Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (PC)

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Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (PC)
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Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is an adventure/action game for PC, published by Interplay Entertainment.

A basic two-dimensional game, the player assumes the role of the Star Trek: The Original Series landing party – Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a generic ensign – on several different missions. The gameplay works by selecting a body part the player wishes to use (for example, lips for speaking, eye for examining, etc.) from the drop-down function box. The player must solve different puzzles and perform special actions within each level, or mission, in order to progress to the next.

This game encompasses much of the Star Trek universe, with missions ranging from starship battles to dealing with Harry Mudd. Each mission is completely stand-alone in terms of plot and puzzles (i.e. items or knowledge from previous missions are not required), simulating the structure of Star Trek episodes. There are a total of seven episodes.

Each mission begins with a brief explanation of the mission either by a message from Starfleet command or Kirk's log entry. All missions have optional things to do and some have alternate solutions leading to very different plot paths. At the end of each mission, Starfleet gives an evaluation of the player's performance on a percentage scale. Some missions may end as a complete failure, but still permit the player to proceed to the next one. The game only ends if the Enterprise is destroyed or someone of the main trio dies; the death of a redshirt results only in a reduction of score.

The game was published on both floppies and CD-ROM. The CD-ROM version adds spoken lines performed by the original cast and expands the last mission, in response to criticism about the brevity of it in the original.

Background Information

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.

Before arriving at a system, it must be selected from a starchart, with a master copy included in the package. If the wrong system is selected, the Enterprise is often fired upon by whomever is control of that system, usually Romulans, Klingons, or Elasi pirates. In some versions, if by chance one should arrive at a system in a later mission, the user is able to play that mission without completing the previous ones. This did not work for the Mac version, however.

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. [1]

Missions

Note: These describe the most direct ways of completing the mission. There are several side quests which are optional, but will improve the player's rating if they are completed.

1 - "Demon World"

The game starts with the Enterprise having a simulated battle with the USS Republic. It is not required to win this battle, although it will diminish the player's rating for the mission if they lose. Afterward, the Enterprise is ordered to Pollux V, where a colony of Federation monks has come under attack from what they describe as "demons." Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate, and are attacked by three Klingons which, on closer inspection turn out to be robots. After repairing the detached hand of one of the robot Klingons, the crew gain access to a complex which houses the planet's former inhabitants, the Nauians, who are suspended in stasis which they entered to survive an encroaching ice age. Kirk assists in shutting down the defense system that is producing the "demons," and the Nauians agree to share the planet with its new occupants (or even ask to join the Federation, depending on how polite Kirk is to the chief Nauian).

• Redshirt Death 1: To gain access to the Nauian complex, the player is required to phaser away a pile of rubble, on top of which a boulder is precariously perched. If the player does not phaser the boulder first, it will fall and the security guard will push Kirk out of the way, but be killed himself.
• Redshirt Death 2: If the player tries to access the Nauian complex without using the robotic hand, the security officer will offer to make the attempt himself, and get a series of increasingly severe electric shocks. On the fourth attempt, the security officer will be vaporized.

2 - "Hijacked"

The Enterprise is ordered to investigate the disappearance of the USS Masada, and eventually track it to the Beta Myamid system. It transpires that an Elasi pirate named Cereth has taken control of the ship, and threatens to kill its crew unless the Federation releases a list of Elasi criminals currently incarcerated in various locations around the Federation. Kirk and a landing party beam across after lowering the Masada's shields by using its prefix code and release the captive crew (or accidentally kill them all by setting off an Elasi bomb). They gain access to the bridge by either the turbolift or transporter, and can either force Cereth into a peaceful surrender or kill him and his fellow pirates (although they will lose their security officer in the process).

The mission has an alternate ending, which is achieved by saving the Masada crew from the Elasi bomb, and then transporting the bomb onto the bridge, which is subsequently destroyed by the bomb exploding. The Masada immediately goes out of control and crashes into a nearby planet, and everyone on board apart from the Enterprise landing crew dies. The player is subsequently given a score of zero for the mission, and a strong rebuke from Starfleet.

