Bridge Commander, like many Star Trek games, offers an attractive concept which is hopelessly let down by the execution.
There is no crew management. There are a few set officers, a few randoms who swap in on occasion, and that's it. Despite the game's claims to the contrary, there are few thought-provoking decisions. You have little freedom – report to Starfleet, get objectives, go out, complete objectives, return to Starfleet. There is little need to even think – your crew actually ask you for the order you have to give in each case! It often feels as if the game is playing itself, just asking for a token input from the player on occasion. Indeed, you can simply tell your officers to handle combat themselves, and thus contribute absolutely nothing at all. Even if you do try to handle itself, you are let down by some baffling issues. Sparks are flying and your ship is leaking some sort of liquid – you must be taking internal hits, right? Well, no, that happens whenever you take hits, regardless of how easily your shields handled it. Want to protect a weak shield against the barrage you're taking? You aren't told which shield is being hit. Want to strengthen a particular shield to suit your angle of attack? Can't do that at all. Suddenly can't fire your forward phasers? Apparently they were destroyed at some point, though you were never advised of that. So many Star Trek games have done it better, including the ancient Final Unity which didn't even have a focus on combat.
The voice acting is unremarkable – not as terrible as in many games, but far from anything memorable and inspiring. Graphically, the game is disappointing. The space environment is far less impressive than that of Klingon Academy from several years ago, and the explosions are particularly terrible – a ball of flame, then the ship disappears. Wing Commander was doing that over a decade ago, and there's no excuse for it in a 2002 game.
Mission design is unimpressive. As noted, there is little requirement for any thought from the player. You are guided through every step. Several missions are quite annoying, such as one where you must disable a station then board it. Your useless crew generally blow it up or get themselves blown up, so it's up to you to handle it. Unfortunately, even the most careful shooting sees a lot of hull damage, but it's possible to avoid destroying it. Of course, then three ships turn up and blow it up anyway, long before you have a chance to draw them all off. There's a difference between a challenge, and something that makes you uninstall the game in frustration.
Then again, with all the other flaws in the game, most would have deleted it long before then. The game may have some value when heavily modded or as a multiplayer game, but out of the box, it is a disappointment.