Star Trek: Hidden Evil Star Trek: Hidden Evil released just before Christmas last year, is an example of just how wrong things can go in creating a game based on the world of Star Trek. At a glance, it seems as though it has all the right stuff: Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner do voice-overs for their characters; you get to wield various Trek devices like phasers, tricorders, and communicators; you can use the Vulcan neck pinch to disable adversaries; and the plot revolves around a Romulan plan for - surprise, surprise - galactic domination. Click to enlarge OK, so perhaps that last bit wasn't exactly an original concept. But the promised mix of combat sequences and inventory-based puzzles did sound inviting, almost as if it could wind up being the game that Star Trek generations should have been. Instead, what gamers got was an adventure game so rudimentary that it practically played itself, combat far more infuriating than satisfying, an unconfigurable interface that rendered the Vulcan neck pinch nearly useless, and mail-it-in dialogue from Stewart and Spiner. Part of the blame must fall on the shoulders of Presto Studios, but a good chunk of it must fall on Activision's too - not only for choosing Presto (which had never done an action-oriented game), but also for apparently not caring what the final product wound up like so long as it was out in time for the Christmas shopping season. Viacom New Media Harbinger At least Activision will have a chance to redeem itself. This isn't the case for Viacom NewMedia. Viacom no longer makes computer games, so all Star Trek fans will have to remember the company by is Harbinger, the only game based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that has been released. Because it was set on a space station, there was more than one fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation who never really understood the appeal of the show (at least until Worf and the Jem Ha'dar arrived), but even so, the various races and their agendas could have been the basis for a good computer game - too bad this wasn't it. Click to enlarge When the game opens you find yourself on Deep Space Nine, having just survived an attack by alien drones. As a Tirrion delegate named Bannik, you expect at least to have someone welcome you aboard, but the ship has been evacuated because of a plasma storm. Wonderful - a huge space station with hardly anyone on board. It's the first inkling that Harbinger is headed in the wrong direction, and it doesn't take long before it starts plunging headlong into the depths of mediocrity. The action sequences are all "rail shooters," with you moving your mouse cursor around a static screen to blast those annoying drones. You'll find yourself meandering about far too much because there's no map to guide you through the massive station, and when the plot finally heats up (you discover the ambassador you're supposed to meet has been murdered) you find it only leads to more irritating combat. Toss in some boilerplate mechanical puzzles, and you've got a product that manages to please neither Deep Space Nine fans nor hardcore gamers. Then again, no one said it was easy. Next: Related Links