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The default view has you in the big chair. Everything is '80s-era beige, confirming that this is indeed the Next Generation. In front of you is the famous view screen. Your engineer, science officer, first officer, tactical officer, and navigator/communications officer are where you'd expect to find them. As events unfold, you can click on these officers and an orders menu opens up. This way you can quickly order your com officer to hail that ship, or the science officer to scan a nearby target. During combat you can order your tactical officer to target certain enemy subsystems (like the warp drive), or you can take control and do your own targeting and firing if you want. Your engineer can be ordered to prioritize repairs or boost power to the weapons. This lets you play like a real captain in that you're hearing reports, giving orders, and taking as much personal control as you like. You can even take a walk about the ship with the keyboard in the optional (and breathtaking) third-person view.
It's very clever how all this works and thankfully the artificial intelligence is more than up to the task. The story here is very deep and very Star Trek, and so are the music, sound effects, and voice acting. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner (Captain Picard and Commander Data, respectively) are even on hand to give advice during two different points in the story. The missions are very linear and you can only save between them, but there are plenty of branching points that let you handle things your way. Though the main plot doesn't encourage a replay once you finish it, you can extend your enjoyment of the game through full multiplayer options and a handy Instant Action simulator that lets you set up any battle you like.
The graphics are stunning, except when it comes to the people. The stiff character graphics look like something out of 1997's Jedi Knight, rather than real people, and the lip-synching is awful. But you won't be watching people talk nearly as much as you'll be watching Klingon vessels trading punches with massive Romulan warbirds, as the Cardassians and Ferengi skulk nearby and your crew looks to you for your orders. Never has an episode of Trek come to life quite this well. If you winced when Riker piloted the Enterprise with that pop-up Thrustmaster joystick in Star Trek: Insurrection, you love the smell of spark-spewing bridge consoles in the morning, and you've ever wanted to listen to a crewman's so-crazy-it-just-might-work suggestion and reply "Make it so," then this game is for you. --Bob Andrews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Review,
By "rum_an" (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Star Trek: Bridge Commander (CD-ROM)
`Star Trek' is one of the largest syndicated franchises in history. With 5 series, nine movies, millions of fans and billions of dollars worth of merchandise, this show is practically immortal: it's not going to cease production for a very long time. Though `Star Trek' hit television by storm, this wasn't the case with computers. Despite more than 10 `Trek' games, none of them truly captured the essence of the show. Also, the combat was mainly comprised of fighter-type vessels: not `Star Trek' at all.Suddenly, though, in late 1999, the acclaimed PC-game developer Larry Holland and his company `Totally Games' began a project that would ultimately result in not only the best Star Trek game ever, but also the best game period. Since I have been following this game for nearly 3 years, you can bet I had extremely high expectations, but when I loaded up the game I was so impressed and awed that my next 8 hours were devoted solely to experiencing the magic that `Bridge Commander' is brimming with. With a 700-page storyline written by the famous writer Dorothy Fontana, awesome graphics, wonderful sounds and music, over 15 ships, 6 races, amazingly authentic bridges, a new race and hundreds of other fantastic features, `Bridge Commander' is the most immersing and dazzling game I have ever played. This piece of heaven went way beyond my expectations! Words can't do justice what both Trekkies, and non-Trekkies feel like as they watch their ship, the USS Dauntless, glide smoothly out of drydock in the first mission! You have your own crew who you can talk to and get to even meet Picard and Data! Almost everything in `Bridge Commander' was taken out from the Paramount archives so you can bet that this game is as authentic as it will ever get! Voice control is optional, as is the ability to construct your very own ships from the SDK which will be released soon! One sentiment that truly describes this masterpiece is: WOW! If you haven't bought `Bridge Commander' yet, download the demo to see if you like it and if you do, run down to your local pc-gaming store and purchase...ecstasy! I'm an avid gamer and have over 50 pc games: `Unreal', `Wolfenstein', `The Sims', `Medal of Honour: Allied Assault' and tons of others but `Bridge Commander' beats them all by a mile! I simply can't say enough about this game!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"ST: Bridge Commander" good, but needs "refit",
By Andrew Elgert (Hampton, VA USA, Earth) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Star Trek: Bridge Commander (CD-ROM)
This game has excelent, believable graphics. When I first played the game I felt like I was on the bridge of the Enterprise-D, or U.S.S. Dauntless, as it were. I liked the realistic graphics(like those of Starfleet Command) and the ability to go in all three dimentions(such as Starfleet Academy.) But with these stunning graphics, there were some, small, disappointments. The starfields appeared very static; they seemed to "overlook" physical laws, such as gravity. Also, the lips of the characters were very out of sinc. Overall I felt like I had the uniform on; I felt like saying "Make it so, number one." I felt that the story line was much better than similar Trek games (such as Starfleet Command.) In this game, the original captain is killed, due to an apparently accidental explosion of the star in the Vesuvi system. You are placed in command of the late captian's Galaxy Class (Enterprise-D type) U.S.S. Dauntless and are given a new "number 1", Safri Larson (in my opinion, a useless lump of protoplasm, there to get your job and expose your wrongdoings to Admiral Liu, of Starfleet Command.) Mr. Larson often has a "I know you're not going to belive me, but the best course of action is..." mentality and is unlike the regular "Will Riker" of "Mr. Spock" type. Your crew has character, convictions, and "beliefs" (mainly "alien-bashing".) I wish there could be more social interaction with the crew in places such as ten-forward and the holodeck. I also wish that I, as the captain, could walk the ship, and go to places such as main engineering, sickbay, and transporter room. I also think that the game would be better if I could WALK the bridge to visit the stations, and occasionally retreat to my ready room or even my quarters. In this game the controls are easy to use and are taught to you by Captain Picard. I felt that learning how to use the controls was easy. Unfortunately, the nit-picking, perfectionist side in me took hold of me. Immediatly after I got on the bridge, I felt that something wasn't right. First of all, the conn and ops stations were totally deleted. Instead, where the conn was supposed to be, they put in the tactical position, and where the mission ops station was supposed to be, they put in the "helm". Also, they took the area where the tactical station was supposed to be and made it the engineering and science stations, making the back area of the bridge totally useless. Moreover, there was no doctor and the Chief Engineer was "the only engineer in Starfleet who doesn't go to engineering." Finally, I would like to go to other star systems and starbases, other than starbase 12. Overall, I would recomend this game to everyone, but mostly Trekkies. Q'apla! Captain out.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Based on the Full Version,
By
This review is from: Star Trek: Bridge Commander (CD-ROM)
Excellent game so far (I haven't hit the end of it yet, it's actually rather long)..the plot is developing nicely, with some interesting twists (and I still haven't managed to even venture a good guess as to some of the things that are going on, it's good at being mysterious.) The graphics engine is good enough to get the job done, the bridge/characters are it's weakest component, it does really well at rendering the ships during combat. You get some of those cinematic moments where you fire a shot from your rear tubs right into a hole in the hull of a cardaissian ship and watch it blow the ship apart. Speaking of which, the damage modeling is AMAZING, you can literally cut parts of a ship away (which is a rather effective method of destroying a large number of subsystems at once.)Although everything is not 100% canon to the show, it is necessary to make the game balanced and fun. All in all, it's a fun game (which is what really counts, no?) and I highly recommend it to anyone who has always wanted to command a starship.
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