by In 1992, Interplay developed Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, an adventure game for the NES. Ultra, a subdivision of Konami, acted as the publisher.
The premise is pretty standard for Star Trek. While approaching Sigma Iotia II, a strange gravitational anomaly sends the Enterprise to uncharted space. As Captain Kirk, it’s your job to get her and her crew home. To do that, you’ll need to restore her supplies of dilithium crystals and explore strange new worlds. Spock, Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, McCoy, and Chekov are all along for the ride and help you out in various ways.
So, did Interplay boldly go where no man has gone before, or crash and burn? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The controls are mostly standard fare for an NES adventure game. The D-Pad moves Captain Kirk in the corresponding direction; the A button activates the tricorder, or, in other words, it interacts with various objects; the B button fires your phaser; the Select button displays your health, and the Start button opens the pause menu.
Unfortunately, the controls are a bit sluggish. They are far from unplayable, but the delay is noticeable. Fortunately, the game is more tactical and puzzle-focused than action-focused. However, certain annoying game design decisions make Star Trek: 25th Anniversary’s gameplay less than stellar. Two characters follow you on away missions, each with their own specialties. Depending on who is in your landing party, tricorder scans will get different results. The idea is great, but the execution is lacking. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off and get stuck on terrain easily. If they run out of health, they are transported back to the ship. If you run out of health, you return to the ship to recover. This sounds fine in isolation, but every single time you warp back down to the planet, the game replays the same long cutscene explaining why you are there. You can’t skip this scene, but you can speed it up slightly by hitting the A button.
The game has ship combat, but I didn’t make it that far. The rest of the gameplay was just too annoying. Which is a shame because the game does a great job emulating that Star Trek feel, and there are some good ideas here.
Overall, I give the gameplay a 4.5/10.
Graphics
Not all of this review is negative. The graphics in Star Trek: 25th Anniversary are really good. The game looks and feels like Star Trek, especially the cutscenes and the sections on the ship. They even have a slightly modified version of the show’s opening. It turned out great. I wish the away missions looked as good, but that’s an unrealistic expectation given the hardware limitations.
I give the graphics a 9/10.
Music and Sound
The music is pretty good. I really enjoyed the 8-bit rendition of Star Trek’s opening theme. The music feels like you’re playing an 8-bit episode of Star Trek. For me, that’s a huge plus.
The sound effects are equally good. Many of the sound effects are from the show. The ones that aren’t fit really well.
The music and sound designers really outdid themselves. I wish the same could be said for the gameplay. Overall, I give the music and sound a 7.5/10.
Difficulty
The difficulty is really odd for Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. Unless your ship is destroyed, you have unlimited lives and a password system. Ordinarily, that would make for an easy game. However, with illogical AI controlling your crew and sluggish controls, the game is harder than it should be.
Final Verdict
I’m giving Star Trek: 25th Anniversary a 7/10. Interplay focused too much on the Star Trek part and not enough on the game part, which is a real shame. If you are a Star Trek fan and can get past some frustrating design choices, you might check it out. It’s currently about $20 loose.
