Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown is a fairly dull curiosity that I'm really enjoying

"I'm here. I'm me. I'm alive!" Tuvix cries out as I'm dragging him to his death. Two of my crewmembers have been merged in a strange transporter accident, and in separating them back into their original bodies, I'm killing the current amalgamation. It's an episode of Voyager that begins light and ends heavy, and I find that when I have to decide Tuvix's fate in Across the Unknown, it isn't as easy as I thought.

I did think, for a second, about what would happen if I kept Tuvix - he would be, from a videogame point of view, an exceptionally strong hero for use on away missions, presumably with the combined stats of two already experienced people. But in doing so, I would miss out on two distinct voices when bumbling my way across the Delta Quadrant. And bumble I do.

Anyway, I murder Tuvix, get my other mates back, and it's off to solve the next issue. Across the Unknown is a strange thing - very wide but not very deep - and I wonder how someone with no previous knowledge of the TV show would fare. Each of the short missions I'm presented with is from an episode of Voyager, and I can use my experience to fill in the blanks of the fairly sparse writing.

My superpower in these missions is that I know how things played out previously. I know about you, Seska, and your sudden, but inevitable betrayal, but instead of gallivanting around for months chasing after a baby of dubious parentage, I just threw her in the brig. Problem solved, although I have no idea of the repercussions of this later down the line. I get the feeling that Across the Unknown can't factor in everything, but I'm willing to be surprised.

The resource gathering and ship reconstruction that make up most of my time are busywork; they're the glue that holds the game together between the choose-your-own-adventure style away missions. There is combat, but it's fairly basic. It does the job. On the surface, there isn't too much here, but I cannot stop playing it. I want to know where my story goes, and if I'll be brave enough to branch from big canon events.

At the very beginning, I'm given the option just to go home. To abandon the entity known as the Caretaker, to disregard the potential extinction of the Ocampa, and just leave. Not my problem, bud - that most definitely isn't the Starfleet way, although getting credits after an hour of playing would be pretty amazing (there is no manual save and load, and I didn't want to re-do the tutorial, sue me).

Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown is a tough recommendation. I can say that my short time spent with the strategy game has been enjoyable, but I fear that I'm doing a lot of the heavy lifting in my head. It isn't especially dynamic, there are few bells and whistles, and for those without a love for Voyager, I can't see there being much here for you. I, however, am concentrating my efforts on modulating phasers, so I can blast the next Borg Cube I see to pieces.