A look back (and forward) at PC Star Trek games

For a while in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, you couldn't throw a stick without hitting a new Star Trek PC game. It's hard to believe now, but just a few years ago there were all kinds of games based on Gene Roddenberry's creation spanning all five TV shows and all 10 films. First-person shooters, tactical space combat games, RTS titles (both land and space-based), adventure game titles and more were all available. Unfortunately nearly all of the games are discontinued, perhaps because the publishers of said games no longer have the rights to Star Trek.

Things have settled down since the rush of Trek games, but with the release of the new Star Trek reboot feature film on Thursday night there's a renewed interest in the sci-fi franchise. So, Big Download decided to engage in their own version of time travel by looking back at some of the Trek PC games and toward the future at two upcoming games, including the highly anticipated MMO game Star Trek Online.