An outstanding translation of the TV series comes to your desktop.
Everyone has their biases when it comes to Star Trek captains. Some Trekkies prefer the fluent even-handedness of a Jean-Luc Picard, while others respond favourably to the hot-blooded approach of a James T. Kirk. No matter the leader, nearly everyone has thought to themselves at one time or another, "I could do better than that" when watching an episode of Gene Roddenberry's space extravaganza. Well, Activision and Totally Games have put together the forum for gamers to do just that, with their brand new title Star Trek Bridge Commander, based on the Next Generation timeline of the Star Trek series. Time to put up or shut up - and see just how well you fare in the captain's chair.
STBC allows you to command directly from the chair, in a fully three dimensional environment. Your immediate crew surrounds you, just like the TV series. Using the first person perspective, you swing around to look at the officer then issue orders. Want to decrease power to your sensors? Look at the science officer and tell him. Need some advice? Your First Officer is just to the right of you - pick her brain for some answers or objective reminders. Want to blow up something real good? Tactical is waiting for your orders. The degree of control is very intuitive, and is a very onion-like GUI: strip away the first layer and there are multiple layers of control waiting for you to find.
Like the onion, however, there are facets of this game which will make you want to cry. The degree of freedom to act the way you want is very much limited by the storyline arc. If I want to attack a certain ship, I should be able to do just that, and have the storyline change accordingly. Unfortunately, STBC doesn't reward you for throwing curveballs - if your mission involves looking after a vessel and you don't quite make it, then you don't make progress. This lack of support for branching paths is a huge disappointment and limitation in a title that otherwise shows much promise. The storyline provided, however, is quite engaging and worthy of the Trek mythos. Small wonder - D.C. Fontana, authour of 10 classic original Star Trek episodes worked on Bridge Commander as a script writer, editor and consultant. Her work as an associate producer on the Next Generation series places the game in good stead, as the script is well-polished and intelligent. The missions themselves run the gamut from search and rescue, stealth observation, exploration, and of course everyone's favourite: full-on combat.
The opening tutorial is very well done, and without spoiling the story, involves the delivery of Captain Jean-Luc Picard to another station. Picard provides you with advice on how to deliver orders to your officers and will have you ready to command your vessel by the time you drop him off. Patrick Stewart delivers his lines impeccably, as do all the voice actors in STBC. The level of professionalism in the voice aspect of this title puts others to shame - it sounds absolutely perfect. The lip-synching is absolutely horrendous, unfortunately, but after the first few missions you shouldn't be studying lips anyways. The musical score compliments the gameplay nicely, and draws the player into the atmosphere of the series as it should. Graphic quality is super sharp. Bridge, characters and ships alike are created in gloriously detailed 3-D. As your battle against opposing forces, ships take correctly-modelled damage - seeing ships' hulls pockmarked from photon fire is quite impressive.
If you want to take a break from the single-player scenario, there are multiplayer options for your perusal. Up to 8 players can battle it out in space in everyone for themselves deathmatch, or in teams. Either way, the opportunity to fight using Star Trek ships is something that all Trekkies should salivate over. Other types of multiplayer missions would be welcome, but what is available here is well done.
Star Trek Bridge Commander is a worthy entry into the rapidly improving line Star Trek licensed games. A sequel with better support for divergent paths would be a perfect upgrade, but Bridge Commander stands tall on its own merits. An excellent effort from Totally Games, and fully worth the purchase.
