[3] [4] The plot of the game is similar to that of the film:[5] Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D responds to a distress call from the Amargosa Observatory and Commander William Riker is sent over to investigate.

Once there, he finds Dr. Tolian Soran, a scientist and madman hell bent on returning to the Nexus, a paradise dimension.

The major portion of the game occurs in Stellar Cartography (also appearing in the film, although only for some minutes) where the player plans their next moves, the main opponents being time and Soran.

[3][7][8] Critics did praise the use of sounds that were authentic to the film, such as the theme music and voice acting by Patrick Stewart and Malcolm McDowell.

[3][7][8] GamePro took an optimistic look, summarizing that "While some significant flaws crop up, Generations still delivers a fun but mellow puzzle/adventure experience.

[3][7] Bonnie James of The Electric Playground also speculated that "Star Trek: Generations may have a difficult time being taken seriously as a cutting edge game due to the fact that it has appeared so long after the release of the film.