star trek bridge commander coop

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About This Game

System requirements.

• Processor: Intel Core i5-4590
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, AMD Radeon RX 570
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 8 GB available space
• VR Support: SteamVR
• Additional Notes: Resolution: 2160 x 1200 @90Hz; Video Preset: Msaa 2x, all video options ON; VSync:Off Originally released for Windows 7, the game can be played on Windows 10 and Windows 11 OS
• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500X
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 1060 6GB, AMD Radeon R9 290X / RX 480

TM & © 2016 CBS Studios Inc. © 2016 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Game software © 2016 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries.

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Let's revisit the greatest Star Trek game ever

Few games capture the thrill of taking the captain's chair, but Bridge Commander nails it.

If you’ve ever been a Star Trek fan, you’ve probably imagined what it would be like to sit in the captain’s chair of a Federation starship. Over the years there have been dozens of Star Trek videogames on PC, from point-and-click adventures to first-person shooters. But Star Trek: Bridge Commander is the closest a digital recreation of the show has ever gotten to deeply simulating the experience of being in command of a Starfleet vessel. 

The game starts with a bang, literally, as a star mysteriously destabilises and explodes, killing the captain of the USS Dauntless. The ship’s relatively inexperienced first officer (that’s you) is then forced to take over command and find out what caused the explosion. Your character is a completely blank slate who never speaks and is never seen, or even named, with first officer Saffi Larsen doing most of the talking for you. 

This is initially a little distracting, as charismatic captains who make their opinions known are an important part of the classic Star Trek format. But it does ultimately add to the role-playing aspect of the game, making you feel like you are the captain, and not just in control of someone else. At the start of each mission you’ll get the usual Star Trek-style logs, explaining the current mission objectives. But because of your total lack of a voice, these are read out by other members of the crew instead.

On the bridge, the game is locked to a first-person perspective, and you never leave the captain’s chair. To issue orders you have to turn your head with the mouse and face the appropriate member of the bridge crew, then choose from a list of commands. So if a Romulan Warbird suddenly de-cloaks, you turn to Larsen on your right and ask her to go to red alert, which powers up your weapons and shields. It also dims the lights on the bridge, just like in the show, which is a nice touch.

You can also go to yellow alert, which boosts your shields but leaves your weapons inactive: a good way to show an enemy that your guard is up, but you don’t want a fight. But in most cases you’ll be forced to defend yourself, because Bridge Commander is very heavy on combat, which is actually my biggest criticism of it. I love Star Trek, particularly The Next Generation, because conflict is usually a last resort. If Captain Jean-Luc Picard can solve a problem without firing a phaser, he always will. But in the game, pretty much every mission results in a space battle. It’s primarily a combat sim.

In the middle of a battle, power management is key. Swing your head around to your left and you’ll see your Solian chief engineer, Brex. Through him you manage your ship’s power output via a series of sliders. If you want a wider scan of the area, boost power to the sensor array. If you’re having trouble punching through an enemy’s shields, boost your weapons. And if your own shields are taking a hammering, diverting extra power to them will increase your resilience to whoever is currently firing at you.

Characters in Star Trek are always diverting power to various systems to increase their effectiveness, so it’s marvellous to see that turned into a game system in Bridge Commander. But it’s all about the balancing act. Pull too much juice from the ship and your power transmission grid won’t be able to cope, reducing your overall effectiveness. This power- juggling mechanic is at the core of the game’s many battles, and yelling orders at Brex as the bridge shakes and sparks fly out of the consoles can be hugely exciting.

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Bridge Commander captures the drama of a Star Trek space battle brilliantly. The screen judders as you take damage, the red alert alarm wails, and your crew shout updates about the status of the ship and the enemy’s movements. You can order your tactical officer, Felix Savali, to target and attack at will or you can step in and take control, manually targeting and firing the ship’s arsenal of phasers and photon torpedoes. Honestly, most of the time you’ll rely on Savali to do the hard work, because battles can go on for a long time in Bridge Commander. Sitting back, saying "make it so", and letting someone else do the work feels a lot more captain-like anyway. 

