Customer Reviews

Star Trek: Bridge Commander

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

`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!

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.

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.

To begin, this game rocks! As far as spaceship/fighter simulations, their a dime a dozen, but thier are very few STARship simulations where you take the captain's chair and bark orders to your crew(bark too loud and they'll be Mutiny on the Dauntless). The Graphics are spectatular at 1280x1024 and at 1600x1200, thier is only one glitch(I was aware of), and it's fixable if you change resolutions after saving your mission, your planet orbit and set course text will disappear, just change the resolution back again to what it was at start game.

I haven't tried the voice commands yet, I don't have the software, but if you don't mind being labled 'crazy' by your neighbors, it is something to try out and sounds like fun to me(I haven't figured out how to get it to work with SB rec/player)
The graphics are excellent, the acting is excellent(Patrick Stewert is your instructor!), but most important of all, the game play is the best of all! Their are a wide variaty of commands for each of your crew. "Disable ship's subsystems" would have been nice. The story(s) are also good, just like in "Judgement Rites".
If you like Star Trek, definitly get this game, if you don't like Star Trek but like taking command, get this game as a great starship simulator.

This game rocks. Even the demo has sweet graphics- you can see each and every port on your ship. The real version will have about 16 playable ships, including the Federation(Akira, Ambassador, Galaxy, Nebula, and Sovereign,the Klingons(B'Rel and Vor'Cha), the Romulans(D'deredix), the Ferengi(Marauder), the Cardassians(Galor, Keldon), and a new race called the Kessok. In terms of weapons, settings, and how things work the game stays so close to the series it seems like you're in an episode. Also, it's voice activation technology is quit remarkable. Star Trek: Bridge Commander has 4 possible outcomes from total, complete sore defeat to conquering the known universe with a Sovereign-Class battleship.

For star trek fans this game is as good as they come. The fantasies of star trek fanatics who want to be in the captains chair to show Picard that they can do it better will have there dreams come true with this game. I admit that I bought it with a little scepticism after reading other reviews and after playing on the demo, but it has to be one of the most original games to come along in years. You play as the captain and you sit in the famous centre chair most of the time. You can always of course use a consol to zoom out and see the ship from the outside, but that's the extent of your local manoeuvrability.
But who needs manoeuvrability when you have warp drive at your disposal!
There are two main modes of play. The story mode which is like a series of star trek where you go through different episodes, and follow a story line which is half linear with decisions altering the outcome and this is the best mode. There is also a quick battle mode where you can play with teams in the chair in combat situations where you can take on Klingons, Romulans, Cardasians etc, (No Borg I'm afraid, but bet you 1000 bucks that will be an add on pack). The cool thing about it is that the teams are fully customisable, so you can have you and 2 Klingon Warbirds stick two Romulan Warbirds if you like. You could also have a couple of star bases to defend or even take on DS9 in the old Enterprise-D.
Also in this mode, there is no limit in the number of enemies or friendlies you can have, and I mean that, I did a test and had over 30 on each team, and talk about slow down.
I have to say, I have a Duran 800 with 256Mb RAM and I can only have full graphics with four a side.
Speaking of graphics, the single player game runs fine on the above specs, and so does the quick combat up to that point, and boy are the graphics good. So photo realistic and with a sun in the sector the hull shines it back and looks great. The damage effects sell the combat to me though. No exaggerations when I say location damage. It really does depend on where you hit the ship as to where the damage is seen. And I'm not talking about those black smear marks you see. You get a quantum hit your hull with no shields and you'll be seeing space through the gap.
The damage effects are worth buying the game for alone. Its fun to see how much damage you can do to the enterprise-E before it explodes.
Back to the bridge anyway.
Throughout the story mode you sit in the chair and command most of the important functions of the star-ship. The power distribution, the level of alert, the location, the warping, the speed, the tactics like manoeuvres, the position of attack to protect certain shields, the type of weapons used, the subsystem to target such as weapon array or engines, the communication station, the damage repair priority and the view screen position and zoom and more. Of course your officers are consulted to alter these for you, but you have the final word.

These are just some of your options when in command, but the story presents some interesting decisions that have to be made.
The story line is fantastic, it's really fluent, and even through you may think that the mission where you have to stop asteroids from hitting a space station is a little done before, you'll realise why your doing it when the story unfolds.
Patrick Stuart (spelling not sure on) plays the voice of Picard, and Brent Spinner does Data which makes it even more believable.
So up to now the game is seriously worth buying.
The only down side and this is the only thing I found were the bugs. Yes, it appears as though we are the Beta testers again, and you can see texture tearing on the bridge, which can ruin the atmosphere literally (chuckle).
A few other things such as people falling over when the ship is hit seem to never get up, but that's solved in the patch you can download.
Finally, the bridge effects, it's really cool when your fighting, because your bridge sets on fire and shakes and sparks fly around and the control panels flicker, your officers are screaming at you to do something about the damage, and your tactical officer is always telling you how the shields are getting lower.
To sum up... The game has brilliant replay ability with the quick battle mode, the story line is better then some of the real episodes and the effects and atmosphere are as close to the real thing so far. If you like Star Trek, you'll love this, if you don't maybe it's one to miss...

Star Trek Bridge Commander rocks! It has sweet graphics, 16 different playable ships ranging from the Romulan Warbird and the Sovereign-Class to a shuttle(Not powerful, but fun to mess around in). It has three different outcomes, voice activation technology(Not included), and a 700+ page script. Bridge Commander has one of the most flawless multiplayer setups I've ever seen. This game is GREAT! Buy it from a store as soon as you can; the shipping wait is torture.

Although better than most Star Trek games, this one still has some problems. Chief amoung these are the linear nature (there is only one right way to complete missions), the lack of flexibility (I can only remember being asked to make 3 decisions though the whole game), no way of skipping the (interminable) dialogue and not being able save other than between missions.
On the plus side, the graphics (especially the lighting effects) are beautiful, the storyline is good and you do get the feeling of being in a large ship.
Just to address a couple of points raised by other reviewers;
1. I had no problem with the speed of the game at all. There were fairly frequent crashes though.
2. I was able to complete all the missions with the ships provided. there is some strategy needed!

Anyway, now looking forward to the expansion pack.

I know it's probably going to become quite a tired phrase among us reviewers, but this truly is the best Star Trek game I have ever played. I'm sure we've all dreamed about sitting in the captain's chair snapping out orders to the rest of our crew, watching them desperately trying to perform their duties while the entire bridge is shaking from enemy disrupter fire, and this game completely delivers on that experience. Combine this game with one of the game voice recognition software packages out there and you have one awesome experience. Besides the combat, the plot of the game is pretty good too, and having Captain Picard and Data not just make cameos in this game but actually serve temporarily as part of your starship's crew or come in the Enterprise-E flying to your side during combat is truly memorable. What are you waiting for? How can you call yourself a true Star Trek fan if you don't desperately want this game or are playing it already?

Star Trek Bridge Commander is a one-of-a-kind game. Although semi close to the Starfleet Command games, it takes those games to a new level of lush 3D vessels, surroundings and space stations. The graphics are, obviously, unsurpassed on the PC; they'll blow you away. The sound is like BEING in the Star Trek universe, with phaser fire, torpedoes and explosions, you'll be back for more. The gameplay/lasting appeal is great, not only is the game extremely innovative and fun, but multiplayer and quick battle scenarios will keep fun coming. One possible downside for this game is the incredibly high price that will not go down. But if you have the money and/or if you are a Trekkie, this is one great Star Trek game to get.