Star Trek: 25th Anniversary

aka: Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (Enhanced CD-ROM)
Moby ID: 952
DOS Specs
Buy on Windows
$9.99 new on Steam

Description official descriptions

Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise are representatives of the United Federation of Planets. Their role in space is that of explorers as well as a military presence. The Enterprise routinely encounters strange adventures and bizarre situations, each laid out as a separate "episode" which must be played in order. The first episode involves the USS Enterprise being called to a world to investigate strange "demons" have appeared from the mines and begun attacking the settlers.

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is based on the 1960s Star Trek TV series. The game is a combination of a point-and-click, side-scrolling adventure game and a first person starship simulator. This tie-in actually missed the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek's TV debut by half a year (nearly three years in the case of the Amiga version), but it uses the original series' characters and settings. Players directly control Captain Kirk, leader of the Starship Enterprise, and are able to give orders to other crew members. While the enterprise is on a peaceful mission, combat is possible. A new game begins on the bridge of the Enterprise, seen from a 3rd person view of Kirk, but a first person view out the viewscreen of the Enterprise. When on board the ship, Kirk can contact Chekov to assign a designation, raise shields or begin combat, contact Sulu to engage warp or adjust magnification, contact Spock to scan for data and search for keyword information, contact Uhura to deal with communications, and contact Scotty to change power allocation and repair damage and beam down to a planet. During combat, the player steers the Enterprise manually and is able to turn in 720 degrees of direction as well as increase or decrease speeds. Weaponry includes phaser banks which draw from the ship's energy and proton torpedoes which are in limited supply.

The adventuring bulk of the game comes in the form of many landing party missions, in which the player beams down to the surface of a planet and explores the situation. Kirk can move about on the screen, other crew members automatically follow him. From the menu, he chooses a body part to perform an action: eyes represent looking, mouth represents speaking, one hand represents using items (and crew members) while another is to pick up objects. Kirk carries an inventory of items collected which can be accessed and used at any time. In most missions Kirk will carry a communicator to contact the ship and a phaser weapon which can be set to "stun" or "kill", The point-and-click adventure has different solutions to problems, but the ideal goal of the federation is to solve things non-violently. Performance is rated accordingly as well as being based on how many extra discoveries and advances made and interaction with different beings, including aliens. The surroundings are all based on styles from the TV series and solutions to puzzles involve the skills of multiple crew members.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

80 People · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 78 ratings with 5 reviews)

This is a humorous game based on the original series Star Trek, involving some space combat, and many complex away missions.

The Good
I found a lot of humorous things in the game. It's got very nice artwork on the bridge and away missions, as well as puzzles that may take weeks to figure out, while not being particularly frustrating or tedious to work with once you figure them out.

The Bad
The only real problem is the poor quality graphics and sound, which you really can't blame it for considering when it was made. Also, it is a little hard--I'm still stuck ;).

The Bottom Line
This is an old, humorous game based on the original Star Trek series. It involves some space combat, but mainly focuses on away missions, in which you control Captain Kirk, Spock, Doctor McCoy, and a red-shirted Ensign (who is the only one you can let die.) I think it's a really nice game, if you can stand the graphics. I have this game, so if want to know more, you can e-mail me at: [email protected]

DOS · by Thomas Davidson (2) · 2000

Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike, everyone needs to play this game :-)

The Good
Alright. In actuality, I am not a Trekkie. I do enjoy the show, particularly the original, Next Generation, and Voyager, a good bit. I'm sorry, but DS9 just doesn't appeal to me. Anyway, obviously people who go to conventions dressed as Klingons (and moreover bother to learn the language) would find just about any Trek game satisfying. But this is truly Gaming Goodness (to use the PC Gamer terminology) and I wouldn't doubt that almost any person who enjoys adventure gaming would enjoy this program. Even if there were no Star Trek legacy behind it, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is a great play.

First off, the quality is evident everywhere. The graphics, sound, and voice-acting are all top-notch for the era. No skimping here, people. The environments look like you would expect to see in the original Trek. Only better, thanks to computer graphics. Then the voice acting seems to be done by at least some of the original actors, as it is authentic as these things come. No flatness, almost no awkwardness. It's, for the most part, natural and believable. Combined with the dialogue, which is usually well written (there are campy moments from time to time), the speech in the game serves to bring you into it and keep you there.

Plots are vintage Star Trek. And, after all, isn't one of the things which kept us coming back to the TV series the great, often bizaare plotlines? It probably wasn't the female crew in short skirts. Or was it? Be that as it may, the plotlines here are great for the most part. Without repeating stale plotlines from the show, 25th Anniversary succeeds in bringing the best of the show's feel and blending it with good puzzles to create excellent game content.

