"Charming"

Probably one of the more obscure titles for the old Gameboy, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary was one of my favorite games for the machine. Not that it is that remarkable or great, far from it. But to me, it always had a certain charm.

25th Anniversary is divided into 2 sections. A horizontal shooter in which you control the Enterprise and a top down object hunt starring Captain Kirk. This may sound a bit basic, and it is. But somehow it manages to be quite a lot of fun.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are very simple, even for Gameboy standards. The Enterprise is nothing more than a white silhouette against a black star littered background. The same also goes for other ships. Only objects like planets and asteroids have some sort of detail on them, but not much.

The sections with Kirk, have a little more detail and animation, but simplicity is again the keyword here. There is little variety in enemies and backgrounds. Nothing too special.

25th Anniversary's graphics are mediocre at best, but they do what they have to do.

SOUND
Guess what, this game also won't score many points in this department either. A few familiar tunes from the old Star Trek series that are faintly recognizable, and a few bleeps for sound effects. That's it. Charming, but nothing more.

GAMEPLAY
Like stated earlier, this game is separated into 2 different sections. A horizontal shooter, and a collect ‘m up. But let's start with the beginning: the story. The Doomsday Device (or something like that) is wreaking havoc across the galaxy, and it is up to Kirk to stop it. Klingons, Romulans and Tholians are a bit paranoid about his mission and try to stop him. It reminds me of an old episode, and it ads some atmosphere to the proceedings.

You start each level with a map of the galaxy. There you must steer the Enterprise to a planet on the right side of the map. Getting there means that you have to cross a few hostile territories, for example containing a giant space amoeba, an asteroid field, or a enemy fleet.

During these fights you control, like noted earlier, the Enterprise. There is a touch of strategy added, in that you can allocate energy to shields, weapons and maneuverability. This is a nice feature, which does ad a little bit of strategy.

When you reach a planet, Kirk beams down to the planet to locate a few missing parts that he needs to construct a Doomsday Device obliterating weapon. He does this by walking around an rather bland area, scanning things like tree stumps or rocks to see if they contain a missing part, and occasionally he shoots/ stuns an enemy. That's it. Probably the nicest feature is that Kirk can use his tricorder to see if he near the part he is looking for.

There are not that many problems with 25th Anniversary. It is occasionally a tad frustrating. Both the Enterprise and Kirk are not always as maneuverable as you would like. It is also not that difficult, which is probably a good thing, seeing that this game gets repetitive rather soon. After the umpteenth traversing of an asteroid field, sometimes a few times in a row, it can get tiresome.

FINAL REMARKS
So here we are. A game that looks and sounds quaint, is not that hard, can get frustrating and will get tiresome. Things are not that bad though. It can be rather fun, and you get the impression that the developers at least tried to create something special. They didn't fully succeed, but got far nonetheless.
A nice and charming little Gameboy game.

OVERALL: a proud 7,0

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/05