There are some non-combat mission objectives, including delivering VIPs, rescuing people, beaming people aboard your ship, and picking up cargo. But this all happens off-screen, with your crew merely telling you about it rather than you witnessing it first-hand. It would have been nice to leave the bridge and visit other locations. Maybe stopping at Ten Forward for a drink, or checking up on someone in sickbay. But in this game, the life of a captain takes place entirely on the bridge. Even just taking a few conversations in your ready room would have added visual variety. 

At any time you can hit the spacebar and switch to a third-person view, which gives you a clearer view of your surroundings. There are some dramatic visuals here, including colourful alien suns and asteroid fields, but technically it’s pretty ropey, with distractingly low-res textures. You can fly the ship manually in third-person, but it’s much more Trek-like to switch back to the bridge and order your Bajoran flight controller, Kiska LoMar, to move the USS Dauntless between planets and other points of interest.

But after a few hours of play, you’ll almost certainly get sick of your crew repeating the same handful of barks over and over again during combat. "Moving into attack range! Lining up forward torpedo tubes! Sweeping through phaser arcs!" Sound design is one area Bridge Commander falls short, with a forgettable, repetitive soundtrack, and some missing details like the rumble of your ship’s engines. The weapons sound great and the voice acting is decent, but overall it’s a bit of a sonic mess.

However, you can remedy this. I muted the in-game music and played the score from Star Trek: The Next Generation instead, which you can find on Spotify. I also found a ten-hour loop of the ambient engine sounds from the show on YouTube , and played that quietly in the background. This is possibly the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done, but man, it really improves the game. And thanks to a vibrant modding community, there are countless other ways to tinker with the experience, whether you want to improve the visuals or command ships from the other Star Trek series.

There’s some nice stuff in Bridge Commander for Star Trek fans, including guests occasionally joining your crew. In your first stint as captain you’re joined by none other than Jean-Luc Picard, who sits beside you and explains some of the game’s systems. Getting Patrick Stewart to reprise his role as Picard, and then using him as essentially an interactive tutorial, is a wasted opportunity. But it’s still cool to hang out with him regardless, and just hearing his voice lends the game extra authenticity.

You’re also joined by Data, voiced by Brent Spiner, when you swap the USS Dauntless for the USS Sovereign partway through the story. Like Deep Space Nine’s USS Defiant, the Sovereign was developed after the Battle of Wolf 359 to defend against the Borg. It’s a more advanced ship and nimbler in battle, but I must admit, I prefer the bridge of the Galaxy class Dauntless, which looks just like the one in TNG—albeit with some different colouring.

While aboard your ship, Data determines that the exploding star was not a natural event. This revelation leads to clashes with the Cardassians and a race of aliens invented for the game called the Kessok. Occasionally enemies will hail you, either to surrender or to gloat, which adds to the Star Trek vibe. But I would have liked the option to engage in a little diplomacy, perhaps choosing from dialogue options to try and talk aggressors down or offer to work together. If they ever make another Bridge Commander, this would add some much needed non-combat variety. 

If you’re feeling the urge to replay Star Trek: Bridge Commander, you’ll be glad to hear that it runs out of the box on Windows 10 without any messing around—although you will want to install the official 1.1 patch first. Finding a copy, however, might be a little trickier. It’s been out of print for years, and no digital storefronts currently offer it. This is the case for a lot of Star Trek games, but thankfully there are several websites that archive these hard-to-find gems. There’s always a way. But I’d love Activision to do a proper re-release or remaster. With Discovery and Picard getting people into Star Trek again, there’s never been a more perfect time. 

It’s hardly a looker—even by 2002 standards—but gaze beyond the low-poly characters and strangely flat-looking viewscreen conversations and developer Totally Games did a very decent job of capturing the ambience of a Star Trek ship. And if you can’t stomach the lo-fi visuals, you could always give Ubisoft ’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew a go. It offers a similar experience, with modern production values, a TNG-themed bridge and VR support. But it’s not as deep as Bridge Commander, designed with accessibility and co-op play in mind, so it’s not quite the same. Not many vintage Star Trek games are worth playing today, but sitting in the captain’s chair in Bridge Commander still has the power to thrill.

