Captain's Chair

I don't actually own this game, but I would like to buy a copy (e-mail me at iainbaillie@hotmail.com for details).

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: November 24, 1997

As any member of Starfleet will tell you, it is difficult to rise to the position of sitting in the Captain's Chair. If you prefer to live in the "real world," most humans will tell you that it is nigh impossible. On occasion, certain "special" people are given the opportunity to park their derriere in the "Big Chair" (although Paramount might not want to admit that, I have heard stories...), but for the most part, that chair is reserved for only a handful of people. If you are the type of person that has always wanted to see how a starship bridge looks from the center seat, then Simon & Schuster's Star Trek: Captain's Chair is for you.

Billed as the opportunity for every Trekker to live out their fantasy of taking the helm of Starfleet's most revered starships, Captain's Chair features virtual recreations of the bridges of the five vessels every Trekker has come to know and to love. Included are virtual models of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 from the original series, The Next Generation's U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-D, First Contact's U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-E, Deep Space Nine's U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205, and Voyager's U.S.S. Voyager 74656. The bridge of each ship is accurately detailed, looking exactly as it does in the television show or movie in which it was featured. Utilizing Apple QuickTime VR technology, the user of Captain's Chair can use his mouse to maneuver himself to see any view of the bridge he wishes, which is as close as many of us will ever get to actually "being there."

In Star Trek theory, there are many functional components built into the bridge of a starship. Although the sets of Star Trek on the Paramount Studios lot contain many bright, flashing lights and spiffy-looking panels and displays, there is very little that actually "works." Not so in Captain's Chair, as many of the functions represented by different buttons on the various bridges are actually associated with some sort of action that will be activated when those controls are activated. On some ships, if you find the right control panel, you can put the ship into warp drive. On others, you may be able to set a red alert condition by using a certain button. On others, you might be able to fire photon torpedoes or phasers, once the right controls are located. There are also a number of other surprises, all of which must be discovered and activated by the player using the various control panels located about the five ship interiors.

In order to achieve a guaranteed draw of Trekkers to a software title, the use of stars from the various television series is almost a must. In this department, Captain's Chair is not lacking. A different star is featured as the tour guide for each bridge. By pressing a button on the vertical menu bar which can be displayed on the left side of the screen, the character played by the actor representing that ship will guide the user on a tour of that ship's bridge.

 

For example, the tour of the original Enterprise is conducted by Hikaru Sulu, who provides the user not only with a description of each station on the bridge, but also a small amount of background on the character in the show that manned that post (while repeatedly reminding the user that he was promoted to be Captain of the Excelsior!). A particularly poignant moment occurs when he explains the feeling of silence that occurred when, after the battle with Khan, Spock's seat on the bridge was left empty. In contrast, Captain Benjamin Sisko's tour of the Defiant bridge concentrated exclusively on each station on that vessel, with only a passing reference made to Worf when discussing the replicator's Ractageeno recipe. Captain Janeway pilots the tour of Voyager, Commander Riker heads up the visit to the Enterprise-E, and Worf commands the tour of the Enterprise-D. Each tour lasts anywhere from three to five minutes. In addition, Majel Barrett Roddenberry provides the voice of all ships' computers at various points in the product.

While performing a tour of a ship, the television stars are present in voice only. However, each actor has also left a video message for the "enterprising" user to discover. Sharing some personal experience or insight related to the show in which their character appeared or appears, messages from Kate Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, George Takei and Avery Brooks are simply waiting to be found.

However, the user of Captain's Chair will undoubtedly want to explore the respective bridges for themselves, and there are a number of ways that this can be accomplished. First, the mouse can be used to navigate around the screen, as the cursor will become an arrow when a move can be made or a specific panel can be examined. As the user holds down the mouse button and moves the mouse in a particular direction, the bridge itself will rotate according to his commands. As previously mentioned, this is accomplished through the use of Apple QuickTime VR technology, which gives the impression of 360-degree, walk-through scenery. In addition, Tilt, Pan and Zoom keys appear at the base of the bridge display, which the user can click on to move step-by-step through the scene currently on display. If the user prefers, a map of the specific bridge currently under review can be brought up on the screen, and hotspots can be clicked upon which instantaneously transport the user to the bridge location specified on the map. In addition, a comprehensive index of individual panels and locations can be listed by pressing the Index menu item, in the event the user has something specific in mind he wishes to explore and does not want to physically maneuver to the place on the bridge where that item resides.

At this point, the user is on a Star Trek "easter egg" hunt of galactic proportions, as there are a number of surprises to be found. One can expect to spend a great deal of time trying to find them, as there are more than 1,500 hotspots scattered across the five bridges.

