Game 146: Star Trek: Judgment Rites – Introduction

by Will Moczarski 

Source 

It's time to boldly go where only Joe has gone before...for this blog, at least. Riding on the success of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Interplay decided to do a quick follow-up using the same engine. Star Trek: Judgment Rites was released just in time for the holiday season in November 1993 and is generally considered to be the better game. Taking into account that 25th Anniversary scored a respectable 45 points although it was impossible to skip the bothersome action sequences (Joe was ultimately and understandably unable to beat the game fair and square) I'm mildly optimistic that we will have fun with this one. 

The game was designed by a band of six among which the name of Michael A. Stackpole (yes, it's the author!) is probably the most famous. However, some of the others can pull their weight, too. Elizabeth "Liz" Danforth's career in game development began in the mid-1970's, and she apparently has been part of the industry to this day. The latest famous game she worked on is Wasteland 2 (2013) although it may just be me who's unfamiliar with the others. Scott Bennie contributed to 25th Anniversary as well as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1997), Star Trek: Starfleet Command (1999) and Starfleet Command II: Empires at War (2000). He was also involved with The Lost Vikings (1993), Descent (1995), and Fallout (1997) to name but a few. A varied and storied career if I ever saw one.

Then there's Jayesh Patel who also has a credit for programming the game, plus Bruce Schlickbernd (gotta love that name!) and Mark O'Green. The second programmer was one Paul Allen Edelstein, and the responsible producers were Jacob R. Buchert III and, once again, Bruce Schlickbernd who had been "only" a designer for the previous game. The strangest game he would go on to work on must surely be Bridge Deluxe 2 with Omar Sharif (1996). And the most peculiar credit must be his being listed as the "Interplay Graphics Wizard" when he helped out during the development of Dungeon Master II: Skullkeep in 1995 (another game I remember fondly). 

Gotta love Omar Sharif! (Source)

The gameplay appears to be very similar to its predecessor's, and once again the narration is separated into (mostly) unrelated episodes, TV series style. I didn't want to spoil the game for me but a quick glance revealed that there will be eight of them. I'll try to stick to one episode per post whenever possible. 

That said, I won't be playing the version featuring the original cast as voice actors because that one was  released later in 1995. I'll surely fire it up after having finished the 1993 version, and, depending on the number of road blocks the game throws at returning players, maybe even finish it once again in order to provide a second PISSED rating taking into account the (ostensibly) higher score in the D category. 

Most of the graphics online are from the 1995 edition.

Interestingly, while Gabriel Knight I and Day of the Tentacle tied for best adventure game of the year in the traditional CGW ranking, Judgment Rites was one of three honourable mentions (the others being Myst and Return to Zork). I remember playing Judgment Rites for a little bit back in the day but I only finished two or three episodes before losing interest while Gabriel Knight and Day of the Tentacle both got me hooked all the way (never cared for Myst, never/not yet played Return to Zork). The Sierra game is still one of my favourite adventure games ever and the LucasArts game is a bit better than Morpheus thinks it is (in my humble opinion, of course). 

Because time is never on my side these days this is quite a short introductory entry. Why? I'm currently trying to play through 25th Anniversary as a primer before I get started with Judgment Rites. I'll dive into the contemporary magazine reviews after having finished the game in order to avoid spoilers, so without further ado please make your score guesses now and don't hesitate to tell me about your (spoiler-free) experiences with the game in the comments!

I'm so glad I'll be able to skip the action sequences.

Next time: a brief look at the manual and my take on the first mission of the game!