Classic Adventure Gaming | In Depth Look

Posted on: January 20, 2012

Posted in: Featured, IN DEPTH LOOK, Video

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Classic Adventure Gaming | In Depth Look

Can a 20 year old Star Trek game contain the secrets to a fantastic Action Adventure game for anyone? Well I think so, and in this episode I’ll attempt to make my case!

Why I think Star Trek the 25th Anniversary has the key ingredients to a great game!

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Intro:

Instead of a game in which you simply rehash events that have been modified into a playable format, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary presents you with all new scenarios that run in the same vein as the original television series.

Graphics
Although the game graphics are clearly unspectacular by today’s standard, they serve their purpose well. They were able to bring scenes to life that the TV shows budget, would never have allowed for.

Not afraid to have a more advanced look.

Fans got to see well known locations re-imagined, or in one mission, all beat up!

Voices
The digitized voices are available only on the Enhanced CD-ROM version. Playing the CD-ROM version is like acting out as an episode of Star Trek.

The Floppy disk version of the game was too limited on space for the voices.

Voice overs, multiple choice, often funny

**A real challenge*
NO hand holding, you have to look up facts, use tools in the scene. Find them your self.

First scene is a battle, no tutorial. Later in the game there are rather clever things you have to pick up on, to solve locks and puzzles. (This was pre-Google too).

Many missions had a sub-game wherein the player would figure out how to get the redshirt killed, although this would diminish their rating at the end of the mission.

The use of your crew is a key game play element. Turning them from token tagalongs, to full fledged helpers. And they act/help in the way you expect for their character.

Adorable copy protection
As a holdover from the Floppy Disk version, the CD-ROM version retains the copy protection in the form of a star chart inside the instruction manual. This chart must be used in order to choose the correct destination star system for each mission. This is a simple but effective copy protection scheme that fits well into the context of the game, unlike the traditional but tiresome “find the fifth word on the third page” routine.

Copy protection via the manual / sector map

The game contains a copy-protection system that asks the player to consult the game’s manual to find out what star system to warp to on the navigation map. Warping to the wrong system sends the player into either Klingon or Romulan neutral zones, and initiates an extremely difficult battle that often ends in the destruction of the Enterprise.

The lost 4th Season

When the writers wrote this game, they viewed it as the never aired 4th season. And wanted it to feature stories and characters that would have been in that season.

Combined with the voice overs, this gives the game a nearly episodic feel to it. And sucks in the player.

This game manages to cross blur the lines between game and dramatic entertainment. Much how TOR does for me now.

Final Notes:

  • One of DeForest Kelley’s last roles
  • When a closeup of Harry Mudd is displayed on Enterprise’s viewscreen, his facial features are obscured by shadows. This is because Paramount required that when likenesses of real actors or actresses were used in the game, the approval of the actor or actress in question was needed. However, Roger C. Carmel, who played Mudd originally, had passed away by the time the game was made. This problem was only noted near the end of development, and negotiating a solution with Paramount would have delayed the release. Therefore the decision was made not to actually show Mudd’s face clearly.

Abandonware

Download Star Trek – 25th Anniversary | Abandonia

Download Star Trek – Judgment Rites | Abandonia

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Star Trek 25th Anniversary (CD-ROM)
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  • Wesmagyar

    I remember the old TSR pools of radiance D&D game i played back on my old C64 and its DRM was this little Spin Wheels where you had to turn it in such a combination as to reveal a code.

    here is a link to a picture of the wheel…

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zbuxrLsr0/TeHgQvFe7dI/AAAAAAAAD_g/ynXbHoMRCm4/s1600/codewheel.GIF 

  • http://twitter.com/IrishDarkshadow Alan Elliott

    My first Star Trek game was Rebel Universe on the C64. When my older brother introduced me to this new crazy technology called a “PC”, my first question was – where are the games? It took him a while to find something to catch my attention but eventually he came up with Star Trek – The 25th Anniversary. It was the first time I realised that my C64 was doomed as this game was so much better than anything in my collection at the time. I graduated to an Amiga before long only to find that I couldn’t have this game on that system and so I didn’t get to play it fully until I got my own PC a couple of years later. 

    It plays like episodes of the show as you said Chris. I can still hear McCoy voicing the title of the first mission, Demon World, as the Enterprise flies across the screen and the title appears. The look, feel, sound. gameplay and overall ambience of the game really captured the essence of The Original Series. The sequel, Judgement Rites, was more of the same and is another excellent game that is worthy of another look. With DOSbox being so easy to run these days, even on Windows 7 x64, there is no excuse not to try out these long lived titles. 

    Very few games from that era have stayed with me up to now but for those that I don’t want to let go of, I have found ways to get each of them working somehow through each operating system upgrade. I would put out the following list as being games worth the effort of reviving : 

    1. Star Trek – 25th Anniversary
    2. Star Trek – Judgement Rites
    3. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Final Unity
    4. UFO – Enemy Unknown (XCOM)
    5. Syndicate

    I actual believe that Final Unity may just be the best Star Trek game I have every played and I remember the game install being too large for my 270mb hard disk which forced me to play it from a minimal install using the cd…ah, the good ol’ days. 

    I would really love to see you expand this show into something fortnightly / monthly where you cover a couple of old games in more detail and possibly satiate the hunger for retro-gaming that the majority of games feel but don’t always have the ability to deal with themselves. Perhaps even a little DOSbox tutorial would help.

  • CaptainElliott

    Love star trek games. I never heard of this game, but it looks so cool. Thanks for showing this.

  • Darkpony50

    Yea that was my first Star Trek game and I played through it many times, infarct I play it with dosbox about 8 months ago and it looked pretty good for an old game after tweaking dosbox a little. I also recommend Judgment Rites too.

  • http://in8sworld.net/ iN8sWoRLd

    I think you meant to say that you “happen to think its the LATTER” (an awesome game).  Thanks for the tip I’ll check it out. 

  • slickCA

    This game is still better than STO (the buggiest game ever).

  • Anonymous

    I remember picking up this game on day one.  It was amazing! It felt like the original series, and then the voice acting with the actors.. awesome.    Thanks for the flashback!!