Game Review: Star Trek Bridge Crew

Even as a Star Wars fan with only a basic working knowledge of this universe, Star Trek Bridge Crew has won my heart. It’s warped my perceptions of what’s possible in virtual reality gaming — and by a factor of five, no less. As far as VR gaming experiences go, it’s every bit a new frontier.

Via the magic of PSVR (or Oculus Rift / HTC Vive) you’re plopped into the captain’s chair of a spin-off vessel in the J.J. Abrams timeline. If you’re lucky, ahead of you are three human shipmates, online and VR’d up in their own living rooms. Their virtual arms will furiously tap away on their control panels, they’ll turn in their chairs to address you, and their mouths puppet away whenever an order (or cheeseball Star Trek quote) is spoken into a mic. I’m telling you: you’re all *there*.

Together you’ll need to become very specialised cogs in a larger machine. Somebody has to call the shots and nail amorous green aliens (Captain). Another of your crew has to freak out whenever the engines cannae do it (Engineering), and possibly because somebody else has stolen all the power to phase/torpedo everything in sight (Tactical).

Lastly, you’ll need somebody to drive this thing, forget where reverse is, and make warp jumps… so (Helm). In 20 mins a tutorial can teach you how to function in these roles well enough, but to master them takes time.

The deep end arrives quickly in the campaign mode, whose 5 missions are roughly 45 mins each. The stealth and intrusion systems of the U.S.S. Aegis are almost always the best tactic to use, though all-out space battles are frequent and thrilling to be a part of.

It’s possible to play this solo, by barking orders to AI via a series of pop up menus, or you can inexplicably shift your consciousness over to any station to handle things yourself. That works OK, but trying to be an octopus captain in the final missions is extremely difficult. Go in with mates or take advantage of the cross-platform multiplayer lobbies.

The campaign comes and goes quickly if you have 4 people and a head for tactics. Once that’s sorted you can effectively play forever on the randomising voyages of Ongoing Missions mode.

There are a bunch of procedurally-generated mission variants thrown at you, and you can even attempt them in ye olde U.S.S. Enterprise. It’s equal parts fan-service squeals meets the grim realities of 1970s sci-fi guesstimate design.

Still, awful bridge ergonomics and scratch-your-head control panels add extra challenge and longevity of Star Trek Bridge Crew. Even if you’ve only a passing interest in trekking, this still represents the system-seller VR has needed since Batman Arkham VR. Lock on to this, Number 2. Beam it aboard at your earliest possible convenience.

Score: 9/10

Posted in Blog, Games