Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force

The Good
Elite Force (EF) is probably the best licensed Star Trek game since 25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites.

You play Ensign Alexander Munro (or Alexandria if you play as a female), second in command of the "Hazard Team" - a newly formed unit onboard Voyager. The game starts out onboard a Borg cube, with you on point while downing Borg left and right. After accidentally blowing up your team, the holodeck appears. It was a training scenario. Thus begins the game, which actually looks like an episode of Voyager. From "Opening Credits" that looks like the TV show to the end credits.

The games graphics look absolutely great. Raven had access to the set, and the blueprints of the sets themselves so they could accurately recreate Voyager. They went as far as taking picture of the carpet to get the color right for textures. Using the Quake III engine and it's ability to create curved surfaces, Raven faithfully created the bridge, shuttlebay, mess hall, and engine room. The alien ships are also rendered true-to life, curved and very fluid looking.

The sound is very impressive. Again using SFX from the show (probably first-generation SFX, the actual effects used in the show, not secondary recordings), it immerses you in the game. Original music by the developers sounds like the background music to an episode.

The controls are standard FPS shooting fare, with the exception of reloading. Since there are no clip weapons (they are all engery weapons), you never have to worry about reloading. Although you need to keep an eye on your energy ammo.

The gameplay is varied. A lot of different logical puzzles are thrown into the game, and some really require you to think about where to go. Cutscenes further along the story much like when are watching an episode of Voyager. And being able to test out new weapons on the holodeck BEFORE going into a game situation is really cool. Especially the personal photon torpedo weapon.)

The Bad
On normal mode, the game is really easy to defeat. I've come to expect a lot more challenge to a FPS (especially after playing games like Return to Wolfenstein and Half-Life) on their respective Normal modes of play. This game just didn't challenge me, it really frustrated me on some levels. One instance is when the harvesters attack and you are killing them off one by one in the corridors. The number is so overwhelming (think of the bugs in the movie "Starship Troopers") it gets frustating when you run out of ammo.

The AI of the crewman that are on your side isn't the best. I can't begin to count how many times a crewman has stepped into my line of fire. And the AI of the enemies is pathetic as well. It seems that any enemy automattically concentrate ALL their attacks on you, even when there are THREE OTHER crewman firing at them? Granted I'm shooting at them, but others are as well.

And I'd have like to see more interactivity with other people. Between "Missions" you are required to go and talk with others in order to get the next part of the story going.

And I like action in the game. Granted your supposed to "be" a Ensign, but there was too much "lag time" between missions.

The Bottom Line
Not quite a must-play FPS, but well worth checking out for the unbelievable job Raven did with re-creating Voyager and the Star Trek look. Argueably the best Star Trek game in years, despite it's flaws.

The Good
This game is very good. If you like shooter games, this is for you. You can get a bunch of Star Trek weapons that you've seen on the shows. (and some you haven't) It has the best storyline that I have ever seen in Star Trek games. You literally get attached to the characters. (at least i did) Another great thing is that each weapon has an alternate attack. Most of the time they are more powerful than the regular attack, and all of them take up a bunch more . The graphics are great for a 2000 game, and you don't have to have a top of the line computer to play it on. I haven't found a single bug in it and i've beaten it twice. This lets you know how it is to use the weapons instead of commanding people to use them. In the holomatch mode, there are tons of characters and levels to choose from. You can play on teams or take on the everybody else.

The Bad
There is only one bad thing about this game. It's too SHORT!!

The Bottom Line
If you don't mind beating it the first day then this is a great game to buy. (it only costs about 10 dollars)

The Good
Raven has a knack for designing good games. They actually raised the bar a little with this gem.

The graphics were exceptional, proof that Raven can do a great deal with Id engines. The textures are really well done and create an visual of being on the starship.

The sound and music were both top notch, no skips, fidelity issues or artifacts. The themes were unusually suspenseful, adding to the feeling of being in an episode.

The story was actually the strongest point of the game. Unlike most FPS stories, you actually had a good story to tie it together. You wanted to see what would happen next and why.

Alien starships had plenty of eye candy and gave a huge sense of scope. The organic ship was especially beautiful. The animation of the models were pretty good. The emulation of the standard disintegration of targets was very well implemented.

And of course, there was the fantastic level that returned us to the Mirror/Mirror universe. Some other levels included puzzle solving that required logical solutions.

The Bad
Even when you're out with an away team, you were pretty much on your own. The away team members couldn't hit a broad side of a starship. I realize that Raven deliberately designed this feature, but they could've made them a slightly better shot.

The repetitive monsters keep coming at you while you run out of ammo. The lowly phaser never ran out of ammo, but it was pretty useless if you used it for more than a few shots at a time.

And the ridiculously hard final boss...

The Bottom Line
A fun game, even if you don't like Star Trek. Raven really stretched the potential for the Quake III engine for this game.