The style of the game is different to the first one and the idea is not bad, but badly executed. Heatstamps are very scarce in the beginning and you mostly need them to unlock the use of alternative fuel for the generator. Granted, you need to unlock improved gathering of the fuel, but this is not too expensive. Additionally the alternative fuel is weirdly implemented, I found only 3 sources of it, what created more questions. In the research tree is "steam" listed, but was never able to unlock it. Comparing to the first game, I find it weird, that there are no upgrades for the generator, to reduce fuel usage or insulated pipes or whatever else existed in the first game. Or even alternate another alternative fuel. The UI is sort of a mess. Windows with details about a district are too big, I need always to scroll around, after opening one to be able to read what how the status of a district is. Creating trails does not give enough feedback, if a connection had been established or not. The calendar shows, that an event happens, like a drop im temperature, but not by how much. Maybe 2 arrows down mean -20°C, maybe -50°C and this had been visible in the first game. Something to mention positive, are the good sound design. The faint whispering of "Captain" in some menus gave me goosebumps. Another great change is the difficulty slider, Frostpunk 1 was way too hard sometimes. Visually the game dropped a bit in quality, but nothing too bad. Also the game does not have any major issues with version 1.0.5. My advice would be, to buy it for a reduced price, but maybe you will have fun with it.
Pro: - voice acting is great - atmosphere of some levels are fantastic - game does not punish you immediately - interesting quests Con: - even with community patches has still bugs, sometimes the game crashes when you start to press any movement key - backtracking is a bit of a hassle - close combat mechanics are weird - feeding fails sometimes for no reason - some areas are pitchblack, nightvision would have been a nice feature - amount of loot is lackluster compared to the prices of some items
The game is unbalanced is heck. You shoot on the enemy, nothing happens. The enemy shoots your ships, you suddenly hear "shilds are down" and the alarm of critical hull appears. In the tutorial you getting only lessons how to use your ships with the automated orders (F1-F10), which are very bad. Only help outside of the game tells you, that the you should use the "submenu", which is not only just an overview. No, it is the manual control of the ships.
Controls are bad, sometimes the directional inputs are either not registered or overshoot. The later one makes the fine movement events nearly impossible. Camera positioning is bad. A story exists. No recommendation.
Bought the game, because the original version has a copy protection, that has problems to run on more modern systems. I am playing on Linux and the game did not start. After 5 minutes of debugging, I found that through winetricks the DLLs from vcrun2005 need to be installed and the game started to work. I played some chapters and the game works fine. It crashed once in the loading screen between scenes. The controls did not change and some events are still awful. But the game can you still catch, so 4 stars.
Measured by the other released games, this game is great. It does not look as great as other games, but you don't need 5000€ system to play it barely with FSR or other upscalers. Good: - voice acting is great - the various areas are beautiful - usage of right-click for a context menu is a great idea - party inventory is a great idea too - having multiple quicksaves is fantastic But there are some problems with the progress or the flow: - it is intended to use the environment for boss fights. Well, from some environments the help got either reduced or replaced with something, that can't be really used as help, because of the strength of the boss. Players of early access discovered that and that helped me to realize, why particulary one fight was extremely difficult - some classes have a disadvantage in the game - it is the D&D rule set, but sometimes the feeling appears, that the game(master) is fighting against you and wants you to fail - inventory is too cluttered, especially through books and notes. At least notes should disappear and be part of the journal - at the beginning gold is a problem, but at the end the shops don't have enough (good) items to buy - missing hints, that some objects are only to gain gold. Carried iron bars with me for a while - I have the same opinion, act 3 seems to be rushed - UI is a bit too small, thankfully exists a mod to fix that
Short. Pros: - Atmosphere is good - Music is good Cons: - looks bad. Around same graphics quality as the first part, but demands more performance - sneak areas are more made for combat, it is way easier go with blazing crossbows - quality problems - storytelling gets bad in the second half - you have to fight sometimes and the controls are not made for it, lost so many times because of that 2/5, would not bother to play again
Installed the game and it worked. The animation of the menus are missing, but everything works and finishe the game.
I like Star Trek, watched the original series, TNG, Star Trek Enterprise, Voyager an DS9. Watched all the movies, even the new ones. I played some Star Trek games and loved DS9 Dominion Wars. Controlling one ore more ships, kicking the ass of the Cardassians and having a blast. So my interest in Bridge Commander was pretty high. Sadly the game never appeared on the shelf's off the surrounding shops, because it was limited in production numbers (like someone in the comments said). Finally around 17 years later I am able to play it thanks to GoG. The main menu is designed in the style of Elite Force 1, but a bit to overloaded. If you pause the game through Esc-button, no "resume button" is showed, what causes a bit of confusion. Start in the game is good, you get a sequence and a tutorial. Here the game loses 1 star, because the UI is half-good/bad. Starting with the view from the captains seat you can look around the bridge and control the ship through interaction with the bridge crew. Controls for energy, repair, sensors, combats and "captain assistant" are self-explanatory. But navigation is a mess. Setting a course to warp is not bad, but using warp in the system to get from planet to planet? This is something, according to DS9 season 4 or 5, that is seen as very dangerous. Getting to a station is a bit tricky too, sometimes I had to use "intercept" to move the ship with decent speed. A problem later is, that sensor operator and captain assistant sit nearly in one line, I don't want to know how many times I used the wrong one. But you get used to it, especially after getting a feeling for the "direct control", with which you control the ship through WASD and mouse. Now the game starts and it starts okay. Getting used to the controls, learn how to interpret the UI, get a feeling for the enemy ships, etc. The game had a wonderful flow. Except at the end. The last 2-3 missions were way too hard, even with the special torpedos, finalizing to 3 star score.
Base game and Expansion in one setup and upgraded, so that it works on modern systems.
