Year: 2002
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Danny Pelfrey
Number of tracks: 20

★★★★★

Bridge day on the Enterprise-D

Bridge Commander was to Trekkies what Farming Simulator is to agricultural fans and tractor nerds. In no other Star Trek game that I know of did you ever have the feeling of sitting in the captain's chair of the famous space bolides. Because you literally could! We really did take a seat where Jean-Luc Picard parked his French butt in The Next Generation. From there, we had discussions with the helmsman and tactical officer, ordered the science officer to perform scans or were told by the engineer that he wasn't a miracle worker.

The story is quickly outlined: The acting captain dies during an away mission and we take over as first officer. In the course of the story, we get to know our Galaxy-class ship, the Dauntless, and its crew, and later the class naming Sovereign. We are gradually taught how to command our crew, how energy distribution and maneuvering in space work and meet familiar faces such as the Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians. As already mentioned, we can delegate the actual control to our officers or, in the best Starfleet Command / Legacy-style, do it ourselves from the exterior perspective.

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation (1999)

Star Trek: New Worlds (2000)

Star Trek: Armada (2000)

Star Trek: Armada II (2001)

Star Trek: Bridge Commander (2002)

Star Trek: Legacy (2006)

Where Bridge Commander goes one step further than its action-oriented counterparts is in the gameplay. Instead of bluntly torpedoing the shield and life bars of our opponents towards the blackness of space, we can specifically target systems such as life support, impulse drive or phaser banks. If these are damaged to a certain extent, they fail and have to be repaired first. A little more damage and the system is irreparably damaged. The game even allows us to target structural weak points and thus sever entire ship parts such as warp nacelles or the wings of a Bird of Prey! In this way, tactically fighting over the weakened shields sections becomes a motivating game of cat-and-mouse.

As you can see, Bridge Commander is very important to me because it basically does what every Star Trek-fan wants from a video game of the brand: a real Star Trek-feeling! This is further enhanced by the score by Danny Pelfrey. As a veteran of the Trek-Games (Armada 1 + 2, Away Team, Voyager – Elite Force, Starfleet Command III), he has already had plenty of opportunities to familiarize himself with the feel of the universe and impressively proves that he has understood the core of The Next Generation . Parts of the music sound as if they have just been taken from a scene from the series. Again and again you have the feeling of recognition.

This is largely due to the fact that the main theme, which features prominently in Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode Generic really captures the tone of the original perfectly thanks to the same instrumentalization. As with the first Elite Force the spirit of the TV original has been wonderfully captured with this mixture of the urge to explore, melancholy and relaxation, which immediately triggers a homely feeling in me as a fan. At other points the spherical vocals (Cutscene 2, Episode 3) make the composition sound more like Stargate: Atlantis or James Horner's composition for Titanic - beautiful and different.

The sentimental elements therefore come into their own. On the other hand, I don't like the battle tracks as much. Of course, they really caught my attention during the battles, but beyond that they seem a bit too uniform. This may be due not least to the fact that the album is unfortunately a gamerip. The tracks are therefore quite short, sometimes choppy or puzzled together in reverse. A real shame, as this mixes the good with the less exciting.

Consequently, I can only really recommend the songs I mentioned above and rated highly. On the other hand, I would rather advise against the other pieces such as the battle accompaniments in their various versions (Confident, Panic, Neutral) or the other mission introductions, such as the somewhat trivial Episode 5 or the minor version of the main theme in Episode 6. For TNG-fans, however, the score in its entirety is an absolute must-check out.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Confident	Danny Pelfrey	3
02	Cutscene	Danny Pelfrey	4
03	Cutscene 2	Danny Pelfrey	4
04	Episode 1	Danny Pelfrey	5
05	Episode 2	Danny Pelfrey	5
06	Episode 3	Danny Pelfrey	4
07	Episode 4	Danny Pelfrey	4
08	Episode 5	Danny Pelfrey	3
09	Episode 5 [Variation]	Danny Pelfrey	4
10	Episode 6	Danny Pelfrey	3
11	Episode 7	Danny Pelfrey	3
12	Episode 8	Danny Pelfrey	4
13	Episode Generic	Danny Pelfrey	4
14	Failure	Danny Pelfrey	3
15	Nebula	Danny Pelfrey	4
16	Neutral	Danny Pelfrey	4
17	Panic	Danny Pelfrey	4
18	Starbase 12	Danny Pelfrey	4
19	Success	Danny Pelfrey	5
20	Transition	Danny Pelfrey	4