DEEP SPACE

Some great

CROSSFIELD CLASS – THATGUYBRIAN

This adds Discovery’s Crossfield class starship to the game. If you’ve ever wondered if the Discovery could take the Enterprise in a battle, this is your chance to pit them against each other.

because battles can go on for a long time in Bridge Commander. Sitting back, saying “make it so”, and letting someone else do the work feels a lot more captain-like anyway.

There are some non-combat mission objectives, including delivering VIPs, rescuing people, beaming people aboard your ship, and picking up cargo. But this all happens off-screen, with your crew merely telling you about it rather than you witnessing it first-hand. It would have been nice to leave the bridge and visit other locations. Maybe stopping at Ten Forward for a drink, or checking up on someone in sickbay. But in this game, the life of a captain takes place entirely on the bridge. Even just taking a few conversations in your ready room would have added visual variety.

At any time you can hit the spacebar and switch to a third-person view, which gives you a clearer view of your surroundings. There are some dramatic visuals here, including colourful alien suns and asteroid fields, but technically it’s pretty ropey, with distractingly low-res textures. You can fly the ship manually in third-person, but it’s much more Trek-like to switch back to the bridge and order your

from the other Star Trek series.

There’s some nice stuff in Bridge Commander for Star Trek fans, including guests occasionally joining your crew. In your first stint as captain you’re joined by none other than JeanLuc Picard, who sits beside you and explains some of the game’s systems. Getting Patrick Stewart to reprise his role as Picard, and then using him as essentially an interactive tutorial, is a wasted opportunity. But it’s still cool to hang out with him regardless, and just hearing his voice lends the game extra authenticity.

You’re also joined by Data, voiced by Brent Spiner, when you swap the USS Dauntless for the USS Sovereign partway through the story. Like Deep Space Nine’s USS Defiant, the Sovereign was developed after the Battle of Wolf 359 to defend against the Borg. It’s a more advanced ship and nimbler in battle, but I must admit, I prefer the bridge of the Galaxy class Dauntless, which looks just like the one in TNG – albeit with some different colouring.

KESSOK RUN

While aboard your ship, Data determines that the exploding star was

Data determines that the exploding star was not a natural event

not a natural event. This revelation leads to clashes with the Cardassians and a race of aliens invented for the game called the Kessok. Occasionally enemies will hail you, either to surrender or to gloat, which adds to the Star Trek vibe. But I would have liked the option to engage in a little diplomacy, perhaps choosing from dialogue options to try and talk aggressors down or offer to work together. If they ever make another Bridge Commander, this would add some much needed non-combat variety.

If you’re feeling the urge to replay Star Trek: Bridge Commander, you’ll be glad to hear that it runs out of the box on Windows 10 without any messing around – although you will want to install the official 1.1 patch first. Finding a copy, however, might be a little trickier. It’s been out of print for years, and no digital storefronts currently offer it. This is the case for a lot of Star Trek games, but thankfully there are several websites that archive these hard-to-find gems. There’s always a way. But I’d love Activision to do a proper re-release or remaster. With Discovery and Picard getting people into Star Trek again, there’s never been a more perfect time.

It’s hardly a looker – even by 2002 standards – but gaze beyond the low-poly characters and strangely flat-looking viewscreen conversations and developer Totally Games did a very decent job of capturing the ambience of a Star Trek ship. And if you can’t stomach the lo-fi visuals, you could always give Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew a go. It offers a similar experience, with modern production values, a TNG-themed bridge and VR support. But it’s not as deep as Bridge Commander, designed with accessibility and co-op play in mind, so it’s not quite the same. Not many vintage Star Trek games are worth playing today, but sitting in the captain’s chair in Bridge Commander still has the power to thrill

ANDY KELLY