Saves are done automatically only at the ends of missions, which doesn't come off too bad because if the option were provided for, the game would be a real breeze (I can dig this setup because I'm not the type of person that needs to quick save every thirty seconds to beat a game). You can bypass actual dialog, but this will not always breeze you through the video component.īridge Commander revolves around a very directed structure. Thankfully so, because an initial gripe I developed with the game is the inability to skip through what can become repetitious and dragging non-interactive sequences (if you reinstall the game you'll have to sit through it all again). I'd have liked a little more comprehensiveness and emphasis on the more advanced tactics and such, but not delving too far into this realm keeps it short. It's a little light on substance, but the tutorial does well at allowing you to meet, greet, and use every station at your disposal. Mission structure and the underlying premise are believable from a Star Trek perspective (no alien blob planning on infecting the universe or everybody attacking everybody nonsense).ĭoubling as a tutorial, the first mission not only serves as the player's introduction to the ship, but also to Picard himself, who comes aboard solely to ostentatiously direct you through basic operations, I guess he might also need a ride. There are still a whole lot of damn dirty Cardassians though. The same characters are encountered again and again, subsequently giving the impression that it's not fleets of Klingon and Romulan warbirds that you're contending with, but rather a few solitary flights and independent vessels. Unlike Armada's unprecedented melding of every single major plotline Star Trek has ever introduced, flying around the maelstrom feels right. A lot of war-crazed Klingons are also flying about here and there. No dummy, you're from the treacherous, deceptive race, not us. Their attitude is rather annoying - one of those deals where they constantly accuse you of being the bad one. Overly suspicious Romulans also show up from time-to-time. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but avid fans may find it somewhat hard to believe that Cardassia could have recouped and developed such a sizable fleet so quickly after being all but obliterated by the Jem'Hadar (it seems like you constantly destroy dozens and dozens of their craft). Them damn filthy Cardassians are everywhere. Plenty of Star Trek favorites make showings. As the nameless, faceless first officer, it's your job to seize command (because "take" is too sissy of a word), thus beginning your trek to investigate the exploding star phenomena, deal with some Cardassians, engage some Romulans, and make nice-nice with polite Klingonese. A routine shuttle trip turns disastrous when a star goes supernova thus devastating an entire system and turning el capitan into a shuttlecraft smore, where he'd be the marshmallow goodness. Mix in some always devious and untrusting Romulans, fight hungry Klingons, a mysterious, xenophobic race, and noble Federation types, cram the whole lot of them into an area of space known as the Maelstrom, and you've got Bridge Commander.Īs the game starts your Captain's life ends. The Cardassian people, now proud owner's of the quadrant's biggest crap hole of a massacred planet, are desperately trying to rebuild their forces. Lawrence Holland and his Totally Games have talent, Star Trek is still cool, and Bridge Commander is a fine, fine piece of space-faring starship simulation whether taken from the standpoint of a fan or gamer.īC's script, and I appropriately call it that because it plays out, line after line, very linearly, begins not too far after the conclusion of the Dominion Wars of Deep Space Nine. It's from this formal and prestigious background (I play with joysticks and make peanuts) that I'm able to justifiably conclude a few things you've all probably already figured out on your own. But more than this, I'm still the IGNPC editing, Dragonrider's playing, PC game knowing Nuts who calls 'em fair. So I know my Trekking stuff, be sure of that. For intrepid reviewers such as myself, it's a de facto requirement that you put gaming above all other forms of media entertainment, including TV, radio, and cock fighting. But more than I like watching Star Trek, I like playing games. Marina Sirtis' birthdate and shoe size still elude me, but the fact that I even know whom Marina Sirtis is should be proof enough for true Trekkies that I've at least seen every episode and movie there is to see. I'm not a complete dork (complete being the operative word).
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