Star Trek: Klingon (CD-ROM)
Front box cover
[Play Star Trek: Klingon on YouTube]
Star Trek: Klingon was a computer game published by Simon & Schuster Interactive in 1996. It was available in two versions, one for Windows and one for Macintosh. The game features a video based interactive story with quite limited gameplay. Packaged with the game came a bonus CD with a standalone piece of software, the “Language Lab” – a limited language course for learning Klingon which features the voice of Marc Okrand.
In the package you’ll find three CDs, the first two of which contains the game “Star Trek: Klingon”. The game is more of an interactive video, and less of an actual computer game. (In todays standard – as of 2013 – the resolution of the video is subpar, but that’s to be expected considering the relatively long playing time and the limited space.)
The video (or game, if you want to call it that) features all the actors we’ve come to know and love from TNG, and gives some insight in the Klingon culture, but apart from that there isn’t much be gained there.
The third CD, the “Language Lab,” is an interactive language course with a Klingon style interface. It teaches Klingon words, divided into several different categories. This Language Lab also contains a tool to help you with your pronunciation – speak to it and the computer will aid you and give suggestions to help you improve (I have not tested this feature myself).
Even if you manage to get a hold of a copy Star Trek: Klingon, getting it run might pose a bit of a challenge, since the game will only run under older versions of Windows (such as Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or possibly Windows 98 or ME – it is known to not start under Windows XP and later versions). However, there are many audio files on the Language Lab disk, and video files from the two game disks, which may be viewed even without running the game. (Though the video files are in an uncommon format, and may require special tools to be made viewable.)
The game was published by Simon & Schuster Interactive, and was available for
Windows (ISBN