Another alternate ending can be achieved without even beaming over to the Masada, by continually taunting Cereth until he kills off the hostages. This also results in a score of zero.

• Redshirt Death 1: If the player chooses to start a firefight on the bridge of the Masada, no matter what phaser setting or order the Elasi are shot in, the security officer will be killed in the crossfire.
• Redshirt Death 2: When confronting the Elasi officers in the brig of the Masada, if the player takes too long to kill or stun the Elasi, they will shoot and possibly kill the security officer (sometimes the Elasi will just stun the officer; it appears to be decided at random which action they take).

3 - "Love's Labor Jeopardized"

A pair of Romulan ships cross the Neutral Zone and attack the research station ARK7, which is under the supervision of Dr. Carol Marcus. The Enterprise is called to assist, and after dealing with one of the Romulan ships, Kirk and a landing party beam across. They quickly discover the reason for the Romulan attack; Marcus and her team accidentally developed a virus called Oroborus, which is deadly to Romulans and Vulcans. Worse still, an accident has resulted in ARK7's atmosphere being contaminated, meaning Spock is now infected and will die unless McCoy can invent a cure. After experimentation, McCoy creates a cure by exposing the Oroborus virus culture to ammonia, and Kirk immobilizes the Romulans with TLTDH, the "Romulan laughing gas" which gives them an uncontrollable laughing fit, then knocks them out. McCoy cures Spock and the Romulans of the Oroborus virus, and the Romulan captain agrees to leave peacefully. Kirk then bids farewell to Carol, wondering if he'll ever see her again...

• Redshirt Death 1: The security officer can be ordered to try and access the lower decks before the Romulans are knocked out; if this happens though, he will be spotted and instantly killed before he can try and get down the access ladder.
• Redshirt Death 2: If the away team releases laughing gas into the atmosphere, McCoy, Kirk and the redshirt will start acting strange, eventually it results in one of them passing out, if the redshirt collapses first, he is treated as if he was killed as opposed to unconscious.

4 - "Another Fine Mess"

The Enterprise answers a distress call from the Harlequin system, but finds only a pair of Elasi pirate ships, which swiftly attack the Enterprise. After dealing with the Elasi, the Enterprise finds out that the person who sent the distress call was none other than Harry Mudd, who has found a mysterious alien cargo ship and registered it as salvage, and subsequently been selling alien devices to the Elasi. What follows is probably the least eventful mission of the game, as Kirk and his crew explore the alien ship, discover the mysteries behind who built it which would largely remain unsolved forever because of the computer archives being erased by Mudd's greedy bungling, and find an ancient weapon system that they can adapt for use on the Enterprise. After fully exploring the ship, the Enterprise leaves Harry, but not before Uhura reveals that she has informed Harry's wife, Stella of his current whereabouts.

There are no redshirt deaths in this mission; the only methods of failure are to either lose the battle against the Elasi pirates at the start of the mission, or fail to repair a malfunctioning life support generator in time.

5 - "The Feathered Serpent"

Upon hearing that a Klingon task force has crossed the Neutral Zone in pursuit of a fugitive, the Enterprise moves to intercept their fleet in the Digifal system. The Klingons inform Kirk that their fugitive is residing on one of the planets on the system, and agree to let Kirk retrieve him. Upon arriving, Kirk and his party are surprised to meet a man who claims to be the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, and to have undertaken a mission to the nearby Klingon planet of Hrakkour to spread his message of peace and self-sacrifice. Upon hearing Kirk's description of the Aztecs as bloodthirsty savages, Quetzalcoatl becomes angered and transports Kirk and his team into the middle of a series of trials, designed to make them prove their worth. They complete their tests successfully, and Quetzalcoatl acknowledges that whatever humanity's past, they have become a worthy species. He then reveals that the source of his power is an organ not found in humans, and asks that McCoy remove it, so that he may become a mortal. Kirk agrees to this request, and they are beamed back to the Enterprise. However, while Quetzalcoatl is undergoing his operation, Admiral Vlict, commander of the Klingon fleet hails Kirk and demands that Quetzalcoatl be turned over to him. He further reveals that he has destroyed all life on Hrakkour because of the "danger" that Quetzalcoatl's philosophy posed, and to Kirk's dismay, the Organians rule that Kirk must comply, as Quetzalcoatl has interfered in Klingon affairs. Upon arrival at the ruined planet of Hrakkour, Vlict begins what is an obvious show trial, and Kirk intervenes, asking for the right to undertake another series of challenges, and Vlict agrees that the now-mortal Quetzalcoatl can go free if he completes them.

