Star Trek: Bridge Commander

aka: STBC
Moby ID: 5920

Description official description

Star Trek: Bridge Commander puts the player in the role of the new captain of the starship USS Dauntless right after the previous captain perished in a sudden and mysterious explosion of the Vesuvi star which wiped out the nearer half of the planets in the system. Narrowly escaping the fallout, the ship is repaired, receives a new first officer and is tasked with investigating the background of the event throughout the region of space referred to as the Maelstrom, encountering other Federation, Klingon, Ferengi, Romulan, and Cardassian ships, as well as a new race known only as the Kessok.

The player can control the ship and its operations by speaking to the relevant personnel (e.g. hailing and moving the ship by talking to ensign LoMar, or managing the ship's power output and repairs by talking to chief engineer Brex), and can do so either from a first-person perspective from the captain's chair or by viewing the ship from the outside. The ship is almost entirely controllable through hotkeys, and its weapons can be fired manually via mouse controls. If the player's ship is joined by other friendly ships, they can be given simple commands.

The singleplayer campaign is split to 8 episodes, each with its own sub-missions, which form a larger storyline. Unlike many other licensed Star Trek games, combat is not the only focus of the game, as there are missions where exploration and assisting endangered colonies and ships is the main objective. A diplomatic decision late in the game affects the circumstances of the finale. Between missions, the player often moves to Starbase 12 for repairs, stocking on torpedoes, and occasionally to receive more delicate assignments.

Aside from the singleplayer campaign, the game has a so-called "Quick Battle" mode where the player can initiate battles using ships, stations and other objects which appeared in the main campaign, and the player can control any ship from the list. This game mode is also available in multiplayer.

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Credits (Windows version)

229 People (188 developers, 41 thanks) · View all

Creative Director
Project Lead
Network & Interface Programming
AI & Sound Programming, Physics & Simulation Programming
3D Graphics Programming
Interface Programming
Character & Bridge Programming, Save/Load Programming
Game System Programming
Lead Game Design
Game Design, Mission Scripting, Story
Art Lead, Environmental Art
Bridge Sets
Ship Art
Character Animations
Art Technician
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 23 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 29 ratings with 8 reviews)

One of the better Star Trek games released - but not for gamers that get easily bored

The Good
Almost everything - besides, it's not every day you get to sit in the captains chair of Star Trek ships.

I'll go into minor detail: Excellent atmosphere which really re-lives the famous Star Trek feeling from the series and some of the movies, great plot, great voice-acting, good controls, good strategic combat, and overall a well accomplished game.

The Bad
Being a gamer that values freedom, I really think they could have out even more into this Star Trek title - I mean, we got the bridge of a starship; and everything in the game is almost just right to make the new Elite, or 3D StarFlight - imagine if we could go to other systems to trade and explore freely in this Star Trek universe...

But this is not the case; the player is only led trough a certain chain of missions, without any real chance of freedom - sure, there is a skirmish-mode available, but it really don't give much more freedom either - you just get to blow up different ships from various species.

There's also the thing that this is not a game for most action gamers; there's long conversations, and often long periods of waiting in this game, and quite often you find yourself going ahead of the game itself. For me, this is not a problem, as I like such things, but for others, it might be quite annoying at places.

The Bottom Line
Overall though, Star Trek: BC is a good game with lots of sadly unexplored potential; it is not everyones cup of tea, but if you like Star Trek, or better yet, if you like sci-fi (like myself), this is a game I recommend - just don't expect too much; it IS a good game, but it could have been much better (but then again, its a commercial space-game).

So, I give it one thumb up - for a good game with good plot and fairly well accomplished.

Windows · by Stargazer (99) · 2003

Avoid this game like a warp drive overload.

The Good
First, the graphics were perfect except for the faces (Picard's face looked awful). Second, the sound was crisp.

The Bad
Everything else. Most of the game involves listening to dialouge that gets boring after the first two minutes. The actual gameplay involves "combat" where you target enemies and just aim a phaser at them. More like "turret simulation". When you fire torpedoes, they don't even hit the enemy because you are always facing your opponent and you see where he is relative to the front of your ship on a little monitor. Finally, you can barely control where your ship moves!!! Instead of controlling where you move, there are "movement beacons" that are at various points in space.You choose which one to go to and you choose how fast and you're done. In "stealth" missions, these ways of movement make those missions impossible.

