BassGuitari Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 The old Star Trek computer game was everywhere in the '70s and early '80s, and became a genre unto itself. Like text adventures, Trek games are a lost art and in many ways are relics of their time, but there were so many variations and machine-specific versions of the game that it can make your head spin...and many of them are fun today, provided you appreciate "thinking man's" games.So which version is your favorite?Some of mine...Star Trek III (TRS-80): the Lance Micklus classic; quite a bit more sophisticated than other Trek games. "3-D" quadrants, exploratory mission parameters, and the [extremely useful] Ship's Computer and Science Computer give this game a lot of added depth, and rudimentary graphics and action scenes really set this one apart, especially those of late 1970s vintage.Curiously it lacks the Galactic Map that almost every other Trek game has; instead you use the Ship's Computer to scan for readouts of coordinates of unexplored areas or detailed reports of areas you've already been to. The torpedo magazine of three is annoyingly small, considering most other Treks load you up with at least 10. But, since this is a BASIC game, it probably wouldn't be too tall a task to "hack" the torpedo load up a bit.(My version is 3.3; anybody know the differences between it and other versions?)Stellar Track (Atari/Sears Arcade): as complicated as Star Trek III can be, that's how simple Stellar Track is. This is probably the closest thing there is to an arcade Trek game, and it's great. Random situation scenarios of varying difficulty, and fast "action." This one can be breezed through relatively quickly.TI-Trek (TI99/4a): I feel like this one is a bit of a forgotten title on the TI (I think it originally came out for the 99/4, before the "A"), but it's a good'n. Like most Treks, you'll probably need to track down a manual as it's not incredibly intuitive, but once you know what you're doing, it falls somewhere between Stellar Track and more traditional Trek games in terms of complexity and "arcadeness." I enjoy the bright, clean, colorful, distinctly TI-looking display, as well as the larger-than-usual sectors, in which you can move around 360 degrees (staircase style, of course). The complement of 20(!) photon torpedos makes my trigger finger very happy, as does the ability to aim them 360 degrees (you can do this in Star Trek III as well, but the smaller sectors render this less necessary). I love torpedo-sniping "Foes"--as they are called in-game--from clear across the screen...good thing I get 20, because it's easy to miss at that distance. (Sidebar: was there a tape release of this by TI? I know they released it on disk, but I've only seen the Apex tape version.)Mini-Trek (Bally Arcade): not gonna lie: I just love that there's a Trek game in AstroBASIC. Honestly I haven't played much of it, but it seems similar to Stellar Track.Star Trek [The Computer Game] (TRS-80): another good Trek game for the Trash-80, this one being a bit more in line with traditional Trek games than Star Trek III was. One neat quick is that you could actually warp outside the galaxy...which isn't useful in any way, but it's still kind of fun to "explore" uncharted deep space (no, there's nothing out there) if you are so inclined. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Two of my favorites were the PC adventure games - 25th Anniversary and Judgment Rites. I also played a lot of those Stellar Track type of games on the PC and there was one on the coco I believe I played quite a bit. I kind of liked the First Person Voyager Shooter, I think it was called Elite Force, never tried the second one but always wanted to. I liked the Star Trek arcade game and the ports on the 2600, Colecovision, etc. Probably others that I've played over the years and forgotten about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 25th Anniversary CD rom edition, the floppy edition lacks that's honestly the only trek game I got into unless you call the cd rom thing that was like an encylopedia aboard the enterprise D a game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 (edited) I meant the original mainframe Trek games and their derivatives. Edited June 12, 2016 by BassGuitari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Oh, well in that case I can't remember the names of any of them but I've played a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 I don't think you should limit it to just classic mainframe Trek. :-P My first reaction was, "ugh, Star Trek never really got any good games." Then I thought about it a bit ... Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator, of course -- in the arcade and on 8-bit consoles. Star Fleet I: The War Begins! which is the old mainframe Trek, but slightly modernized. I haven't touched it in ages, but I remember synthesized speech, which was fun then. I played it off a floppy diskette on my Mac SE, it was old by the time I discovered it. NetTrek on the Mac, which was amazing multiplayer (not to be confused with Netrek) I liked a Mac game called Rescue! that had lots of TNG sounds but has disappeared into the cease+desist tarpits. Looks like someone remade it in Java. I want to try that out sometime. It's not branded Trek, but FTL is the most Trek-like thing I can imagine. Plus it's a little bit like the old mainframe game. You can play the Humble version in Chrome!! I wish I liked the DOS adventure games more, but I've been spoiled by LucasArts design and humor. They're on GOG and I should find time to play them again, as I've forgotten all the puzzles. Star Trek Timelines is more fun than it should be for a free-to-play treadmill. I'm currently on vacation from it but haven't deleted it since I've made a lot of progress. