"Strategic Operations Simulator" sounds like Stellar Track, or even the Star Trek title for Game Gear. But instead of some heady strategy title, Star Trek for Atari 2600 is a casual shooter with a lot going on.
The short version? You fly the Enterprise in the upper right box and take out Klingon ships, which you can see in first person on the bottom. It's a neat effect, especially on the humble Atari, but it's easier to watch the tiny ships in the upper box.
The long version? You'll have to battle through 10 sectors, and each sector has 6 parts. Most of these are Asteroids-style affairs, but you'll also navigate through meteor showers, as well as fight a mine-dropping boss named NOMAD. During these scenes, you can dock with your square (I mean, Starbase) to refuel those 3 gauges in the upper left.
There's more! You can also warp drive and drop photon torpedoes. The fine folks from Sega even included an overlay for the joystick to complement all these options, which no doubt added a striking degree of verisimilitude to this "simulator."
Plus, we get a title screen with an Enterprise, as well as rainbow cut scenes between sectors, with the Star Trek theme beeping along. Wow! It seems some programmer somewhere really liked Star Trek.
Overall, I find Star Trek for Atari 2600 a refreshing space ride. First of all, it's fun. Second of all, it's interesting, due to the sheer amount of crap they threw into this: duel views, multiple gauges, varied scenarios, and different speed and weapon options.
This variety of Star Stuff wasn't accidental. Star Trek is a port of an arcade title, and it's apparent that Sega wanted the port to retain the authenticity of its arcade parent. I could argue that it's too much, and that this title would be more fun as a simple and full-screen Asteroids clone, but it's the attention to the many details here that makes Star Trek unique. It could have been a fun Asteroids shooter, sure, but it also could have been yet another forgettable space game. Thank you for keeping all that junk in there, Sega people.
I wonder if there's an ending after Sector 10? I'm guessing a high score screen, at most.
Final Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator review:
If you're a fan of Star Trek and retro games, you should check this out. Due to the game's variety and skillful programming, I recommend Star Trek to the Atari curious, nerds, and collectors.
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