Even folks who aren't big Star Trek fans know that Klingon is a language made up for the Star Trek TV series, so it may seem a little strange to invest so much energy in a fantasy world. But you don't have to be a Trekker to get into this game. Star Trek Klingon challenges you and changes you like few other games. What other game forces you to learn the fastest-growing artificial language in the world? In this galaxy? Perhaps in this universe? According to the Klingon Language Institute (www.kli.org), Klingon is spoken among small groups of people in more than 30 countries. The U.S.-based institute, founded in 1992, is a collection of linguists, Trekkers and the merely curious who study Klingon and are translating Shakespeare and the Bible into Klingon.

Star Trek Klingon is an engrossing two-part game with more than 90 minutes of video that fill your screen. First, there's the simulation, where you are a young Klingon at a party to celebrate your Rite of Ascension, a symbolic test of adulthood. Then there's the Language Lab, where you gain the skills you'll need to survive the simulation.

Visit the Language Lab first, where you will acutally learn to speak Klingon. Click on Klingon words and characters and hear them pronounced. Point to English words and hear their Klingon translation. Hook up your PC's microphone to your sound card and pronounce the Klingon words on screen. Before long, you'll be annoying your friends with the latest phrase you've learned in your new, harsh-sounding, guttural language.

That kind of familiarity will come in handy at your ``lop 'no,'' or party, to celebrate your Rite of Ascension. The simulation uses full-screen video (shot on the Paramount lot and directed by Jonathan Frakes, who portrayed Cmdr. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation). While music plays, servants offer plates of ``gagh'' and steins of ``wornagh.'' Stop the simulation by clicking your mouse. Move the rotating cursor across the screen, and when you hit a hot spot your cursor will stop rotating. Click again to hear a computer readout about what you're pointing at. Remember: Curiosity often is rewarded. Double-click and the action resumes.

Soon, you will face a decision that will test your knowledge of Klingon words and culture: Pick a certain box or choose a certain path. Guess right, and you'll advance. Guess wrong, and you no longer are the guest of honor. Wait too long to choose, and the simulation will end. But you can start over with the help of Gowron, whom you may recognize as leader of the Klingon High Council from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The Klingon language was created by academic linguist Mark Okrand, whom Paramount Pictures tapped to devise the Klingon and Vulcan dialogues for the motion picture Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Mr. Okrand expanded the language for Star Trek Klingon, which is based on several of his books, including the Klingon Dictionary, Conversational Klingon and Power Klingon. Mr. Okrand is on hand in ``Star Trek Klingon'' to help you turn your k's to ``kh's.'' He'll have you sounding like a Klingon in no time.