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Video Game / Star Trek: Bridge Commander

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Developed By Totally Games, who years prior gave us X-Wing and TIE Fighter from that other franchise , Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a space sim set in the Star Trek universe . The plot revolves around an inexperienced captain (read: YOU), trying to prevent an interstellar war, shortly after the end of another .

Bridge Commander was an ambitious attempt to replicate the feel of the various series, with generally positive results. It's the first game in the franchise to nail the feeling of flying around in one of the huge capital ships, and still has a very active fan community. Not bad at all for a barely advertised game from 2002.

• The Alliance : The Federation tries to form one with the Klingons and Romulans against House Arterius and the Kessok. The results are...not pretty.
• Alternate Continuity : Bridge Commander forms part of a strange sort of alternate universe, having links to the Armada games, Elite Force/II , and Star Trek: Starfleet Command III . All these games were published by Activision.
• All There in the Manual : Bridge Commander's tenuous link to SFC 3 is shown in the description of the Sovereign-class in SFC 3's instuction manual.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name : The Cardassians in the game behave like the ones from before the Dominion War.
• Apocalypse How : A class X-2 Example.
• Artifact of Doom : The Kessok Solarformers. Subverted as they weren't intended to be weapons but the Cardassians manipulated them with their crude technology and accidentally destroyed a star. Then they decided to turn them into weapons.
• Asshole Victim : Legate Matan is sucked into a sun along with all of his crew in the final battle. Couldn't have happened to a nicer Cardassian. While your officers are discussing if they can lock a tractor beam on his ship or beam him out, Kiska bluntly says to let him burn.
• Big Bad : Legate Matan is responsible for House Arterius' war against the Federation in the Maelstrom.
• Big Damn Heroes : You in several missions, the Enterprise about three times.
• Big Good : Admiral Liu serves as this for the game.
• Blood Knight : Captain Korbus, as befitting a Klingon warrior.
• Canon Immigrant : Several races, and many ships for the existing canon races.
• Captain's Log : All of the crew give a log entry or two at some point except for the Player Character.
• The Bridge : The entire game takes place on the bridge of your two starships.
• The Captain : Played with. Your Captain gets pasted before the credits even roll , but was by all accounts from his peers, a pretty damned cool guy . Also used in your interactions with fellow starfleet captains during the game.
• Continuity Nod : The game makes several references to the then-recent Dominion War and the alliance between the Alpha Quadrant races.
• Cool Ship : The Dauntless , and later the Sovereign , class progenitor and sister ship to the Enterprise-E . . Those provided by the game's still very active modding community are too legion to list. In other words, pick any Cool Ship from the television series or movies ( or other series , they're in there.)
• Crew of One : Subverted, while you can take control of systems manually, the ship is normally run by your AI crewmates, who will actually do a pretty good job keeping it in one piece. This mainly extends to maneuvering the starship and targeting/firing its weapons though, although you can also personally set power allocations and repair priorities.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom : The main plot of the game revolves around what caused a star to suddenly go nova in the game's intro, and after trying to prevent it from happening again.
• Explosive Instrumentation : Predictable in a Star Trek work, although of the non-lethal variant. Consoles spark up a lot throughout the course of the game but fortunately, no-one dies, not even the unnamed officers on the Sovereign's bridge.
• False Flag Operation : The Cardassians convinced the Kessok the Federation was planning to invade their territory and enslave them. The Kessok thus built the Cardassians a massive fleet to wage war against the Federation on their behalf.
• Kiska has an intense prejudice against the Cardassians. It gets to the point Commander Larsen has to tell her to knock it off. Everyone is prejudiced against the Romulans, except, potentially, you.
• This is reflected with all the other ships as well. Every single ship captain talks trash about humans, the other races, the Federation, or all three.
• Featureless Protagonist : The player character is never seen or heard. The only information about the character comes in the intro while your doomed Captain is dictating his log, and identifies the player character in an offhand remark as a male .
