Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a major draw for Vectrex owners – a licensed game based on one of the best-known sci-fi properties, and also one of the few titles on the console that tries to be more than a purely arcade shootout. The player commands the Enterprise and follows the action from the bridge: ahead lies a view of space with incoming Klingon ships, and below is a panel of gauges. Besides firing photon torpedoes and phasers, you must monitor your shield status and energy reserves, which get consumed by absolutely everything – movement, shooting, and defense alike. When they run out, the game ends regardless of how many enemies you've shot down so far.

Resource management is really the heart of the game. Energy can be replenished at a space station, but docking with it is a delicate maneuver during which the ship is vulnerable, and the Klingons are waiting for exactly that moment. This creates a constant cycle: fight, watch your dwindling reserves, retreat in time to refuel, then head back out. On top of that come enemy shots that can be deflected with shields, and dangerous space obstacles. The vector image gives the whole thing surprising depth – Klingon ships grow from small outlines as they approach, and the drawn silhouettes look exactly the way people remember them from the movie screen.

At the time it was one of the most talked-about titles in the library, since it paired a famous license with unusually complex controls that took a while to get used to. In hindsight it's interesting mainly as evidence that, already in the early eighties, developers were attempting to simulate a command bridge rather than just shooting at targets. Today it plays slower and more deliberately than the rest of the Vectrex lineup – and that's precisely what makes it refreshing among the other titles. It takes some patience, and ideally a glance at the manual, since the controls aren't self-explanatory, but once you get the hang of it, a surprisingly absorbing rhythm of fighting and refueling emerges. It's a game that reminds today's player just how early developers were already trying for something more than pure reflexes.