This week at E3, Ubisoft revealed gameplay footage for Star Trek: Bridge Crew, a virtual reality game where you can play cooperatively as a crew on the U.S.S. Aegis. Together you’ll explore “The Trench,” a mostly uncharted area of space where you’re looking for a new home for the Vulcan race. Ubisoft’s page tells me that the game is made specifically for VR, and that you can play with four players, filling the roles of Captain, Helm, Tactical, and Engineer. Though it sounds like there may be single player content as well, I find the cooperative aspects the most exciting; Ubisoft is touting social features such as full body avatars and real-time lip synch.
In my youth I played all sorts of Star Trek games, including Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, the various sector/quadrant games, FASA’s Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator, and the big daddy of all simulators, Star Fleet Battles. I loved them all, but really, this is the game I was dreaming of. The very idea of getting onto the bridge of a Federation starship with some friends is nearly giving me the adrenaline shakes!
The reveal video includes notable Star Trek actors, including LeVar Burton (Next Generation; Geordi La Forge), Jeri Ryan (Voyager; Seven of Nine), and Karl Urban (Star Trek rebooted movies; Bones). Watching the gameplay and the clear fun they were having has got me seriously pumped to see this game in action. Burton really kills it in the video; I love how he gets into the role so easily. He knows it too: “I will say, I nailed being the engineer.” Yeah. Yeah, you did.
Ubisoft is targeting a fall 2016 release and will support the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Playstation VR.
Check out the reveal video and let us know what you think. As for how it affected me? I may need that tranquilizer.