• Field Promotion : The Captain becomes, well, the Captain due to one of these.
• Game Mod : Dozens. A notable example is Kobayashi Maru, which combines many of them, dramatically altering the game and refining the gameplay such as being able to deploy and pilot shuttles, separate the Galaxy class and Prometheus class vessels and loads of ships added to the game, most of them containing their respective bridge to use as well and adding additional ships from factions not seen in Bridge Commander such as Borg, Dominion, Species 8472/Undine and even non-canon ships such as the Aegian Class Frigate . There's even custom scenarios to play and a limited scenario editor, one of the examples being the Unwinnable Training Simulation that the mod gets it's title from.
• Good Is Not Soft : The Federation, for once, is willing to break out this trope. When House Arterius attacks Biranu Station, they proceed to deploy the Sovereign and all of their available forces in the area to defeat the Cardassian/Kessok alliance.
• Guest-Star Party Member : Both Captain Picard and Commander Data show up to participate in your war against the Cardassian-Kessok alliance.
• He Knows About Timed Hits : Picard occasionally refers to the keyboard when tutoring the player on the game's interface.
• Heel–Face Turn : The Kessok turn on the Cardassians if you talk to Captain Neb-lus rather than attack him.
• Heroic Mime : The player character never speaks.
• Hitbox Dissonance : Found in poorly-made player mods. One Cardassian ship featured a hit box that was twice the size of the model. This made flying against it with collisions on frustrating.
• Hopeless Boss Fight : To a degree: You can NOT destroy Matan's ship. You can cripple it, but the hull won't break. Even your chief engineer is impressed. Incidentally, it is still possible to lose the game once you've done this. There are also a few situations in the game where you're encouraged to run, not fight (You know how The Kobayashi Maru was 1 on 3? Try 1 on 12!).
• Honor Before Reason : The Klingons, of course, have several moments one of them. Captain Korbus has one of the more heartwarming ones is a Klingon Captain betraying the High Council and risking discommendation to repay a debt to you.
• Justified Tutorial : The first episode of the game. You're more or less allowed free rein with little prompting, but are accompanied by Captain Picard , in case you need a little extra guidance.
• Little Hero, Big War : Played with. The Sovereign is a big part of the Federation's efforts during the war in the sector but there's a lot of battles going on off-camera. Likewise, the conflict never gets out of the Maelstrom.
• Manipulative Bastard : Legate Matan has managed to build himself a fleet to rival the Federation in the Maelstrom by playing on Kessok xenophobia.
• Mercy Rewarded : If you take the opportunity to talk to Neb-lus, it's ship will be one of the two to accompany you on the final run to the Kessok homeworld. And if it is present, the Kessok ships protecting the homeworld will stand by while you fight the Cardassians.
• Mildly Military : The Federation as usual. It's notable Commander Larsen is uncomfortable with the way the crew bicker and chat during their missions and implies she's used to a more disciplined ship.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg : Saffi pulls this on herself when she mentions the crew are True Companions all loyal to their Captain—except her.
• Obviously Evil : Kessok look like demons with horned skulls for heads. They're also a Dark Is Not Evil race misled by the Cardassians
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Admiral Liu gets so sick of the Cardassians after the destruction of the Dauntless that she orders the ship to find their home base and blow it all to hell. She feels this is un-Federation-like behavior.
• The Remnant : The Cardassians faced in this game are the remnants of the A Nazi by Any Other Name military government which fought with the Dominion and oppressed their population. Played with as its implied House Arterius is solely involved because of Legate Matan and are following him more out of personal loyalty than ideology.
• Renegade Splinter Faction : The Cardassians have one of these in House Arterius who serve as the central villains of the game. They launch their own private war against the Federation in the sector despite not having the support of their homeworld. They, instead, have the support of the Kessok.
• Rookie Red Ranger : You serve as this to the Dauntless and later Sovereign.
• Simulation Game : Spaceflight.
• Space Compression : Bridge Commander is an offender here. Distances across solar systems are measured in kilometers .