The Bottom Line
Ick, Yuck, retch!!!

Windows · by James Kirk (150) · 2003

Great Star Trek space combat game

The Good
Bridge Commander finally gives star trek fans the chance to command a starship.

Graphically it could be said that it does not get better in a Star Trek single player game than in Bridge Commander. Everything has a near movie like quality to it. Ships look great with weapons/shield effects coming right out of the tv show and movies. The planets look like they have real atmospheres and stars (with real solar flares) add lots of atmosphere to the game. The buttons look just like an authentic LCARS computer system from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Sound and music are equally good in Bridge Commander. It is not often that one finds a Star Trek game where the graphics actually measure up to the sound and music. The music exceeds expectations for a Star Trek game, changing with every situation. The music makes for an exhilarating experience, especially in heated combat. It makes you savor the moment when you are winning against an enemy with a perfect music track that is even nothing short of spectacular. Graphics and sound make Bridge Commander a rewarding experience.

In addition, the gameplay in Bridge Commander is amazing. Star Trek fans have a game that plays perfectly, sounds perfect and looks perfect. This is a real treat.

The game engine is flawless, accurately simulating ship-to-ship combat in the Star Trek universe. Space is 3D, and combat takes place on three dimensions. You can target individual systems, and the enemy will do likewise. Ships break up in this game, losing nacelles or entire sections of the primary and secondary hull. To see your ship limp home after being nearly blasted to pieces is nothing short of theatrical.

Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data make an appearance in this game. Data is very much in character while Picard sits beside you ready to give advice. He even smiles and looks at you when you want to hear from him.

The quick battle feature is a fantastic feature to have in a game like Bridge Commander as it allowed gamers to play the game well beyond the story-based missions. This feature gave Bridge Commander near-infinite longevity.

This game is possibly the most modifiable Star Trek game. There are lots of fan-made modifications available on the internet. These serve to greatly expand the longevity and scope of the game.

The Bad
Bridge Commander follows a linear, mission-oriented game structure limiting the use of its superior graphics and gameplay to a story-based experience.

Although the game engine makes it entirely feasible to make a real space exploration game with a fully explorable galactic game map and full starship features (warp speed, impulse speed, warp core, auxiliary power, battery, photon and quantum torpedoes, phasers, tractor beam, escape pods, shuttles, sensors, probes, etc), this is completely neglected.

There is no freedom to explore the galaxy, even though the game engine depicts fully navigable star systems with tremendous accuracy and depth. One cannot travel to Earth, Qu'nos, Cardassia or Romulus. In a game like Bridge Commander, these are easily included given the available 3D models. One cannot set warp speed, depriving gamers of the experience of pushing the warp engines beyond their limits like in the tv show or movies.

The Dominion from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are the noticeable absentee in Bridge Commander. The Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and even the Ferengi are in the game, but not the Dominion. The Dominion were one of the best Star Trek villains, to not include them in the game limited its scope and depth. With the poor reception of the game Dominion Wars, one would have thought that the Dominion would have been included in Bridge Commander, even if only found in the quick battle feature.

There is one thing I would have done with regard to the in-game graphics. The phasers are very thick and can get very bright when hitting their target. This can make it harder for some users to play the game for extended periods. In defense of the game programmers, many games over the last ten years have had this problem.

The Bottom Line
Bridge Commander is a worthwhile game. It has many features and the gameplay is superb. Battles are very well done and come right out of the tv shows and movies. This game undoubtedly gives you that "you are there" feeling. There is not much in the way of strategy in this game like you would find in Starfleet Command, but you will get a very authentic Star Trek gaming experience. The battles are just amazing to play and see. This game is highly recommended to all gamers.

Windows · by bb bb (25) · 2012

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Trivia

If you click on Brex several times in a row, he will say some amusing things.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Erik Novales, Independent, Plok.

Game added March 8, 2002. Last modified October 11, 2023.