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 I don't think you should limit it to just classic mainframe Trek. :-P Why? It's my thread and that's the kind of game I'm interested in here. It's really the genre more than the connection to the Star Trek television series or films that I'm interested in. Trek was a milestone in computer and gaming history, and it's still fun today. I think it would be an absolute gas to play one on a real Teletype machine sometime. That said, I forgot about another version that I liked: Apple Trek (Apple II): a handy feature of this one was that you have the galaxy map and short-range scan on the same screen. A less handy feature was that the Klingons (or Klargons, as they are called in an alternate version) could fire torpedoes as well disruptors/phasers/lasers/whatever. But, you could get them to shoot each other, so that was cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Nah, you put it out to the peanut gallery, it belongs to us now! So I'll play a little Stellar Trek on my iPhone in your honor. Stellar Trek by greg brady https://appsto.re/us/fm7J1.i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 For me, Star Trek 25th Anniversary and Star Trek Borg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enoofu Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Yeah Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator and NetTrek were pretty awesome when they came out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 When I went through a catalog of PET games, I came across nearly a handful Trek games. It never was my cup of tea, so I didn't spend many minutes trying to understand each of them but possibly one is better than the others. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 I have not played this game enough to have a favourite version, but I do have fond memories -- when I was in about grade 5 (ca. 1982), we had a TRS-80 Model III at school. One of the older kids typed-in a version of Trek, very probably from David Ahl's book of BASIC games. This was one of the very first computer games that I got to play. Granted, it was too complex for me to really make much progress, but I had fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Star Trek III is definitely my favorite. I played a variation someone modified called Bradstar. I don't know if anything was actually different than the name since I can't compare them side by side. Time Trek was pretty good. It featured "real time" action. The computer didn't stop to wait for you to respond. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKarith Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 The one I remember was a cracked version on the Apple // that would offer you unlimited shields, phasers, etc. Didn't have a manual for it for some reason, so never really played it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 The one I remembered playing was on the Apple ][, must have been Apple Trek.... Don't WARP into a Sun!!! MarkO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSlC_O00idI 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 Star Trek III is definitely my favorite. I played a variation someone modified called Bradstar. I don't know if anything was actually different than the name since I can't compare them side by side. Time Trek was pretty good. It featured "real time" action. The computer didn't stop to wait for you to respond. Was Time Trek the one that was renamed Space Warp as a Tandy release? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Was Time Trek the one that was renamed Space Warp as a Tandy release? I hadn't heard of Space Warp before. I'm going to say yes based on the documentation, but the game may be slightly different. Time Trek docs: https://ia800707.us.archive.org/35/items/Time_Trek_1978_Joshua_Lavinsky/Time_Trek_1978_Joshua_Lavinsky.pdf Space Warp docs: https://ia601707.us.archive.org/10/items/Space_Warp_1980_Personal_Software/Space_Warp_1980_Personal_Software.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKarith Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSlC_O00idI That's the game, only on the Apple //, with less color and debatably cleaner audio than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Yeah Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator and NetTrek were pretty awesome when they came out SOS is an arcade game though. It's very different from the original Trek games. I've never played NetTrek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 (edited) Stellar Track is my all time favorite. It captures the feel of Star Trek for me. And Star Trek SOS for the 2600 is really great! Don't forget Voyager Elite Force. It's a FPS, but it's one of the best. Other than that, these games don't hold my interest for very long. Sadly... Edited June 15, 2016 by Gregory DG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Stellar Track is my all time favorite. It captures the feel of Star Trek for me. And Star Trek SOS for the 2600 is really great! Don't forget Voyager Elite Force. It's a FPS, but it's one of the best. Other than that, these games don't hold my interest for very long. Sadly... Well, the original game wasn't exactly very exciting. Star Trek III added some animation so it was a bit ahead of the originals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Holy macaroni, I forgot all about the all-text, all-Sears Stellar Track. Wow, I never imagined anyone would pick that as an all-time favorite! Life is a rich tapestry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 Holy macaroni, I forgot all about the all-text, all-Sears Stellar Track. Wow, I never imagined anyone would pick that as an all-time favorite! Life is a rich tapestry. So which version is your favorite? Some of mine... Stellar Track (Atari/Sears Arcade): as complicated as Star Trek III can be, that's how simple Stellar Track is. This is probably the closest thing there is to an arcade Trek game, and it's great. Random situation scenarios of varying difficulty, and fast "action." This one can be breezed through relatively quickly. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Yeah yeah, I heard you, but it didn't register until a second person mentioned it! Also, we are enormous, old, nerds. Does anyone remember these books? I'm a little surprised there isn't a type-in clone of Trek in the COMPUTER SPACEGAMES book http://www.usborne.com/catalogue/feature-page/computer-and-coding-books.aspx 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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