• The game is this to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Klingon Academy , which were both space combat-heavy games which also had an emphasis on controlling the functions of your ship, albeit to a lesser extent than in this game.
• Star Trek: Excalibur , a fan-made game in the works that utilizes the Nano Fx Graphics Engine, is intended as thus. It is also intended to be more easily moddable.
• Starfish Alien : Played with. The Kessok are Humanoid Aliens but are sexless and silicon-based.
• Star Killing : The destruction of a star at the beginning of the game is the central mystery of the story.
• Subsystem Damage : And how! Calling for a damage report when your ship's been reduced to the point where it's being held together with little more than good intentions will pound it home to you as Brex starts rattling off what's not working. May or may not cause an Oh, Crap! moment for the player. It can get worse, since you can only have three subsystems at a time on the repair queue and it's SO slow.
• Token Heroic Orc : Captain Neb-lus who doesn't believe the Cardassians are trustworthy.
• Too Awesome to Use : Unless you know where all the hidden reloads are, quantum torpedoes may be this. They pack much more wallop than regular photon torpedoes, but you have a much smaller magazine of them, and there are no infinite restocks at Starbase until late in the game (when you definitely need to be liberal with them because of difficulty spike.)
• We ARE Struggling Together : A large portion of the game deals with how all of the other powers are willing to shoot each other over the most trivial of reasons. The game would be about twenty-minutes long if everyone shared information and was willing to hold off on shooting one another. In proper Star Trek fashion, the best result comes from NOT being trigger happy yourself.
• We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill : You ... maybe. After several hostile run ins with the mysterious Kessok, you find one, with its shields down, in front of an object you're after, with no life signs aboard. Adrenaline pumping, your first instinct is to take advantage and blow the farker up (ok, YMMV)... However , you can also try hailing the vessel, which results in a peaceful dialog Gene Rodenberry would be proud of. Also, hailing the Kessok ship will cause it to join with you on the final mission, which in turn will cause the Kessok fleet around their homeworld to leave you alone.
• Worthy Opponent : Captain Terrik comes to view you as this well before the Romulans start to work with you officially.
• Variable Mix : The combat music shifts in intensity and mood based on your ships status, and what you (and your allies) are up against. Ranging from confident, neutral, and panic tracks.
• You Are in Command Now : The Dauntless has its captain killed within the opening minutes of the game, making you the receiver of this trope. Justified as you're its first officer. Made somewhat questionable when, despite being young for captain of the Dauntless , you're made commanding officer of the prototype super-ship the Sovereign soon after.
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Star Trek™: Bridge Crew

• PS Plus required for online play
• In-game purchases optional
• Supports up to 4 online players with PS Plus
• PS4 Version PS Camera required
• PS VR headset enabled
• DUALSHOCK 4 vibration

Star Trek™: Bridge Crew The Next Generation Bundle

Global player ratings

PlayStation®Camera is required for VR. Star Trek™: Bridge Crew will immerse you in the Star Trek universe. With a new free update, play in either VR or non-VR. Use a controller to take command of the bridge and seamlessly join matches with VR and non-VR players across platforms. Your mission: explore a largely uncharted sector of space known as The Trench, in hopes of locating a suitable new home world for the decimated Vulcan populace. Make strategic decisions and coordinate actions with your crew to complete the mission. In co-op, you can form a crew of four players to serve in the roles of Captain, Helm, Tactical, and Engineer. In addition to a dynamic storyline, the game features an Ongoing Missions mode that procedurally generates missions for countless hours of solo and co-op adventure. Permanent high-speed internet access and a valid Ubisoft account required to play the game at all times. In addition, on PS5™ consoles: PlayStation Camera adaptor for PS Camera is required (no purchase necessary) go to Playstation.com/camera-adaptor; for the best PlayStation®VR experience on PS5™ we recommend using a DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller.

