Star Trek: Hidden Evil

***

PC

Activision

$99.95 (G)

Review: Peter Eley

Hidden Evil is set in Star Trek's Next Generation mode, with voiceovers from Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) and Brent Spiner (Data) giving it an edge of authenticity.

Like many Star Trek plots, there is a mysterious evil presence lurking on a remote planet. Your job, as the young Ensign Sovak, is to save the Universe.

Hidden Evil is a traditional adventure game, with some combat thrown in - don't fret, you get to fire your phaser.

The graphics are a mix of 3D polygon-mapped characters set among prerendered 2D backgrounds. They work well, and Hidden Evil is a nice game to look at.

The storyline is well done, the interface is intuitive, and the game is intriguing and suspenseful, but ...

The problem with adventure games is that they are either too hard or too easy. Too hard, and you get stuck in the middle and need to resort to an Internet walkthrough guide or fork out for the official hints book. Too easy, and your 100 bucks is blown in a matter of hours.

Hidden Evil falls into that latter category. It is so easy it offers no real challenge to an experienced player. And that flaw is made worse by the fact that it is a short easy game with only nine levels.

Required: Pentium 200, 32Mb Ram. 3D accelerator recommended.