Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: November 6, 1998

If you’re a Star Trek fan and like computer games, you’re probably ready to throw your PC in the trash. Whether the result of some strange spatial anomaly, evil alien influence, or just plain idiotic design decisions, Star Trek games of the past few years have been notoriously awful. Remember Borg? I didn’t think so. What about Star Trek: Generations or Starfleet Academy? You’ve probably heard of those two, but chances are they’re not on your top ten.

It is because of this legacy of mediocrity some might claim Microprose’s Klingon Honor Guard just isn’t worth the time of day. In an age where a good 3D shooter can take upwards of three years to produce (Unreal being the prime example), the designers at Microprose managed to whip out their new Star Trek game in just a fraction of the time. For hardcore gamers who have become more than a little jaded by the tide of lackluster Star Trek games, that could only mean one thing: Klingon Honor Guard stinks. But the truth is in the gameplay, and my experiences with Microprose’s ode to the bony-headed bullies have told a different story, one filled with more gameplay and excitement than I would have expected.

Klingon Honor Guard puts the player into the Gene Simmons-esque boots of a young Klingon warrior, a trainee vying for a position in the vaunted ‘avwl’ batlh, or Honor Guard, a Secret Service-like organization tasked with defending the Klingon High Council and Chancellor Gowron himself. The game opens with the player engaged in a brutal holodeck training mission (with the safeties turned off, of course), just one of the many tests you must pass in order to be considered for the ‘avwl’ batlh. When the session ends abruptly — as indicated by the cool fade-in of the holodeck’s “grid” — your warrior’s instincts tell you something is amiss, a fact confirmed by an emergency message from Korek, High Master of the School of To’kar and head of the Honor Guard. You learn that just moments prior, a bomb was detonated in Gowron’s council chambers, seriously injuring the Chancellor and killing several members of his staff (shades of the assassination attempt against Hitler). As it turns out, you just happen to be in the right place at the right time — Korek orders you to pursue the would-be assassins to their nearby safehouse and end their miserable lives, thus restoring honor to your house and the High Council. So begins a journey that will take you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, to places both familiar and unfamiliar to Star Trek fans, as you pursue the traitors and unravel the truth behind their treachery. You fail, you die — welcome to life as a Klingon.

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation will surely recall the show’s heyday, a period marked by a continuing storyline that focused on the volatile political situation within the Klingon Empire, and the continuing treachery of the House of Duras. It is there Klingon Honor Guard gets its inspiration, offering a plot rife with political intrigue, deception, and downright treason. It really is a nice change of pace from the typical “slay the evil guy” and “defeat the aliens” plotlines that have become all too prevalent in today’s games; Klingon Honor Guard’s story offers a more cerebral approach to 3D action, something that may seem a little odd considering the gameplay’s considerable blood and butchery.

As you make your way across the stars, you’ll be given frequent mission briefings and updates by Kurn — brother of Worf, your immediate supervisor, and really the only person you know you can trust. In true Klingon fashion, Kurn could care less about your own personal safety or the seeming impossibility of the tasks he sets before you. You really will be expected to accomplish some truly amazing feats, from breaking into a prison colony, to infiltrating an Andorian smuggling ring, to boarding and raiding a Klingon K’t'inga-class Battle Cruiser. And while Klingon Honor Guard may not be as gory as other first-person shooters, it’s pretty brutal for a Star Trek game. The blood sprays fast and frequently, and the importance of hand-to-hand combat means you’ll get to gut your enemies and see the look of fear in their eyes right before you send them to Sto’vo’kor — the Klingon equivalent of Valhalla.

The adversaries you face in Klingon Honor Guard aren’t as varied as they are in most first-person shooters, but they do fit in appropriately with the game’s storyline. Most of the time you’re facing off against other Klingons, but I found the encounters with the other alien species to be particularly exciting. The Andorians, while humanoid, are incredibly nimble, and love to cartwheel out of the way of your assaults, and the Nausicans (you know, those big dudes who stabbed Picard in the heart when he was in the academy) put up a really killer hand-to-hand fight. But nothing can compare to the Lethians, mysterious creatures who channel electricity and can throw glowing balls of lightning that can track you around corners. These ultimate baddies are made all the more sinister by their use of stealth suits to turn themselves invisible; seeing one materialize a couple of feet away is enough to make you swallow your heart. My one regret is that the designers didn’t include any Federation officers to do battle against. Now that would be fun.