The mission has two distinct endings from here. The first (and best) ending comes when Kirk and his crew find an ancient chamber built by a long-extinct race that previously inhabited Hrakkour. Upon activating the sentient main computer, the computer analyzes the minds of everyone on the planet and brings Vlict to the chamber. It pronounces that while Kirk, his crew and Quetzalcoatl are innocent and may go free, Vlict is guilty of genocide against his own people and sentences him to death. At this point, Kirk can either interfere and ask that Vlict's life be spared, or he can simply leave Vlict to his death (which choice the player makes has no bearing on the mission score). Quetzalcoatl is subsequently returned to the Digifal system, to live out the remainder of his life as he sees fit.

The second, worse ending comes if Kirk successfully completes the Klingon challenges and returns to the courtroom. Vlict reneges on his promise, sentences Quetzalcoatl to death anyway and orders Kirk to leave Klingon space. Despite Kirk's attempt to intervene, Quetzalcoatl agrees to sacrifice himself to avoid a potentially devastating war between the Federation and Klingons, and the Enterprise leaves Klingon space, its crew mourning Quetzalcoatl's death. It is also possible to get this ending without even undertaking the Klingon challenges, by refusing to defend Quetzalcoatl.

The final alternate ending can result in Vlict being sentenced to death by the Hrakkour AI, and when the Klingons demand to know what happened to their commander, the player is rude to the Klingons, resulting in a battle between the Enterprise and the Klingon flagship. After the Klingons are defeated, Spock announces that he is reporting Kirk to Starfleet Command for needlessly initiating the battle (humorously however, an apparent glitch will mean that no deduction from the mission score takes place).

• Redshirt Death 1: On the first planet in the mission, the player encounters a river which is inhabited by a giant tentacled monster. If the player attempts to cross the bridge without dealing with the monster first, the security officer will volunteer to cross first, but be seized by the monster and eaten. If this death occurs it will be undone by Quetzalcoatl, who restores the officer to life out of admiration for his self-sacrifice, although the player will still lose points from the mission score.
• Redshirt Death 2: If the player goes through the path that leads to the "bad" ending on Hrakkour, one of Vlict's men will beam down and attempt to fatally shoot the party. Unless the player shoots the Klingon as soon as he beams in, the security officer will be killed while Kirk is drawing his phaser.

6 - "That Old Devil Moon"

Starfleet orders the Enterprise to investigate unusual signals coming from Scythe, the moon of the planet Proxtrey. Proxtrey was formerly a thriving industrial planet, but following a massive nuclear war several centuries previously, has become technologically backward. Kirk and the landing party beam down to Scythe, which they discover houses a missile base which began the previous nuclear war. The Proxtrey population, having slowly rebuilt from the iron age they bombed themselves into, have reached the equivalent of early 20th century technology again and are once again broadcasting wireless radio transmissions. The computers on Scythe are detecting these transmissions and, without a control transmission from its superiors, is assuming that the enemy factions on the planet are still active. The base is therefore preparing another nuclear attack on Proxtrey, which this time will probably be enough to wipe out the planet's remaining population. Further investigation reveals that while the primary firing system has been affected by a computer virus (which also briefly attacks the Enterprise) and cannot plot an accurate attack on the planet, the backup system is still working fine and is set to carry out the most devastating possible attack on Proxtrey. The crew figures out how to infect the backup system with the virus as well, ensuring that the last of Scythe's missiles will miss the planet and be pulled into its sun.

