Star Trek: Bridge Crew - The Next Generation

We were in for a pleasant surprise when we finally got our hands on an update for one of the most interesting VR games released so far. Star Trek: Bridge Crew had a lot of potential and delivered several enjoyable co-op sessions back when it first landed. Now the game has gotten the much-requested The Next Generation update. TNG is considered by many to be the best series in the Star Trek franchise (especially among those of a certain age), and even if you prefer DS9 or Voyager or any of the others, it's still how many of our personal journeys with Star Trek started many years ago.

With a new ship comes new features. Compared to the previous ship, the USS Aegis, the tactical and navigation roles have stayed the same, but taking care of engineering has been replaced by a holistic operating system that controls functions across the ship. Now an officer can micromanage the ship's crew, sending them to their appropriate places and keeping the ship functional. This job is quite demanding in the face of danger, and doing it well requires fast thinking and logical decision-making. For this reason, the best choice is to opt for the team's newest addition, the android.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701D is the flagship of the Federation fleet. It's able to travel even deeper into uncharted space than ever before, and its battle capabilities are clearly better than they were on the Aegis. And then, when we sit in captain's chair for the first time, we realise that it looks just like we've always dreamed it would whenever we imagined sitting in that iconic chair.

Captain's log, stardate 2906.2018 Despite our new ship and a new crew member, the task at hand hasn't changed. We shall continue our journey through dynamically changing scenarios. At times we'll tackle specific missions as required, whether they be rescue attempts, exploring the secrets of space, or defending ourselves and our allies against the attacks of our enemies. Romulans especially have been active in several sectors of late, and their stealth ships haven't made it easy for us to put an end to their schemes. The enemy has gotten improvements, and aside from simply trying to destroy us, they might now try to render some of our ship's systems inactive. These handicaps make battles more intense and varied. However, there is also a new threat on the horizon. The Borg don't seem to have a capacity for diplomacy: they only want to integrate us into their own society. Apparently, resistance is futile.

Our time on the Enterprise has made us wonder more about our surroundings. The ship's bridge looks great and there are plenty of details to admire. However, whenever we gaze into the stars and planets, the image is much less impressive. It looks like something from an old PC game, and we remember having this same problem on board the USS Aegis. On top of that, our in-game hands also felt a little unreliable at times, which can be a pretty major problem when facing off against the Borg. Luckily the crew understands the regular voice commands pretty well, so our ship doesn't stay still in the middle of an intense action sequence.

So, navigating the Enterprise isn't all smooth sailing. Moreso because for some mysterious reason, our command panel disappears after each individual command. This makes it hard to execute manoeuvres that require multiple commands in a chain. That can be frustrating because sometimes the available window of opportunity might be only a few seconds long. Aside from small technical problems like that we've also started to doubt the competence of the crew. Our navigation officer wants always to fly straight to the target. And we do mean "straight", even if it means flying through asteroids and other dangerous objects. Communication with other vessels and characters is also unusual, and our comms officer lets everything through immediately despite what our actual orders might be.

Captain's log, update. Luckily we can change the crew and replace them with our friends. When our real-world friends teleport into the game the giving and receiving of orders is considerably easier. Regardless of the makeup of the crew, however, our journey towards the unknown is interesting and we're already waiting for our next assignment.

We admit to being excited about what we experienced onboard the Enterprise. Some of the base game's technical problems are still present in this DLC, but the new content is more than enough to keep us engaged. If you were already a fan of Bridge Crew then you will definitely like this DLC as well. If you weren't already onboard, then you will not probably won't change your mind based on this expansion.