So, Star Trek Bridge Crew.
I finally completed every mission in the game (exception being all the random missions) so I think I'll write a review. The game requires either a HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or PSVR to play. I only have a HTC Vive, so this review is for that platform.
Star Trek Bridge Crew is a VR game where you take command of one of four bridge officers on the original starship Enterprise, or the Aegis (basically a slight redesign of the Enterprise in the new Star Trek movies). The original enterprise is 100% accurate to the TV version, and the Aegis almost has the same level of accuracy to the new Enterprise in the new movies. The only difference I have noticed from the Ageis and the movie Enterprise is the position of some of the screens in the background, and the removal of the station to the right of the captain’s seat to make room for an engineering station. Other than that, these bridges are so accurate that you would think they were created by fans, which is something Star Trek fans will enjoy.
Since this is VR the controls are very intuitive. The Vive's controllers are your hands, and you use your hands to touch stuff on the screens in front of you. Doesn't get simpler than that, which I think is what VR is all about. You can press the grip buttons on the side to curl all your fingers except for your index finger (you perform this same action in real life to press the side button on the controller). The trigger on the back is used to control the curl of the index finger. These simple controls are enough to allow the player to display complex emotions, which leads to a lot of hilarious moments on the bridge. When I first discovered I could control my index finger with the trigger I started using it to rub my nipples. I was just doing that to test out the hand movements, but everyone else on the bridge saw me do this and just broke out in laughter. There are also the natural hand emotions that you use when talking to the crew. In VR you naturally face the person you are talking to and emote accordingly. First time I was captain I involuntarily pointed to the main screen and said “engage” to signal helms to enter warp. Completely involuntary and if the tactical officer didn’t comment on how great it was I said “engage” I would not even had noticed. I think everyone was looking at me because I was fucking around on my screens while helms was waiting for my order to enter warp. You can play with a regular Xbox One controller, but I would imagine using a controller would be a lot more clunky since there is so much you can do with your hands. You also lose all ability to emote.
The game allows you to take on the position of Captain, Engineering, Helm, or Tactical. All positions are extremely easy to learn, but only really shine with experience. If you are playing single player, you are forced to play as captain and give a limited number of commands to your AI crew. You can also take over the stations manually if the AI isn't good enough. This is extremely clunky and frustrating, though. You will want to go multiplayer for some of the harder missions, which is where the game really shines.
You are dealing with real people online, so your experience is extremely dependent on your personality. Most of my experiences online have been extremely enjoyable. I don't know if it is because of the high price of VR right now or what, but the randos I played with were all adults who played the game somewhat seriously. I think I should also give the game credit for forcing players into this behavior, because there is always enough going on at each position to keep the player busy. It far is easier to obey the orders from the captain instead of randomly doing your own thing. My worst game experience was when I was captain and I had a helmsman who was extremely drunk. There was a point where we needed to warp out of the system or die from the exploding star, but the dude was too drunk to properly align the ship up for warp. Thankfully, the captain can kick whoever he desires from the bridge so you can relieve any player of his duties if needed. If you have a short temper, you most definitely do not want to play as Captain unless you have a group of friends that you can play with. The only indicator you get of your crew's skill is their rank, and often you will be put into a group with people who have no idea how to do their job. If you have the patience, this can lead to hilarious gameplay (plenty of chances for you to interject your own puns), but if you have a short temper you will likely just ragequit.
One of my major gripes with this game is that the servers are horrible. In the current iteration of the game there is a bug where you can get stuck in infinite warp and are forced to quit the game. I assume this is a problem with client sync. I also experienced issues with having the game load forever when transitioning to the briefing room to the bridge, the bridge to the briefing room, or when trying to find a new game. I think these are client sync issues since they are always fixed when the problem player leaves the game, or restarts their client. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future patch.
Another thing I do not enjoy about the game is how short it is. I only have about 17 hours in the game (4 of which was probably me struggling with server issues), and I finished all the missions in the main campaign. I am also very close to achieving the rank of Captain, which is the highest rank one can achieve right now. This game seriously needs to be expanded. PvP mode, the ability to own a ship and upgrade it, and extra ships + races are needed to extend this game's longevity. An expansion of the rank system to admiral, and allow you to issue orders to player captains in your fleet will be amazing. I really want to play more of the game, but I am finding it hard to jump in the game when all I can do are random missions that I may or may not have done before.
This game has a lot of potential and playing online is an absolute blast, but the game needs a lot more. In its current iteration, it doesn’t not feel like a complete game, and sure as hell isn't worth its $59.99 price point. I would be fine with spending that much for the game if it had a PvP mode and like 10 more campaign missions, but really this game is just too simple to justify anything more than $20. I understand that VR is in its early stages and developers do not want to commit too much time to a VR game that is an experiment, but this game is solid VR gold and deserves to be expanded into a full game. Also PLEASE allow us to walk around the ship.
Overall, I will give this game a 7.5/10.
EDIT: I think I should include my most Star Trek like experience in this post. It was on the final campaign mission where we had to beam a weapon onboard and transport it out of the system. A the final part of the mission the ship was extremely damaged (I chose to help some friendly ships in the area, which was an optional objective, but it left our ship in bad condition) and we didn't stand any chance in combat. I said to engineering "Give us all power to engines, I don't give a damn what you do or what damage the ship takes, get us out of here as quickly as possible." Engineering responded with "I am giving as much power to the engines that I can!" (he appropriately got the "I'm giving her all she got!" achievement from that). Told tactical to scan and disrupt the weapons of as many ships as possible while we got out the nebula. Helm was busy doing evasive maneuvers to dodge all torpedos fired at us while trying to get to edge of the nebula so we could warp. We ended up warping out with like 4% hull with everyone's butthole ultra puckered. At a certain point I could do nothing but trust the crew while just staring at the status of the ship's shield and hull. No forced RP, we just was trying to finish that mission and everyone was trying their hardest. That shit was so intense that it caused me to sweat in real life. That is the type of experience you can expect from this game, which is why I think it is a flagship VR game. Most satisfying experience I ever had in a video game.
I fell that I must also add that about like 40% of my time is spent as captain since I typically take the pos that no one ever wants to take, and apparently that is usually captain. I have no idea, personally, how it is to be experienced in any other position other than helm and captain.