[Star Trek Missions NY] Star Trek Bridge Crew

This past Labor Day Weekend, ReedPop in conjunction with CBS put on their first ever Star Trek show, Star Trek Missions NY, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the original series. Bringing together a wide range of panels, exhibitors, celebrities, and — oh yes — cosplay, the overall stellar show boldly went where no man has gone before.

Arguably one of the best exhibitors from Star Trek Missions NY was the Ubisoft booth with the Red Storm Entertainment developer team on-hand to demo the upcoming Star Trek Bridge Crew VR game.

Demos were very hard to come by, filling up within the first 5 minutes on Friday and Saturday to the point that the Ubisoft crew went to a raffle on Sunday to allow more people to try it out. I was lucky enough to demo the game on Friday with two close friends and we all agree it was great. While not all functionality was available, there was enough to do during the demo to get a feel for the gameplay.

Game Overview (from official website):

In Star Trek: Bridge Crew, explore space in Virtual Reality as a member of the Federation and take place on the bridge in a Starfleet ship. Star Trek: Bridge Crew puts you and your friends in the heart of a starship, where- as officers of the Federation- every action and decision you make together will determine the fate of your ship and crew. Developed specifically for VR, Star Trek: Bridge Crew is the only game to offer a true-to-life level of immersion in the Star Trek universe,

In Star Trek: Bridge Crew, the Federation dispatches you and your crew to command the new vessel U.S.S. Aegis as part of a critical initiative. 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. The Trench contains stunning beauty and undiscovered wonders, but also strange anomalies and dangers yet unknown. The Klingon Empire is also active in the region, and their purpose is undoubtedly a threat to the Federation’s plans. It’s up to you and your crew to chart the sector to determine the Klingons’ aims, and to secure a peaceful Federation presence.

The game holds up to 4 players where you get to choose to be a crew member; either Captain, Helm, Tactical, or Engineer. In our demo, the dev was the Captain and I was Tactical. Our mission was to save survivors of three stranded ships. As tactical, my job was to scan ships for survivors, be in control of the ships shields, and arm and deploy weapons. Helm, played by a friend, steered the ship as well as keeping us in range of the survivors, and put us into warp once the Klingons attacked. Engineering, also played by a friend, was in charge of beaming up survivors, powering the warp drive and balanced the power for hull integrity. Captain, played by one of the developers, was — you guessed it — in charge of of looking over everyone and making sure we were all doing our jobs.

And for your information, while our Hull Integrity was lower than I would have liked, we did end up saving 18 of 18 survivors.

The VR immersive experience, however, is what makes this game a hit and with the right VR system and controls, players feel as if they are on the bridge of a Star Trek Starship. Gameplay was easy to pick up in minutes, though I know the full game will be more intense in terms of available functions and tasks and with an aim for lots of replay-ability, this will be a hit once the game releases in November.

Oh, and here is a picture of me and my friends playing. Yes, it is my back, but hey — you save survivors and look good, too!

There was also a panel with the developers discussing features and gameplay which I attended.

Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Panelists:
Brian Tate, Game Director, Red Storm Entertainment
John Van Citters, VP Product Development, CBS Consumer Products
David Votypka, Senior Creative Director, Red Storm Entertainment

Meet the team behind Star Trek: Bridge Crew, the upcoming Virtual Reality (VR) game from Ubisoft that puts YOU directly onto the bridge of a Starfleet ship- as a member of the Federation. Learn about how Star Trek: Bridge Crew came to life and more about the true-to-life immersion in the Star Trek universe with Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

Below is some additional information on the game from the official website:

DESIGNED FROM THE GROUND UP FOR VR

Star Trek: Bridge Crew was developed specifically for virtual reality and capitalizes on the powerful sense of social presence possible only through VR. Our hand tracking with full body avatars and real-time lip sync allow players to genuinely experience what it’s like to serve as an officer on the bridge of a Federation starship.

OPERATE AS A CREW

Make strategic decisions and coordinate actions with your crew to complete the mission. In co-op, players can form a crew of four to serve in the roles of Captain, Helm, Tactical and Engineer. Each player is crucial to the success of the varied missions you face and the safety of your crew and ship.

A UNIQUE SHIP FOR A UNIQUE MISSION

Take command of the U.S.S. Aegis, the first ship of her kind. Whether plotting courses and analysing scan data or hacking enemy shields and targeting vulnerable ship subsystems, you’ll have Starfleet’s cutting-edge technology at your fingertips. The Aegis’ unique design makes her ideal for the dangerous mission in The Trench but you’ll have to master her systems, both familiar and experimental, to save the day.

A SHARED GALACTIC ADVENTURE

Star Trek: Bridge Crew offers a compelling and engaging co-op experience with an unmatched sense of reality. You’ll need more than just individual skill to overcome the challenges you’ll face with one another; communication, trust and close crew coordination are the keys to victory.

MISSION GENERATOR

In addition to a dynamic storyline, Star Trek: Bridge Crew features an “Ongoing Missions” mode, procedurally generating missions for countless hours of solo and co-op adventure.

Platform: Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive
Release: November 29, 2016
Developer: Red Storm Entertainment

Head over to the website to learn more about this game. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/star-trek-bridge-crew/

Stay tuned for more to come including an in-depth look at both Star Trek Online, a free to play MMPOG, and the oh-so-important cosplay photos!

Source: www.hidefninja.com