This is another mission without any specific red shirt death, and also the only mission with no space battle at all ("The Feathered Serpent" has one, but it is only initiated if Kirk is rude to the Klingons). The only way to fail this mission is to try and destroy either the primary or backup fire controller, resulting in the base launching all its missiles at the Enterprise, which is still defenseless in the wake of the computer virus's effects.

7 - "Vengeance" (original version)

The Enterprise receives a distress call from the Republic, and arrives to find its sister ship wrecked and adrift in space, with only two survivors, one of whom dies just as Kirk and the landing party beam on board. The other is revealed to be Brittany Marata, a former Starfleet Academy classmate of Kirk, who is less severely injured. She claims that it was the Enterprise which attacked the Republic, which Kirk refuses to believe but Spock finds to be verified by the Republic's own computer logs. Kirk and the landing party beam back with their survivor, and go to the Republic's last reported destination, the Federation planet Vardaine. The Enterprise is then intercepted by another Constitution-class starship... which also happens to be called the Enterprise! The commander of this Enterprise reveals himself as Dr. Ies Breddell, a former member of the Vardaine ruling council who Kirk previously exposed for corrupt practices. Breddell claims to have gained control of the council now and to be undertaking a program of building replica Constitution class ships, with which Breddell intends to overthrow the Federation.

The resulting final battle, against Breddell's Enterprise (which has superior armaments to the real version) and a pair of Elasi pirate ships is exceptionally difficult, and winning it is generally regarded as a major achievement.

7a - "Vengeance" (extended version)

In response to criticisms of the shortness of the original version of the mission, it was remade for the CD release of the game, this time featuring an extended mission on the wrecked Republic instead of just scenes on the bridge and sickbay.

This time, the Enterprise gets a distress call from a trader under attack from Elasi ships, and Kirk orders Scotty to take command and aid the trader. Kirk and the landing party discover that the Republic was supposedly attacked by the Enterprise and then find the injured Marata, who in this version has far more severe injuries and dies shortly afterward, using her final words to accuse Kirk of murdering the Republic's crew. With her crew now entirely lost, Kirk sets about restoring power to the Republic, only for an Elasi ship to arrive as soon as they get the main computer up and running again. They raise the Republic's shields, which are barely functional but prevent the Elasi from beaming over. The Elasi captain then makes the same demand that Cereth made earlier in the game, which Spock quietly notes to Kirk is in fact futile, since the ship's data banks were destroyed in the battle. Kirk agrees to try and find the info anyway, and uses the time available to get the Republic's torpedo bays operational, using the ship's transporter to bypass the hull breaches that have made the bays inaccessible by foot. Just as the Elasi's deadline is running out, Kirk transfers all power to the weapons (forcing them to take the risky move of lowering their shields) and uses two torpedoes to cripple the Elasi ship, and the Enterprise arrives on the scene shortly afterward, forcing the Elasi to flee. The landing party returns to the Enterprise, and from this point the mission proceeds as the original did.

Despite being much longer than the original, the extended version was quite buggy, and sometimes impossible to complete. One such bug would render Spock incapable of realizing that the landing team needed to use the transporter to reach the torpedo bay, meaning that there was no way of completing the mission, which would only end when the Elasi captain became enraged at the crew's failure to meet the deadline and destroyed the Republic completely, resulting in a game over. Another would sometimes occur when the player transferred the Republic's power from the weapons to shields, and resulted in the Elasi pirates instantly beaming aboard and killing all the landing party, before Kirk has a chance to press the torpedo launch button. Despite these bugs, it is usually thought of as being much superior to the original version.

Neither version of this mission includes any form of redshirt death.

