Star Trek: Judgment Rites
Final video game with original Star Trek cast together.
Star Trek: Judgment Rites is a computer game produced by Interplay Productions in 1993, featuring the original cast of the classic Star Trek in a series of new adventures. It uses the same MS-DOS game engine as its predecessor, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, but with sharper graphics and sound, particularly in the CD-ROM edition. The game is notable for being the last time the original principal cast appeared together in a video game, and the last time DeForest Kelley voiced Leonard McCoy in a Star Trek game until his later appearance in the 1994 title Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Star Trek: Judgment Rites
- Developer
- Interplay Productions · MacPlay (Mac OS)
- Publisher
- Interplay Productions
- Producer
- Jacob R. Buchert III · Bruce Schlickbernd
- Designer
- Jayesh Patel · Bruce Schlickbernd · Michael A. Stackpole · Elizabeth Danforth · Scott Bennie · Mark O'Green
- Programmer
- Paul Allen Edelstein · Jay Patel
- Artist
- Todd J. Camasta
- Composer
- Richard Band · Rick Jackson
- Series
- Star Trek
- Released
- November, 1993 (DOS) · 1995 (Mac/DOS CD-ROM)
- Genre
- Adventure game
- Modes
- Single player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The plot follows the USS Enterprise crew as they attempt shore leave but are repeatedly waylaid by missions. Episodes include encounters with a time-displaced Federation starship, a primitive world scanned from space, Trelane as a World War I pilot, rival single-cell species, the Antares Rift, a museum terrorist attack, a massive alien ship near the Klingon Neutral Zone, and philosophical tests. A special commemorative edition included a copy of the classic episode 'The City on the Edge of Forever' and a commemorative pin. A Collector's Edition issued in 1995 included a 20-minute interview with Gene Roddenberry from 1988.
Reader's Guide
Star Trek: Judgment Rites is significant as the final Star Trek production to feature the entire original principal cast, and the last time DeForest Kelley played Leonard McCoy. The game was praised for capturing the feel of the original episodes, with Computer Gaming World ranking it the 96th best PC game of all time in 1996. Together with Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, it sold over 300,000 copies by April 1994. Critics noted that the individual adventures were more interesting than those of its predecessor, with optional combat and a unified plot thread. The game was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1993 Adventure Game of the Year award. In later years, it was ranked among the best Star Trek games by PC Gamer and Screen Rant, and Den of Geek described it as worthy of being a good 'final season' of the television show. The game's legacy includes its use of the original cast's voices and its expansion pack, The Movie & Sound Pack, which added cinematic sequences and digitized sound effects.
Did You Know?
- Star Trek: Judgment Rites was the last video game to feature the original Star Trek principal cast together, though they later reunited for the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
- The game features a mission where Trelane from 'The Squire of Gothos' appears as a World War I German Fokker pilot.
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