Few things in life are certain, but I'm pretty sure of this: I won't get to captain a real-life U.S.S. Enterprise. The technology simply doesn't exist.

What technology did just let me do here at E3 2016 is take the helm of a virtual Star Trek starship. I loved every minute of it.

Enlarge Image Ubisoft



As I wrote this morning, Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a new game from Ubisoft coming to the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR headsets this fall. It puts you in the captain's chair -- or the helm, or the tactical conn, or the engineering panel -- of a brand-new Star Trek starship.

You play one of those four roles, working together with three other people wearing VR headsets of their own.

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You can each see each other, talk to each other with integrated voice chat, even gesture to each other if you have a set of motion controllers. And you'll need to, because communication is key.

You can't fire the phasers unless the helmsman gives you a firing solution. The helmsman can't go to warp unless engineering prepares the warp coils first. The chief engineer can't transport stranded survivors onto the ship unless the tactical officer lowers the shields. And so on.

Only the captain can see everything the crew is doing -- and relay orders from Starfleet -- to help coordinate it all. When it works well, it really does feel a bit like an episode of Star Trek. And when it works poorly, it's hilarious. WHY OH WHY are the shields still down?

Enlarge Image GIF by Sean Hollister/CNET

At E3 I played both the helmsman and tactical officer positions, and both were a blast -- even though the early version here at E3 is a pretty simple game.

Inside the headset, you've basically got a simple touchscreen interface. You plot in a course (or select a target, if you're the tactical officer) just by tapping on an object of interest, then dragging a slider to set your speed. As helmsman, there's a second touchscreen pad you can drag around to set your heading; as tactical officer, there are toggles to raise and lower the shields and arm the torpedoes, and buttons you can tap to fire each.

But each bridge officer has a second job, too. Scotty doesn't just divert power from the engines to the shields and vice versa; he also mans the transporter bay. When it was my turn as tactical officer, I had to scan ships. I think helmsman is my favorite, though. They get to throw the silver lever that takes the ship to warp speed.

For the most part, Bridge Crew looks and feels true to its Star Trek roots. It's not the prettiest game, but the bridge has just the right luster -- and plenty of lens flare -- you'd expect from an important ship in J.J. Abrams' rebooted Star Trek universe. The initial sequence, where you ride a shuttlecraft to the U.S.S. Aegis and see your starship in all its glory, is pretty breathtaking.

Enlarge Image Sean Hollister/CNET



Coming out of warp into the middle of a giant debris field, the wreckage of a space station in front of a sun about to go nova, is one of the coolest things I've seen in VR so far. And to think that Ubisoft is pitching this as a full game, one with a story, makes my inner Star Trek fan squeal with joy. I just hope Ubisoft has enough depth and enough scenarios to keep it entertaining for a good long while.

After my sessions, I spoke to Brian Tate, the game's director. In no particular order, here's a long list of things I learned about Bridge Crew.