3 available); then you're asked to provide a translation of a sentence in
Klingonese. This is the copy protection, and the answers are all given in the
back of the manual. Mindscape is to be commended for apparently having dropped
the on-disk protection that has caused much angst in the past (especially for
hard-drive owners).

 Then, if you choose, the game provides a partial synopsis of the film STAR TREK
V: The FINAL FRONTIER. A Vulcan (Sybok) has pinpointed a planet he believes to
be the location of Eden...and of God. Through trickery and guile, he commandeers
the Enterprise to take him to the planet (Sha Ka Ree), which lies in the center
of the galaxy (past a barrier only a Starship can penetrate). Meanwhile, Kirk
must avoid conflict with the Klingons who are also trying to reach the planet.

 This prologue, with its undeniably impressive VGA graphics, also includes spot
animation to highlight the lush photo-realism. However, the movie's story was
disjointed and not particularly innovative (it was, in fact, pretty reminiscent
of the first film's search for Vejur, and the series episode "The Way to Eden").
Thus, the game's story -- by being faithful to the film -- suffers from the same
faults. Also, depending on your machine (and whether or not you're playing from
a hard drive), the intense graphics take a while to load, which results in slow
storytelling.

 Next comes the first arcade sequence. It's here that you, as Jim, take control
on the bridge. It's a neat little cockpit: You have a large center viewscreen, a
menu bar/message slot above the viewscreen, and a wide variety of directional
indicators and power gauges for various important ship systems. There are other
systems involved, but you generally don't hear anything about them unless
they're in need of repair. The menu bar gives you access to your bridge crew:
Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and Scotty. You can call up any of them with
the touch of a button: A large image of that crew member fills the viewscreen
alongside a list of the available commands (the commands change depending on the
situation). As long as a crew member is healthy, he or she will immediately try
to follow your orders. The strategy in the game consists of learning which
orders to give in which sequence, and how to mete out the repair duties (there
are almost always repairs to be made).

 Your first goal is to take the Enterprise to Sha Ka Ree, so you set a course
and head for the planet. However, because you were only given a couple of hours
in which to prepare the Enterprise for the journey, the engines are imbalanced,
causing a "wormhole." The first arcade sequence consists of piloting the
Enterprise safely through this wormhole. The tubular wormhole twists and turns
its way through space, and the Enterprise must avoid contact with the edges of
the tube and with the debris scattered throughout. There are also dilithium
crystals lining the inside of the tube; you must try to pull in as many crystals
as possible for later use.

 The tube is a wireframe construction, very cleverly designed, and will cause
you to squirm and wriggle in your seat as you try to snake your ship through the
tube. But there's no way to tell how far into the tube you are (or how long the
tube is), and there's no workable strategy, apart from keeping the ship roughly
centered and out of the path of debris. Not a particularly dynamic sequence.

 If you fail, you're thrown back to DOS, where you'll have to restart the game
from scratch. This holds true for _every_ arcade sequence: Do it wrong, and
you're back at DOS (after a quick screen that shows the Enterprise in flames, or
Kirk in front of a Klingon tribunal).

 When you emerge from the tube, you find you're in a field of Klingon mines that
form two concentric circles around you. While repairing any damage you suffered
in the wormhole, you must also destroy enough of the mines to escape from the
circle. Again, there's not too much strategy involved in this task, although it
isn't easy. I found this part of the game frustrating and not a lot of fun, but
I got a helluva kick out of finally defeating it. (It's bizarre: even though you
have Sulu at the helm in these sequences, you still need to actually steer the
ship as if Kirk were holding a joystick.)

 Provided you escape from the mines without terminal damage, there's a bit more
narration and onscreen animation, and then it's off to the surface of the planet
for a fistfight with the Klingon commander. The graphics are still great, but
the fight is ho-hum.

 The penultimate sequence departs from the film entirely. Here you command a
"simulation" of the Enterprise against a "simulation" of attacking Klingon
forces. Supposedly, if the Enterprise loses this contest, the Federation loses
face in front of the Klingon Empire...and (I guess) we're all the lesser for the
experience. So much for any pretense of an enlightened future.

 The game comes down to this: Can the Enterprise shoot all the Klingons before
the Klingons destroy the Enterprise? The simulator (again, wireframe) is a fair
simulation of a flying starship -- less complex than, say, Origin's SPACE ROGUE,
but not as simplistic as STARFLIGHT. This is also where repair time-management
skills are really called into play, as the Enterprise flies around in a small,
featureless area of space (no planets, no nuthin') trying to locate, dodge, and
eliminate cloaked Klingon opponents. (When did the Klingons get the Bird of
Prey? I thought that was a Romulan ship!) This is the most interesting part of
the game. It truly captures the excitement of a real-time Star Trek pitched
battle. And I could tell Chekov was enjoying himself as soon as I gave him that
"Fire at will" command.

 The first time you survive the entire game (even if it's just at the
Beginner/Cadet level), the program writes a new file to the disk and provides an
additional startup option: It allows you to practice any of the sequences at any
difficulty level. So if you want to gain experience in the last simulation at
the toughest level, you can practice there without having to wade through the
other sequences. Success also nets you a couple of congratulatory screens.

 STV is a totally linear game. There are only two outcomes for each sequence:
lose (and go to DOS), or win. The interaction with the other characters is
bogus: You give orders, they obey (or refuse, if you ask them to do something
they're not capable of). You have no relationship with them, although some of
their responses are humorously appropriate for their established personalities.
The story seems like a hodgepodge, and although the package and publicity herald
the game as an "adventure" with role-playing and strategy elements, this is far
and away a game of fast fingers.

 STV for the IBM requires a minimum of 640K and an EGA, VGA, MCGA, or Tandy
16-color card; CGA and monochrome are _not_ supported. The game is hard-drive
installable and comes on five 5-1/4" disks or three 3-1/2" disks, all
unprotected except for the aforementioned manual check. The manual is complete,
though you'll have to read it several times -- carefully -- in order to
assimilate all the information, which is dispersed in a less-than-convenient
form.

 There are many for whom STV will be a fine game: If you're a Star Trek fan with
a VGA card, you might want STV just to see all the impressive pictures. If you
liked the movie, the game does a decent job of re-enacting most of it. And if
you're one of the many who devour arcade games like potato chips, this one makes
a filling entree. But CRPG or adventure (or even strategy game) players will not
find much worth nibbling on here.

 STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER is published and distributed by Mindscape.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253