Star Trek™: Bridge Commander

Game length provided by HowLongToBeat

TM, ®, & © 2002 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved. Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. © 2002 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Developed by Totally Games. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. © 2021 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Please Note: Star Trek™: Bridge Commander does not feature voice command options. Multiplayer is available only via TCP/IP LAN.

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Published Sep 17, 2019

10 Games That'll Make You Feel Like You've Enlisted in Starfleet

We've got your most fully immersive 'Star Trek' experiences right here.

StarTrek.com

Star Trek is a universe full of seemingly never-ending potential. While you can spend time poring through the neverending creative output the Trek fandom produces — or even writing some fanfiction yourself — another great outlet for feeling like a part of the Star Trek universe is through its games. And wow, are there a lot of games out there. Not all the games out there are quite as successful as you'd like them to be, however many capture the spirit of the show and movies wonderfully well. At their best, these games make you feel part of the Star Trek universe in some small part, while still being highly enjoyable titles in their own right. We've gathered ten of those games, covering all the different parts of Star Trek to cater for every taste.

Star Trek Online

The massively multiplayer online role playing genre is the perfect choice for a Star Trek game. What could be better than a persistent universe that you can inhabit and choose to explore strange new worlds all of your own? The launch of Star Trek Online was a little rocky with early reports of it being buggy and repetitive, but time and regular updates have been very kind to it. You can easily pass away dozens of hours exploring the universe, getting involved in new storylines, and mostly doing anything that feels right to you. There are plenty of great cameos from some of your favorite characters including those from the Original Series, The Next Generation , and Voyager !

Star Trek: Elite Force

Given the generally peaceful nature of Starfleet, the first person shooter nature of Star Trek: Elite Force might seem oddly jarring at first, but it makes sense in the long run. Made by Raven Software, best known for its violent Soldier of Fortune series, Star Trek: Elite Force still managed to feel suitably Star Trek -esque thanks to its focus on fending off the Borg. You play as Ensign Alex Munro, a member of the Hazard Team — a specialist elite security force that's been tasked with dealing with dangerous away missions. The U.S.S. Voyager has been trapped in a starship graveyard so it's down to you to free it and protect it from hostile factions including the Borg and the Klingons. While it lacks the peacekeeping nature of many Star Trek tales, Elite Force does a great job of making you feel part of an away team, highlighting a different part of Starfleet life. A sequel, Star Trek: Elite Force II , was almost just as good too.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Star Trek: Bridge Crew doesn't have the greatest of depth to its gameplay, but who can resist being part of a crew via virtual reality? Played through four roles including the captain, tactical officer, engineer, and helm officer, each character template has a part to play. The captain is the one responsible for communicating mission objectives, while the helm officer controls the ship's course, the tactical officer deals with sensors and weaponry, and the engineer keeps a close eye on power distribution and repairs. It's a neat form of teamwork for those wearing the VR sets and one that's immediately appealing to those who have wanted to helm their own starship. After a time, you'll realise that the experience is a little bit samey and repetitive, but with the right group of friends, it's tough to resist all the same.

Star Trek The Next Generation: A Final Unity

Capturing the spirit and general feel of The Next Generation near perfectly, A Final Unity is easily one of the best Star Trek games out there, even 25 years after its initial release. Players control Captain Picard and the rest of the TGN crew in a mixture of point and click adventure, puzzle solving, and away team missions. There's room too for ship based combat as well as thinking how best to deal with issues diplomatically. Such a mixture of different elements is much of why A Final Unity feels like a 'true' Star Trek game. You can search various star systems, get to know the locals, while also choosing how best to deal with complicated situations. You're sure to enjoy feeling a true part of the Star Trek universe, even if the story is rather linear by modern standards.

Star Trek: Starfleet Command III

Much of Star Trek involves diplomacy and keen use of strategy. While Star Trek: Starfleet Command III skips the diplomacy, it has strategy to a tee. Placing you in the captain's chair, the game was intended to tie into Star Trek: Nemesis . That captain's chair isn't necessarily Starfleet based either, with the opportunity to be part of the Klingon Empire, as well as the Romulan Empire, and the Federation. It's a varied bunch of storylines which shows different perspectives admirably well. Combat can be a little hardcore as you figure out the best tactics to utilize, but there are good tutorials for guiding you through the paces. Customizing your ship as well as knowing what weapons to use and when is key here, in this combat focused strategy game.

Star Trek: Bridge Commander

Star Trek: Bridge Commander offers some cameos from beloved characters like Captain Picard and Commander Data but, for the most part, it's an individual story within the Star Trek universe. It revolves around a newly promoted captain who's been assigned to investigate an explosion of a star. You take command of the U.S.S. Dauntless as well as the U.S.S. Sovereign . The game is focused on ship based combat, much like Starfleet Command III, but it's a bit more accessible making it ideal for everyone who simply wants to feel in control of a Federation ship. You can interact with members of the bridge crew before opting to take the lead via the combat simulation screen. It's an older game but one that's aged well, providing some great combat sequences that make you feel truly part of something bigger than yourself.

Star Trek: Trexels II

A lot of Star Trek games are reasonably serious. Star Trek: Trexels II isn't one of those games. Instead, it's gloriously casual friendly in nature. You take command of a federation ship before embarking on some fairly lightweight missions as you collect up all your favorite characters and build upon your ship's success. Predictably, Star Trek: Trexels II is a mobile game that's free to play with options to buy extra content. It's the ideal game to dip into during a break from work as you can complete a mission in the space of a few minutes. It uses characters from all of the Star Trek universe and it's delightfully charming at times, even if it is very simple. If you're not a huge gamer but you're keen to try, this is the game for you.

Star Trek Legacy

Another strategy game but one that was available for consoles as well as PCs, Star Trek Legacy offered you the chance to control various different Federation starships across different eras in Star Trek history. How could you resist such variety? Those eras include the Enterprise era, Original Series , and Next Generation , with elements of Deep Space Nin e and Voyager . Admittedly, the game didn't review hugely well due to some issues with its control system, but we reckon it's still well worth any Star Trek fan's time. Being able to control such iconic ships as well as take part in reworked Starfleet history is gripping stuff, and it's enjoyable working through the storylines that unfold. Extensive voice work from all your favorite captains enriches the experience further.

Star Trek: Judgment Rites

The oldest game here, Star Trek: Judgment Rites features the Original Series cast in a series of episodic adventures. You control Captain Kirk as you talk it out with Spock, McCoy and the rest of the crew, before embarking on away team missions that can spark some combat sequences along the way. Part adventure, part action, it's a great way of feeling part of The Original Series and far too few games embrace the original days of Star Trek in such a way. The full principal cast is included here and it also features the last time that DeForest Kelley plays McCoy. Best of all, each episodic story is suitably entertaining and captures the spirit of The Original Series well. It may be tricky to track down nowadays but it's a worthwhile endeavor.

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation

A tough but rewarding strategy game, Star Trek: Birth of the Federation is a 4X turn-based strategy game - typically regarded as a more complex route than other games of this ilk. That means you're going to have to put some effort into learning it but if you're a fan of The Next Generation, it's worth it. The game was intended to tie-in with Star Trek: Insurrection with you taking control of one of five civilizations - Federation, Ferengi, Klingons, Romulans, or Cardassians. There's room too for thirty other races from Star Trek, each playing a more minor role along the way. There's a lot to take in as you establish diplomatic ties with other races, as well as work out how to extend your reach and what to do with new star systems, so Star Trek: Birth of the Federation can be very complex. However, stick with its steep learning curve and it's fantastic for making you feel truly part of the Star Trek atmosphere. Its attitude is perfectly in key with the diplomacy of The Next Generation.

Jennifer Allen (she/her) is a freelance journalist who has written for Playboy, Mashable, and Eurogamer amongst others. She lives in South Wales with her three guinea pigs and cat. Find her on Twitter @jenjeahaly

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