Ars Technica and GOG team up to bring you a pile of our favorite games

Summary

That's never a good sign. Credit: Interplay / GOG That's never a good sign. Credit: Interplay / GOG Then, if you survive the mandatory space battle, you'll find yourself as Jim Kirk beaming down to a mysterious planet or over to an abandoned ship or station, scanning things with your tricorder and shooting things with your phaser. You're accompanied by a small landing party, most often made up of Spock, McCoy, and a redshirt, and no, the redshirt does not always make it back to the ship. There's the sparkling Bones-n-Spock repartee we know and love. Credit: Interplay / GOG There's the sparkling Bones-n-Spock repartee we know and love. Credit: Interplay / GOG The game is at its best during these away missions, each of which is unique and all of which are absolutely swimming in note-perfect TOS nostalgia, from the sound effects to the visual design and intent. Layer on top of that some banter between McCoy and Spock while you work through some good ol' combine-object-X-with-object-Y adventure game puzzles, and you have an engaging and atmospheric little game, with enough complexity to keep you busy for at least a dozen hours or so. Small containers of colored liquids? Smells like an adventure game puzzle to me. Credit: Interplay / GOG Small containers of colored liquids? Smells like an adventure game puzzle to me. Credit: Interplay / GOG And great news: If you really fall in love with the game, there's a sequel: Star Trek: Judgment Rites. Judgment Rites is essentially a straight continuation of ST25, made with the same engine, voice cast (this time with Majel Barrett), type of missions, and commitment to detail. Feel like giving Star Trek: 25th Anniversary a whirl? Grab it for $9.99 on the GOG store! The GOG-packaged bundle works out of the box on Windows and Linux, and since the GOG version is powered by DOSBox internally, making it work on a Mac should require only minor surgery.