 

Graphics:2.5 Stars There are positives and negatives to the graphical quality of Captain's Chair. On the positive side, I have always appreciated the VR-feel of the Simon & Schuster titles that use Apple QuickTime technology, and this title is no exception to that principle. I really enjoyed the look and feel of all the bridges included in the product, as they all appear to be of photographic quality. The frames are seamless, and the game is very speed-responsive when using the mouse to navigate. There are no pauses as the game transitions from scene to scene, regardless of the navigation method used. On the negative side, I was very disappointed with the quality of some of the video messages delivered by the various actors. The presentation by Avery Brooks sticks out in my mind, because there were very noticeable, vertical lines of distortion that appeared throughout the video sequence. In addition, the fact that each of the actors spend only a few brief moments in on-screen videos was a great disappointment. The tours are interesting, but there are problems with some of those elements, as well. Certain scenes in the tour of the Defiant were dizzying, as everything rotated much too quickly on-screen. It seemed as though the rotation of the bridge scene was timed with the phrase being spoken at the time, and the rotation had to be completed concurrent with the end of the phrase. As a result, at least two different bridge scenes were nothing more than a swirling jumble of scenery. Perhaps my biggest complaint is with the lack of detail present when examining the Dedication Plaques. As most Trekkers know, there are a lot of "jokes" and other detail tied in with the creation of the various displays used on the shows, and I was looking forward to this product because I was hoping to be let in on some of the "inside" jokes and information on the different series. Unfortunately, when things like the Dedication Plaques are so fuzzy that the names engraved upon them can not be read, the product loses some of its appeal. Further, the original Enterprise panels suffered in the translation to a software product. Since the panels from Next Generation were designed on computer, there is a very accurate look to them. Not so for the 1701's, as the switches, buttons and displays are somewhat lacking in having a "realistic" look about them.

Interface:4 Stars The game installed flawlessly, and configuration is automatic. The display is very Trek-like, as are seemingly all products of this genre from Simon & Schuster. Controls and menu selections are easily accessible, and the vertical Menu Bar can be taken off the screen, if desired. This category suffers due to the fact that the video mode must be set in Windows 95 prior to booting up the game, which is a condition that I absolutely despise. In order to run full-screen, a 640x480 mode must be selected on the desktop before loading Captain's Chair. For anyone who configures their desktop at a higher mode than this (as I do), their normal desktop setup will be rearranged before even playing the game. I find this to be a very annoying situation, and one which will cause me to not keep this product resident on my hard drive once I have completed my review.

Gameplay:2.5 Stars I can unequivocally say that there is no one on this planet who wants to like a Star Trek game more than I do. I look forward to each one with great anticipation, hoping to discover some new facet of my enjoyment of the product than I had known previously. My anticipation for Captain's Chair was no exception, and it was perhaps heightened by my hope to be let in on some of the inside secrets of the sets, as I had previously mentioned. Unfortunately, I found this not to be the case with this product. On my system, I had to strain to read a great many of the displays, even those that had been created on computer for the most recent series. In addition, a number of the displays have hotspots which seemed to merely play a sound effect, and had no real purpose other than that. The original Enterprise bridge was perhaps most guilty of this, as the buttons on a number of displays served either to play a sound effect or to change the color of an associated display. There are some interesting things to discover, such as the variation of the board game Concentration using Starfleet equipment to be found on the original Enterprise bridge, or the Klingon Bird of Prey bridge to be found tucked inside that of the Enterprise-D's bridge. The biggest disappointment with the Klingon bridge is that it is not "explorable" as far as I could tell. There are no hot spots, no index of locations is available, and all the user can do is move around from place to place on the bridge and twirl in circles. I have not found one single "joke" or piece of "inside information" throughout any of the bridges, as I had expected to find. In other words, there was no real "payoff" of enjoyment once I had discovered something, because there is relatively little to do with it after it is found. So, purchasers of this game will have to be very patient, willing to explore through numerous buttons and displays until something merely semi-interesting is found.

Sound FX:4.5 Stars The multitude of sound effects contained in Captain's Chair is one element that gives the title a "realistic" feel. Not only is every clickable button connected to a specific effect, but in the background, the hum and reverberation of the engines of the craft are constantly present. The sounds of the original Enterprise are startling, as the auditory feel of the ship has been reproduced flawlessly. On occasion, some of the lines spoken by either the computer or one of the actors can have a scratchy quality to them, which is the main reason for the slight downgrade in this category.

Musical Score: N/A: Captain's Chair contains no musical accompaniment, so this category does not pertain to this review.

Intelligence & Difficulty:2 Stars Since this is a title of exploration, there are no AI settings or reactions. Success in Captain's Chair is dependent upon the user finding items and activating them. The Klingon bridge puzzle requires that two elements be combined to give the user access, but for the most part, anything else simply hinges upon clicking the correct button on a console. Therefore, there is very little difficulty in this title, as the primary quality a user needs to possess to play Captain's Chair is persistence. Given enough hours of play and an organized approach toward discovery, the user will eventually find everything that is to be found.

Overall:2.5 Stars As I have said before, I was really looking forward to the knowledge that I would be gaining from Captain's Chair. The concept behind this game carried so much potential in my eyes, I guess I was expecting much more than what was actually incorporated in the title. As far as I am concerned, if a title like this is to be created, I would prefer that the things a viewer will not normally see on the actual television show be incorporated. This was not done, and further, the things that are there to see are implemented in such a graphically-poor way that they often can not be fully enjoyed. Any game that is simply pushing buttons with little payoff is one that is difficult to recommend, even if the reviewer enjoys the subject matter before the game is loaded to his hard drive. Such is the case with Captain's Chair, I am sorry to say.  

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