Just Don’t Wear a Red Shirt
Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew is now available for purchase on major VR platforms such as the Oculus Rift, PlayStationVR, and HTC Vive. The VR game simulates the highs and lows of being the bridge crew of a Star Trek spaceship. Each crew member, which can be either played by a person or CPU, will be tasked with running their own specialized station whether it be manning the shields or firing off weapons. Yes, even Kirk’s iconic captain seat is up for grabs here as a position to play too.
It’s important to note that Star Trek: Bridge Crew does not actually require local co-op, as you can play the game with others online too. If you’d like to go solo, there are NPCs who will join the journey. However, I haven’t tried the game and I feel the game works best as a multiplayer game. After all, the NPCs can’t replicate the chemistry of working together with your friends or others.
As for game modes, there is a traditional Campaign mode with story missions to complete with varied missions that sometimes favors stealth over combat. There is also an Ongoing Voyages mode featuring randomized missions for solo and co-op adventures too. In this mode, you get to board the iconic U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701.
While the avatars for bridge crew members look rather simple, the ship interiors look faithfully recreated. That said, the setup for the game belies an issue with current VR tech in that it is still a hassle to put together, let alone a VR multiplayer game.
Ultimately, I hope the game will do well as it is a prime example of a VR-only sort of game which can only help VR’s legitimacy as a gaming platform.