Deep Space Nine is my personal favorite among the Star Trek spin-off TV shows. The characters were more complex than in the other shows, and the storylines were the most involved. At least, that's how they were by the last couple of seasons. The first season of the show wasn't bad by any means, but it was uninspired. There was only so much mileage the show can get from a new alien coming through the Wormhole or Gul Dukat being a local jackass. I really wish that game designers held off on making DS9 games until the start of the Dominion War which would've been an absolute goldmine of possibilities for amazing games. Instead, console owners got Crossroads of Time, a game as uninspired as the first season it's set in.
Even though the Genesis is not the strongest console of the fourth generation in terms of aesthetics, the visuals and audio are quite good here. The characters are well-defined and animated very smoothly, and the locations have impressive detail for the era. Even the music sounds decent if a bit too synthetic. The Super Nintendo version has the better soundtrack, but what the Genesis version has isn't bad at all.
Click For the Full Picture Archive
Like the show, the story in this game is more involved than in the previous Star Trek games I'd covered. Many Bajorans resent the idea of the Federation controlling the station after the Cardassians were forced out and have taken to acts of terrorism to try to force Starfleet to leave. This plot is somewhat similar to the beginning episodes of the second season and is quite interesting. I wanted to see where the story went. Unfortunately, the game itself kept getting in the way.
The game takes many cues from cinematic puzzle-platformers like Flashback and Out of This World. The side-scrolling levels are very much mazes, and they are fun to navigate. Unfortunately, the fun is dampened by the finicky controls. The d-pad movement is too slippery for a platformer that requires VERY precise positioning in order to grab ledges. It needed to be much tighter for this type of game. The slippery controls become even more problematic when flying the Runabout during the scrolling shooter stages. It is virtually impossible to avoid hitting obstacles when the ship slides wildly with the slightest tap of the d-pad. Finally, trying to cycle through the inventory with the A button is a pain in the ass. Tapping the A button selects the last item used while holding it allows using the d-pad to cycle through the whole inventory. On paper, it's a fine idea, but, in practice, it's too imprecise to use when enemies are bearing down on you.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time was a very frustrating game. On the one hand, the story and atmosphere were quite good for the time. On the other, the game was a pain to play due to technical issues. It actually makes me wish this was a graphic novel instead. Some very patient gamers may get into it. As for me, I'd sooner launch it back to the Gammma Quadrant.
