Star Trek Bridge Commander (Activision, PC G8+)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * * * )

A big attraction of computer games is that they put you in situations way beyond your normal or likely experience.

That's one of the reasons science fiction is the mainstay of so many games. You're unlikely to travel to another galaxy or fall through a black hole in everyday life, but on the PC anything is possible.

So it's no coincidence that the two most popular science fiction movie/TV franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek, account for a major slice of space games.

The quality has been mixed, but Star Trek Bridge Commander shines out like a supernova.

It is an excellent game, with photo-realistic graphics, strong gameplay and a brilliantly simple yet powerful interface.

Bridge Commander is a cross between a simulation and an adventure. You become captain of a federation starship, crewed by familiar faces from The Next Generation series.

While shoot-'em-ups can get away with non-existent plots, adventure simulations need a good storyline.

Bridge Commander has a cracking, multilayered plot written by D. C. Fontana, one of the original screenplay writers and an associate producer of several shows.

A cinematic opening reveals that the former captain has been killed by an exploding star while on a mission in the Vesuvi system. As second in command, you take over and have to win the backing of a hostile crew while working through missions to find out just who caused that star to explode.

Don't worry about value for money. This game seems to go on forever, and that is one of its few flaws.

It's nice to win, at least in your lifetime, and Bridge Commander will be zapped from many a hard drive before it's clocked.

But then, the journey's often better than the destination.

peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz