Listen To Q’S Advice As You Avenge Lt. Furlong’s Death
The game: “Star Trek: Borg”
Formats: Windows 95 and Macintosh (both versions are included on the three-CD-ROM set). Cost: $49, Simon & Schuster Interactive.
Category: Adventure-simulation.
Players: One.
Recommended ages: 13 and up.
Release date: Available now. How the game works: “Star Trek: Borg” positions the player as Kaylan Furlong, a young Federation cadet whose father was vaporized six years earlier on the USS Righteous by the Borg, an evil collective of cyborgs.
Players battle the devastating Borg mission to assimilate every other species in the universe into their collective.
Q (played by John de Lancie, reprising his role from the television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Voyager”) is your guide. He brings players back in time to battle the Borg and avenge Lt. Furlong’s death.
As the Borg attack on the USS Righteous progresses, players make a series of choices at each turning point. Q baits them into making the best decisions, in his trademark cynical style. During game-play, everyone - including Q - is at risk of being entirely or partially “Borgified” and placed under the mesmerizing Borg command to “Absorb, Destroy, Obey.”
You can defend yourself with phaser guns and use tricorders to receive readouts of vital statistics and other important information about the Borg. Game play can run for hours, although possible Borgification and destruction of the USS Righteous lie within virtually every decision in the game.
Good points, bad points: “Star Trek: Borg” is packed with special effects and the newest technology in 16-bit, full-motion, full-screen video, and features nearly two hours of footage shot for this game at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Jonathan Frakes, director of “Star Trek: First Contact” - another Borg adventure, out now in theaters - served as executive consultant. This is the fourth title in Simon & Schuster Interactive’s Star Trek multimedia series.
Tips: Listen to Q - he gives you advice along the way. Take it from an original Trekker, this game is better produced than the new “First Contact” film - at least this one has Q, and a solid plot.
The verdict: Resistance is not futile - save the Earth!
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