Finally, there is actually replayability here. What?? In an adventure game?? Yes! After each mission, you are presented with a rating that tells you how well you did at completing your tasks in the best Star Fleet tradition (yes, that does usually mean non-violence). Not only are you here to solve puzzles, but, in like a good Star Fleet officer, you are a diplomat and explorer as well. So don't miss out any chance to make a good impression on the other beings that you meet throughout the game. This ratings system is where the replayability comes in. There is alot of motivation to come back and see what you might have done differently for a better score.

The Bad
At times the music was rather annoying, despite it being good on the whole.

Also, the game is rather short. Especially if you like it as much as me. Why can't they make more like this?

And finally, there were a couple places where you could get stuck because you missed something in a previous area (like the ship).

The Bottom Line
If you like adventure gaming, this one's one of the best in the business. In my opinion, it stands with such classics as Gabriel Knight and Monkey Island.

DOS · by Steelysama (82) · 2000

One of the best Star Trek games!

The Good
I really loved the gameplay and the graphics. The sound was great. Really fun to play. I got this game from a friend for my birthday. If it wasn't for this game I wouldn't be into Star Trek as much of today. One of the things that got me interrested in this game was how fun it was to figure out the puzzles and play characters from the Star Trek series. In the bridge part of the game you control the Enterprise; I always loved to go in someone else's territory and they attack you. It was fun to destory them or watch yourself get destoryed.

The Bad
There isn't really anything to hate. I can't find anything that got me disappointed. Well , if there was something that got me disappointment is how they make Star Trek games now. Why can't they be like this game or the sequel to this game "Star Trek: Judgment Rites."

The Bottom Line
A great Star Trek game. Trekkie or Non-Trekkie you would love this game. Really fun gameplay and great missions you go on. The best part is that you control the crew and the Enterprise. If you looking for a great space battle challenge go to coordinates and go somewhere your not allowed to enter and they get mad at you and they send the ships they have after you. When I do it I mostly get 3 or 2 ships after me a great challenge. Sometimes you get one ship and sometimes you might get fifteen ships. Really great game...

DOS · by Kevbo32 (51) · 2000

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Gameplay Help And Wan Feb 20, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Copy protection

The game used a star map as a copy protection scheme. Without the manual, you could not navigate to the next mission.

Install time

The game was rather infamous in its day for having the most excrutiatingly long install process imaginable, despite being on only five 5.25" hd disks (resp. eight of type 3.5" dd). Average install times ran around 90 minutes. In addition, the sequel, Star Trek: Judgment Rites, had a very long install time also, at least 90 minutes, because as well as copying the data from several floppies, it had to decompress the data on the hard drive up to three times. The data files were compressed multiple times using ARJ and Sonarc was used for audio files (on top of ARJ compression). All this was very slow on PCs back then.

Manual

The manual had a rather silly error in their epileptics warning message: Avoid playing when tired. Play for no more than one hour at a time. Sit well away from the screen, preferably no closer than ten feet.

Music

Interplay faithfully reproduced several music themes from the TV show. The game is configurable to play with several sound cards and even supported General Midi.

Releases

The game was rereleased in a "talkie" CD-ROM after they became the norm. Interplay went the extra mile and reassembled the entire original crew for the production.

References

With the possible exception of Ensign Kije, all of the so-called "redshirts" in this game are named after members of the development team. By episode, they are as follows:* Ensign Everts ("Demon World"), * Lt. Christensen and Crewman Simpson ("Hijacked"), * Lt. Ferris ("Love's Labor Jeopardized"), * Lt. Buchert ("Another Fine Mess"), * Lt. Stragey and Ensign Bennie ("Feathered Serpent"), * and Ensign Mosher ("That Old Devil Moon").

In the final episode, "Vengeance", if you look at the accompanying Security Officer while on the bridge of the U.S.S. Republic, the message will read: "Ensign Kije, who wishes that Lieutenant Stackpole had drawn this assignment." Michael A. Stackpole is, of course, one of the writers.

Information also contributed by 6â…ž of Nine, EddyB43, Scott Monster, and WizardX

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Star Trek: Prodigy - Supernova
Released 2022 on Windows, Windows Apps, PlayStation 4...
Star Trek Online
Released 2010 on Windows, 2016 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Star Trek: Generations
Released 1997 on Windows
Star Trek 64
Released 1983 on Commodore 64, Commodore PET/CBM
Star Trek: Legacy
Released 2006 on Windows, Xbox 360
Star Trek: Hidden Evil
Released 1999 on Windows
Star Trek: Invasion
Released 2000 on PlayStation
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
Released 1983 on DOS, Commodore 64, Atari 2600...
Super Trek
Released 1979 on Commodore PET/CBM, Commodore 64

Related Sites +

  • GOG.com
    The game is available for sale (digital download) on this site.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 952
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

Amiga added by Martin Smith. Windows, Linux added by MAT. Macintosh added by 88 49.

Additional contributors: MAT, Roedie, Alaka, Martin Smith, Timo W., karnak1, FatherJack.

Game added March 3, 2000. Last modified January 19, 2024.