8 - "Epilogue"

At the conclusion of the game, once the Enterprise departs from its final mission and admiral's review. the screen is replaced with a generic starfield and a memory card to Gene Roddenberry. William Shatner does a short memorial to Roddenberry while the Star Trek theme plays in the background. This is only available on the CD-ROM edition of the game.

Credits

Cast

Starring

• William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy
• James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
• George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
• Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov
• Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura

Also featuring

• Catherine Battistone as Narrator
• Joyce Kurtz as Computer voices
• Carol Sally Rainer as Federation Admiral
• Melodee M. Spevack as Computer voice and Brittany Marata
• Robert Barron as Brother Stephen
• Steve Bulen - Elasi Cereth, Lieutenant Ferris, and Captain Patterson
• Eddie Frierson as Ensign Everts and Elasi Captain
• Clynell Jackson III as Vlict Kenka
• George Almond as Elasi Crewman #1 and Elasi Crewman #2
• Anthony de Longis as Federation Admiral
• Kerrigan Mahan as Lieutenant Stragey and Brother Chubb
• Dave Mallow as Ensign Kije
• Michael McConnohie as Lieutenant Christensen and Commander Taraz
• Darren Raleigh as Ensign Mosher
• Michael Reynolds as Alien Reptile and Les Bredell
• Michael Sorich as Ensign Bennie and Kallarax
• Doug Stone as Prelate Angiven and Tlaoxac
• Terrence Stone as Lt. Buchert, Andrea Preax, and Brother Roberts
• Bob Towers as Crewman #1, Bialbi, and Lights
• Jeff Winkless as Quetzelcoatl
• Tom Wyner as Harry Mudd and Cheever
• Voice Directing: Michael McConnohie, Bill Dugan, and Charles Deenen

Crew

Design Team Credits

• CD-ROM version programming: Greg Christensen
• Lead Programmer: Jayesh J. Patel
• Programming: Greg Christensen, Wesley Yanagi, Paul Edelstein, Michael W. Stragey
• Design: Elizabeth Danforth, Jayesh J. Patel, Bruce Schlickbernd, Michael A. Stackpole, Scott Bennie
• Art Director: Todd J. Camasta
• Model Construction: David A. Mosher
• Art: Todd J. Camasta, David A. Mosher, Scott Bennie, Rob Nesler, Brian Giberson, Cheryl Austin, Tom Tanaka
• Additional Design: Scott Everts, Wesley Yanagi
• Directors of Quality Assurance: Kirk Tome, Jacob R. Buchert III
• Playtest: Jason Ferris, Scott Everts, Jeremy Airey, Fred Royal, Jason Taylor, Michael Packard, Steve Nguyen, Jay Simpson, Rodney Relosa, Chris Tremmel
• Manual Text: Bruce Schlickbernd
• Manual Design: Jerry Friedman • Galahad Graphics
• Manual Editor: Bruce Warner
• Cover Illustration: Kevin Davidson
• Production Assistants: Kevin Greene, Jason Taylor
• Assistant Producer: Scott Campbell
• Producer Star Trek 25th Anniversary: Bruce Schlickbernd
• Producer Enhanced CD-ROM Version: Bill Dugan
• Executive Producer: Brian Fargo

Engineers

• Village Recorder: Richard Ornstein and Jeremy Welt
• Post Logic: Tony Friedman
• Paramount Studios: "Stoker"
• Interplay: Charles Deenen
• Voice Editing and Processing: Rick Jackson, Larry Peacock, Brian Luzietti, and Charles Deenen
• Music: Rick Jackson, The Fatman (George Alistair Sanger), and Dave Govett
• Original Star Trek Theme: Alexander Courage
• Sound Effects: Charles Deenen and Brian Luzietti
• Audio Director: Charles Deenen
• Casting / Voice director (uncredited): Melodee M. Spevack
• Recorded at Village Recorder, Post Logic, Paramount Studios, and Interplay Productions, Inc. DINR Software provided by Digidesign.

External links

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