TREKCORE > GAMING > STAR TREK 25TH ANNIVERSARY > TrekCore Review

This is TrekCore review of the game was authored by DOSMAN on April 3, 2003.

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary for the original Nintendo has the spirit and charm, if not the scope, of its PC-based counterpart. It is one of the few, great Trek-adventure titles and is on my personal, favorite Trek-games list.

Description:
You play Captain James T. Kirk onboard the original USS Enterprise some time after the events in the TOS episode, "A Piece Of The Action". While investigating unusual disturbances in the Sigma Iotia system, the ship becomes caught in a dimensional "hole" in space-time that sends the Enterprise hurtling clear across Federation and Romulan space into unexplored territory. You must make your way back to the Sigma Iotia system in order to discover the cause of the anomaly.

Opinion:
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary's single, greatest problem is that it is based on the limited technology of the NES. I applaud the efforts of the developers for making such a great game with the resources they had, but that just makes you wish for more! :)

As Captain Kirk, you start the game with depleted dilithium reserves in a decaying orbit around planet Masaba located in this unexplored part of space. Fortunately, Mr. Spock informs you that he has detected a source of dilithium on the planet's surface. It is your mission, of course, to lead an away-team down to acquire that dilithium.

Like the DOS version, most of the "meat" of the game is in the away missions. Unfortunately, this mission on Masaba is one of only FOUR total missions you will play throughout the game. From this it would seem that [i]25th Anniversary[/i] is quite short, but length is compensated for by difficulty. The first two missions are difficult enought to make you repeat many of their challenges. Additionally, if you don't do things properly in the last two missions, you will be lost and will have to reload. For players of this game on the NES console, you only have a level-code "save" feature once you return to the ship. Luckily for the rest of us, there is an option that will greatly help with the difficulty--emulation. By using the DOS or Windows emulators provided on this site, you can save and load the game state at any time in numerous slots. There are walkthroughs and level codes as well if you need more assistance.

However, I certainly don't want to paint a grim picture of this game. There is some frustration with all adventures, and this is no exception. [i]25th Anniversary[/i] offers some amazingly pleasing gameplay for its technology. The game is setup like a TOS episode (teaser, opening sequence/credits, and then game). The main character's personalities are a perfect match to the show. There is so much atmosphere that it almost puts the player right in the middle of a new TOS episode! In fact, while the graphics are good for the NES, the best feature is the in-game music which consists of brilliantly digitized recreations of several classic TOS themes! You have to hear this game as well as play it!

Think of 25th Anniversary as the little brother to the great DOS title, with an entire new story but on a more primitive system. All four missions are set in incredibly diverse and intriguing environments, from a non-industrial tribe to a robotic complex; the music and characters are perfect, and the story is wonderful. All of this makes for a delightful little game that has the spirit and humour of the original series.

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