Star Trek: The Next Generation: Future's Past
Encyclopedia
Star Trek The Next Generation: Future's Past is a Super Nintendo
video game in which Jean-Luc Picard
and the crew of the USS Enterprise
are sent to investigate a situation involving the Romulans, the Chodak, and a temporal device. Mission actions take place both in space and on the surface of numerous planets.
video game in which the player is investigating the relationship between the Romulan
s, an alien race called the Chodak, and a temporal device. The game plays as an episode of the series does, in that the player communicates with members of the crew and interacts with them in a variety of ways. In game areas include the main bridge, transporter room, conference room, alien ships, and planet surfaces.
The main bridge offers a large amount of interactivity. Here the player can interact with each crew member, interviewing them to gain knowledge for the mission and to solicit opinions on how to proceed. The bridge has a variety of terminals, including the Conn, communications, engineering, the main computer, and access to the transporter room and conference room. The engineering terminal gives the player control over ship repair duties, in a similar style to the PC game Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity. The main computer offers a material to research for missions, and general information about the Star Trek universe. The Conn is the ship's navigational control and is where the player plots course and speed to various game destinations. In the conference room the player is briefed with the crew regarding how to proceed at various points throughout the story.
When the player goes to the transporter room, planning to beam to a destination, he can choose his crew to bring along. Each crew member has stats that decide how effective he will be at certain tasks, such as tactical, technical, strength and health. Choosing a selection of characters that target the mission goals can make the gameplay much easier. At the destination, the player has individual access to each character and their inventory. The phaser, tricorder
, and various specialized devices (such as medical equipment) are used in the game to interact with the environment.
In-game events are played out through conversations on the main bridge viewscreen, in-person on away missions, and via short in-game animated cinematics. The game's intro mimics the intro of television series.
Bridge- Various interface stations allow the player to navigate, start away missions, and access the password system which can be used to play saved games at different points of the game.
Combat- Should an enemy attack the Enterprise D
, the red alert
klaxons go off and the visual is transferred to a tatical grid that shows the Enterprise and the attacking ship. The player may fire phasers and photon torpedoes while maneuvering. Damage sustained during these battles can either be repaired at the Engineering console on the bridge, or at one of the three starbases in the sector. Damage inflicted can affect various systems, such as being unable to beam down to away missions, unable to access navigation, blurred and garbled communications, or ship destruction.
Away Mission- The player controls four members of an away team. The player can control each one in turn by switching to the respective portrait. Certain characters have different abilities based on their service branch.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
video game in which Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
and the crew of the USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
The USS Enterprise is a 24th century starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and the principal setting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...
are sent to investigate a situation involving the Romulans, the Chodak, and a temporal device. Mission actions take place both in space and on the surface of numerous planets.
Overview
Future's Past is an adventureAdventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
video game in which the player is investigating the relationship between the Romulan
Romulan
The Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
s, an alien race called the Chodak, and a temporal device. The game plays as an episode of the series does, in that the player communicates with members of the crew and interacts with them in a variety of ways. In game areas include the main bridge, transporter room, conference room, alien ships, and planet surfaces.
The main bridge offers a large amount of interactivity. Here the player can interact with each crew member, interviewing them to gain knowledge for the mission and to solicit opinions on how to proceed. The bridge has a variety of terminals, including the Conn, communications, engineering, the main computer, and access to the transporter room and conference room. The engineering terminal gives the player control over ship repair duties, in a similar style to the PC game Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity. The main computer offers a material to research for missions, and general information about the Star Trek universe. The Conn is the ship's navigational control and is where the player plots course and speed to various game destinations. In the conference room the player is briefed with the crew regarding how to proceed at various points throughout the story.
When the player goes to the transporter room, planning to beam to a destination, he can choose his crew to bring along. Each crew member has stats that decide how effective he will be at certain tasks, such as tactical, technical, strength and health. Choosing a selection of characters that target the mission goals can make the gameplay much easier. At the destination, the player has individual access to each character and their inventory. The phaser, tricorder
Tricorder
In the fictional Star Trek universe, a tricorder is a multifunction handheld device used for sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data.Three primary variants of the tricorder are issued in Star Trek's Starfleet...
, and various specialized devices (such as medical equipment) are used in the game to interact with the environment.
In-game events are played out through conversations on the main bridge viewscreen, in-person on away missions, and via short in-game animated cinematics. The game's intro mimics the intro of television series.
Gameplay
The game has three different settings.Bridge- Various interface stations allow the player to navigate, start away missions, and access the password system which can be used to play saved games at different points of the game.
Combat- Should an enemy attack the Enterprise D
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
The USS Enterprise is a 24th century starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and the principal setting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...
, the red alert
Red Alert (Star Trek)
Red alert is a Starfleet alert state in the Star Trek fictional universe. It is the highest state of alert for a Starfleet vessel or installation, indicating an extremely dangerous situation such as entering combat....
klaxons go off and the visual is transferred to a tatical grid that shows the Enterprise and the attacking ship. The player may fire phasers and photon torpedoes while maneuvering. Damage sustained during these battles can either be repaired at the Engineering console on the bridge, or at one of the three starbases in the sector. Damage inflicted can affect various systems, such as being unable to beam down to away missions, unable to access navigation, blurred and garbled communications, or ship destruction.
Away Mission- The player controls four members of an away team. The player can control each one in turn by switching to the respective portrait. Certain characters have different abilities based on their service branch.
Trivia
- The character named "Ed Semrad" is named after the Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
editor of the same name.
See also
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Echoes from the Past - An extremely similar version of the game, on the Sega Genesis.
External links
- Future's Past at Memory Alpha
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Future's Past at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...