Star Trek: The Next Generation - Echoes from the Past

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Echoes from the Past is a graphic adventure based on the popular TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The game was developed by Spectrum Holobyte and was released in 1994 for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and SNES. The Nintendo version got another title, Future's Past.

Like in a TV episode, the game allows you to join Picard, Riker, Data, and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise in one of their missions. On the bridge, you will be able to talk with the famous characters of the series - helpful to get several hints - and access all the ship's systems, including comms, engineering, conference room, and more. You will have to interact with the ship's systems to proceed with the plot, for example, accessing comms to answer a distress call. On the bridge, you will also manage the ship's energy to move it from one system to another, especially during battles.

If the current mission requires it, you can also start an away mission, selecting four crew members. The choice will be critical because each member has different skills; for example, Dr. Crusher can heal, Geordi can see in the dark, while Data can survive without air.

The game is excellent, but as you can expect, the best part is the presentation. As soon as you start the game, you will see and hear the theme song of the TV series, and you will immediately fall in love with the game. While inside the Enterprise, the graphics are very realistic, and despite the limitation of the colors, it's fantastic. Actual scenes from the episodes have been digitized for the game. The away mission uses a different type of graphics, less realistic, but still good. If you are a fan of the series, you will love it.

It's a pity the game was never ported to PC or Amiga because it would have been good to play with a mouse instead of the controller. But if you play our version, the emulator will allow you to use the keyboard, so it's perfect. As Picard would say, Engage!