TNG Engineering

Star Trek was one of the most popular TV series that ever aired, and it still has millions of fans all over the world. Granted, the creators have made tremendous efforts to include as much detail as possible about the characters, the ships and the lore behind every race in the Star Trek universe. Hence, there are always ways to extend on the original story with more movies or video games.

TNG Engineering is a VR experience designed for the Oculus Rift headset, in which you have the chance to walk around the USS Enterprise-D and feel as though you are actually in space. Granted, only the Engineering Bay is included in the simulation, which is kind of a bummer, but at least the environment is very detailed, which should help a lot with immersion.

Besides being able to rotate your head and look around in every direction you wish, it’s also possible to move around using your keyboard, although the mouse is an option as well. You can even disable the whole VR thing and enjoy the game the good old fashioned way, but the truth it is that it’s not at all fun or exciting without the headset.

The biggest drawback is the fact that you have a very small space to explore, so you’ll get bored in a rush, especially if you are not a huge Star Trek fan. Granted, you can at least toy with a few customization options as well, such as toggling the Vsync option, showing the framerate on the screen, or enabling/disabling the monoscopic display mode. None of these have an effect on the gameplay, but you can increase the strain on your computer.

As far as the graphics are concerned, the engine is certainly capable of rendering an impressive amount of detail, but there’s not much to look at in this case. The textures and the post-processing effects are nice enough, but there’s nothing that exciting to look at. Still, it should be a decent experience for Star Trek enthusiasts.

While TNG Engineering could certainly use a bit of additional content, the experience is still pretty convincing, and there’s some potential in the idea. Hence, even if you do not get to play with instruments or fly around the universe, it would be nice to see the USS Enterprise from up close.