Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative was a Star Trek themed computer software game, designed for the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, and Apple IIc. The game was also available for the Commodore 64, Macintosh and IBM PC. This text adventure was first published in 1985 by Simon & Schuster. The player assumes the role of Captain James T. Kirk. As Kirk, the player commands the actions of the Enterprise crew, as well as the Enterprise itself. The game was expansive and ambitious, but also very buggy.
The plot is based on the idea that Starfleet is replacing the Kobayashi Maru scenario with a new test based on a mission from the Enterprise logs. The player is supposedly testing this "Kobayashi Alternative Command Performance Evaluation" for a Starfleet admiral.
A review in Computer Gaming World berated the game for its many bugs, and poor documents regarding the game itself. However, the design of the game, as well as its portrayal of the crew, was well received.
Famous quotes containing the words star and/or alternative:
“Our star was brighter perhaps when it had water in it.
Now there is no question even of that, but only
Of holding on to the hard earth so as not to get thrown off,
With an occasional dream, a vision ...”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“It is a secret from nobody that the famous random event is most likely to arise from those parts of the world where the old adage “There is no alternative to victory” retains a high degree of plausibility.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)