GameSlice: Behind the Scenes of the Computer and Video Game Industry

March 14, 2000

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Star Trek: Bridge Commander
Star Trek games on the PC have consistently been disappointing in the past, but it looks like Activision is making a valiant effort to turn things around with games like Raven Software's Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force, which uses the Quake 3 engine and is scheduled for release this summer. Now I can add another triple-A quality Star Trek game to the list thanks to the announcement last week that Activision is working with Larry Holland's Totally Games on Star Trek: Bridge Commander, a space simulator set in the Star Trek: Next Generation universe.
For those unfamiliar with Totally Games, it was the company behind X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter. Holland, the head of Totally Games who previously worked at LucasArts, had a hand in creating the seminal flight simulators X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Without question, there isn't a better developer to take on the task of developing a good Star Trek space simulator. Throw in Patrick Stewart as the voice of Piccard, and overall things are looking very rosy for the Star Trek franchise on the PC. Bridge Commander is due for release in 2001.

Shiny's Sacrifice
One game that appeared on a slew of game demo machines at GDC was Shiny Entertainment's Sacrifice, a title that still hasn't been officially announced. I have to admit to being impressed with the technology in the demo, which actually seems to differ quite a bit from the screenshots online thus far. The game looks like a cross between Giants and Populous 3D, with huge landscapes, lots of visual effects, and vibrant colors.
But as one well-known journalist said to me after seeing the game running on Intel's GigaHertz Pentium III, "Where's the game?" Unfortunately Shiny Entertainment's reputation as of late has hit rock bottom, especially in light of the constant delays on Messiah. The result is a fog of doubt about Shiny's future releases. I can't profess to say I know much about the gameplay – there was no-one associated with the game there to demo it – but if there is a good game behind the impressive 3D engine, Shiny may have a winner on its hands. Truth be told, it looks much better than Messiah. Come to think of it, what happened to Messiah? It appeared to be on the verge of release at Christmas time, but has slowly disappeared from radar screens over the past few months with little explanation.

Next, find out about Sega going after Sony's PlayStation 2 >>>