[h1]Highly illogical...
[i]~Mr. Spock[/i][/h1]
Long story short, [b]Star Trek: Judgment Rites[/b] is a direct sequel to [b]Star Trek: 25th Anniversary[/b]. Which was, like, the very best thing ever happened with the original [b]Star Trek[/b] series in the world of video games. In case you forgot (psst! Check my review for more details!), [b]Star Trek: 25th Anniversary[/b] was surprisingly deep and complicated take on point-and-click genre which also tried to simulate the [b]Star Trek[/b] experience to make you feel like you're actually diving into your favorite show. Players were supposed to use tricoders, investigate some mysteries and even participate in space battles. All that while controlling the legendary characters such as [b]Captain Kirk[/b], [b]Mr. Spock[/b], [b]Dr. McCoy[/b], [b]Lt. Uhura[/b] lieutenant commanders [b]Montgomery Scott[/b] and [b]Hikaru Sulu[/b], and ensign [b]Chekov[/b]. Fully voiced by the original actors from the actual show. Well, at least as long as we're talking about the [b]Enhanced CD-ROM Edition[/b]. The one that we have in [b]Steam[/b] nowadays. [b]Star Trek: Judgment Rites[/b] follows the same exact formula. Which kind of destroys the entire purpose of me writing this reviews, since, well, it's pretty much the same thing. You loved [b]25th Anniversary[/b] (if you did not, you must be a [b]Klingon[/b] and I don't want to talk to you) – you'll love this one too. Simple like that. And yet, there's a few things that, I think, may be interesting to mention. So, here goes.
First of all, the story this time is much more than just a series of separated episodes. It's kinda fun, but [b]Judgment Rites[/b] takes a motif from another [b]Star Trek[/b] game, [b]First Contact[/b] (developed by [b]Micromosaics[/b] and published by [b]Simon & Schuster Interactive[/b] in [b]1998[/b]) and copies it almost exactly. Sure, [b]Judgment Rites[/b] is way bigger, way more complicated and comes with a lot of juicy details but... let's just say that if you've played [b]First Contact[/b] before, it'll be impossible not to notice the same exact motif. Heck, even finale here is almost identical to what we had in [b]First Contact[/b]!
Talking about the finale, by the way. Like with [b]25th Anniversary[/b], what we have here is the [b]Enhanced CD-ROM Edition[/b] of the game. Which... usually is a good thing. Not this time, though. Not this time... See, unlike [b]25th Anniversary[/b] game that only provided extra cutscenes and voiceover on [b]CD[/b] while leaving those who didn't have [b]CD-ROM[/b] drive behind (yes, kids, a lot of people back in the days didn't have [b]CD-ROM[/b] drives since those were considered some sort of luxury), [b]Judgment Rites[/b] decided to please everybody and released extra movies and sounds both as a part of [b]Enhanced CD-ROM Edition[/b] [i]and[/i] as an add-on for the floppy version, which was sold separately. And that's where the weird things begin. See, even though technically, the add-on for floppy version was released before the [b]CD[/b] (the [b]CD[/b] version has a pretty weird series of re-releases but the earliest version I've seen was from [b]1995[/b]) and included five more floppy discs (in addition to eleven from the main game, as long as we're talking 'bout the [b]US[/b] since the number was different for some regions), the [b]CD[/b] version actually... had one cutscene removed.
Among the other things, so-called [b]Movie & Sound Pack[/b] added an extra cutscene before our usual intro from the TV show. It introduced us to the main idea of the game and gave us some hints of what to expect in the end. And, like I said, it was completely removed in the [b]CD[/b] version. With no explanation. Sure, it was less then a minute long, but I must say, I always liked it. It totally added to the atmosphere of the mystery. Now, here's a question – did they put it back for the [b]Steam[/b] release? I mean, years later we finally got a chance to get easily accessible version of the game with all the voices and cutscenes, without any need to deal with all of those nasty floppies. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is – what we have in [b]Steam[/b] is just our regular [b]CD-ROM[/b] version. With our usual basic [b]DOSBox[/b] and no changes whatsoever. They just took the [b]CD[/b] image, added the [b]DOSBox[/b] and called it a day.
Like [b]25th Anniversary[/b], this release comes with a new title screen (no idea why they've decided to add it but whatever), but... that's it. No extra cutscene here. And it's just... [i]highly illogical[/i]. To say the least. Seriously, [b]Interplay[/b], [i]why?[/i] I know that you're lazy and didn't want to bother much. But wasn't it really that hard to just use floppy version instead of the one from [b]CD[/b]? Do you even care? Do you even know about your own game? No, you know what? I don't want to know. Sure, I'm kinda overreacting here. It's a pretty short scene and you can easily find it on [b]YouTube[/b], but still, as long as you're a die-hard [b]Star Trek[/b] fan, you may end up being a bit disappointed here from just how lazy this release is.
Which, of course, doesn't make the actual game any worse. [b]Star Trek: Judgment Rites[/b] comes with everything that was cool about [b]25th Anniversary[/b] and improves over it. The story became more complicated, the puzzles became more complex, the missions became more non-linear and so on. And, of course, it's impossible for me not to mention the fact... that we finally got difficulty selection. Remember those nasty, [i]nasty[/i] space battles that were hard even for [b]Wing Commander[/b] veterans? Well, now you can make them way, [i]way[/i] easier or even turn them off completely. Which isn't really a good idea since you'll miss a lot of fun that way [i]and[/i] the easy mode actually makes the battles very user-friendly (just make sure to change the warp speed often while repairing your shields and you'll be fine), but still, for those of you with [b]25th Anniversary[/b] trauma, there is such an option.
So... yeah. Despite the fact that it's a lazy release and [b]Interplay[/b] should be really ashamed of themselves for not caring enough to provide the old fans with the best experience possible, [b]Star Trek: Judgment Rites[/b] is still a fantastic game. Probably even [i]the[/i] best one based on the original [b]Star Trek[/b] series (because yes, difficulty selector makes a big difference). Years later, it's still one of my most favorite titles out there and, let's just admit it, you can't call yourself a [b]TOS[/b] fan without finishing this gem at least once. You didn't play it yet? Forget about everything it pick it up. Just make sure to find a couple of minutes to silently judge [b]Interplay[/b]. The guys deserve it. Dixi.
