I can't wait for this game to come out…..

I'm hoping for a crossover of the excellent decisions making skills from the bridge of the Enterprise, as shown in the TNG game, A Final Unity, and ship combat as shown in Klingon Academy & Dominion Wars.

I don't think that anybody could disagree with the beautiful screen shots….

I'm eagerly anticipating the "voice command" part in particular. For the first time ever (ignoring "Klingon"), you can yell "Red Alert" at the top of your voice, and your ship will go to "Red Alert". (Any family members will be wondering just who the hell you're talking to!). This game function sounds fantastic.

Like I said - I can't wait - Due date, March 2002!

Totally Games, makers of Star Wars's X-Wing series of games has defected to the Federation to bring us the finest Star Trek game ever!

Thake the 3D Captain's chair and lead your crew through more than 30 missions of not only combat, but exploration and diplomacy. Strategic rather than fast-paced, Bridge Commander aims to capture the feeling of capital ship combat that up till now, only Jean-Luc has tasted.

If Bridge Commander doesn't turn out to be the best Star Trek game ever, (not that that’s going to be difficult), then we'll eat our Federation uniforms - not that we have any you understand.

Although it will never quite clearly never happen, if there were was to be a Star Trek vs Star Wars space combat game, with TIE fighters shooting down Federation shuttlecraft and the Millennium Falcon outrunning the Enterprise in the race to Alderaan, Totally Games would be the developer behind it.

Like a glorious trail of gaming waypoints cutting through the mediocrity, Totally Games has left in its wake some of the most stunning space combat games ever created. Although the success of the X-Wing series may have had as much to do with the universe in which it was based as the games themselves, it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that it was X-Wing and its 3 sequels that helped keep Star Wars alive throughout the 20-year drought of films. However, their next space game, Totally Games have switched sides.

Ditching the fast-paced combat of Star Wars, Totally Games has moved over to the ponderous diplomatic angle of Star Trek, where the black-and-white boundaries of morality are less defined and the uniforms more starched. The legacy. however, is no less daunting. Star Trek games, apart from a couple of ageing point and-click adventures, are in need of a warp-speed game. Star Trek needs an Y-Wing of its very own, and Totally Games is perhaps the only developer who has any chance of delivering it.

However, Bridge Commander will be about as far removed from Y-Wing as Star Trek is to Star Wars. As we have seen in such calamities as Starfleet Academy and, to a lesser extent, Klingon Academy (reviewed last issue), doing the Star Wars thing in the Star Trek universe is just plain wrong. Playing to the strengths of the Next Generation series, Bridge on exploration and diplomacy as it will combat. As Federation doctrine dictates, if combat can be avoided, it should be. There are consequences to your actions and if, for instance, a heat of battle you can watch from a view' outside the ship. when a civilian freighter comes under attack, you may find you'll have to ask questions first and shoot later, perhaps transporting the beleaguered crew under cover of diplomacy.

From a 3D view on the bridge of the USS Sovereign, your success as captain will rely as much on your actions as it will the crew. Around you each crew member will work together, manning security, engineering, medical, science, navigation and helm, and you can personally take over each or these sections. As systems fail and consoles blow, engineering teams will hastily make repairs around you and in the heat of battle you can watch from a view outside the ship.

The story, which will bring in the vocal talents of Captain Picard and Commander Data, revolves around a typical galaxy-threatening scenario, this time close to Cardassian space. Colonists need rescuing, borders are threatened and during the course. of 3O or so missions,we're told a new alien race will make itself known.

Although pretty much sticking to the script in terms of design, what is so promising about Bridge Commander is that Totally Games is prepared to make space combat, as a genre, fit into the Star Trek universe rather titan the other way around. If it works, we could be looking at a first for Star Trek gamers - a good space combat game. It's about time.

Bridge Commander Engine Details

Totally Games licenses the NetImmerse 3.0 engine for the upcoming Activision Star Trek space sim.

Today it was announced that Totally Games will license the NetImmerse 3.0 engine from Numerical Design Ltd. for use in its upcoming Star Trek space simulator, Bridge Commander. Totally Games is famous for its Star Wars space simulators, as the company created fan favorites such as X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

The founder of Totally Games, Larry Holland, said on the Totally Games web site that the company considered several options for the engine for Bridge Commander and future games, including updating the X-Wing Alliance engine, licensing an engine from a proven game developer, such as the Unreal or Quake III engine, or building its own engine from the ground up. In the end, Totally Games decided to license Numerical Design's engine.

Larry Holland went on to say, "When beginning Bridge Commander, we had the choice of designing our own 3D renderer from the ground up, updating our older technology, or buying software off the shelf. In the end, we chose NDL's NetImmerse for several reasons - including its cross-platform capabilities, advanced technology, and open architecture that we easily could build on."

The NetImmerse 3.0 engine has apparently also been licensed for future games beyond Bridge Commander, including PlayStation 2 titles. The engine supposedly has support for curved surfaces, character skinning, a continuous level of detail, and multiple resolution terrain, among other features.

Bridge Commander has been in development for only a few months now, and is slated for a mid to late 2001 release

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