Movie and TV licenses have never been fully utilized in the game industry,
the best example being The Star Trek series not one game to date in the
series has been any good. That's all about to change. The last FPS game of
the Star Trek franchise was Klingon Honor Guard, which frankly sucked. Now
with a brand new Quake 3 engine, the people at Raven are at it again.
This time they have got something right. With a really cool although short single player experience, an impressive multiplayer and a proven graphics engine, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force has managed to cause the demise of the curse of the Star Trek license.
The opening sequence of
the game has a nice movie like touch to it where the Borg
in the middle of testing a new weapon has kidnapped you, and I have got to
admit it got me. Anyways, the story revolves around a group of people
called "The Elite Force", who were put together by the
ever-smart Tuvok and they were trained for armed combat in unexpected and
strange situations. You play the role of Alexander or Alexandria Munroe
whatever may be the case, who is second in command of this team.
The graphics are absolutely breathtaking; with detailed weapon to terrific lighting effects to smooth character animation everything immerses you in the star trek universe. When the guys at Raven licensed the Quake 3 engine, they tweaked it a bit and made this game look even better than the engine's namesake.
The coolest thing about the game must be the feeling-of -being-there. The game just feels like a Star Trek Adventure. The Voyager's hallways, corridors look like straight out of the TV series. On the other hand the Klingons, Borg, and original Series Federation ships just look absolutely appropriate especially the Borg cube. Character modeling has been top notch- starting from Tuvok's pointy ears to Chakotay's facial tattoo. All the weapons are absolutely kick-ass. And the ways explosions have been rendered are a thing of beauty.
But while the graphics are super cool, the gameplay is what keeps you moving. Unlike other shooters where kill everything but you till you reach the end of the level to see a cut scene. The story and plot slowly unfolds during the game. Reminds you of Half-life's way of storytelling. The whole game is like a movie, though a very short one.
Of the things FPS (read
plural) get wrong number one would be you always have a wimpy gun to begin
with but in Elite Force you start of with a pretty cool energy rifle along
with a phaser. Then gradually work up to the personal photon torpedo
launcher (my favorite).
Now for the biggest surprise of the game. Although you are for most of the time on solo missions, your teammates do accompany you on some potentially dangerous situations. Now for the surprise, their AI is excellent. They shoot at the bad guys, give you hints to solve puzzles, follow you closely without getting stuck, don't get killed. For once in all FPS history your compatriots help you. Halleluiah.
Level of interactivity in the game is pretty high with you being able to interact with almost all your comrades. They react to you in different ways. Suppose one of your buddies gets KIA, it affects your whole team and also you.
The puzzles in the game are pretty cool and you don't always have to spend your time retracing your steps. There are occasional find-the-key-then-go-back-&-use-it type of puzzle, but something interesting happens on the way back. The other puzzles fit pretty nicely in the game, not feeling out of place.
The primary interface bits, like your health, armor, and ammo, are more strategically placed on the screen, leaving you more real estate to actually see the beautiful graphics. Plus everything has that sleek Star Trek design, which works fairly well.
The biggest complain would be the single player isn't all that long, it took me 11 hours 27 minutes to finish the game on normal difficulty. Replayabilty is pretty low.
The sound is quite good, consisting of the standard set of Star Trek sounds, plus explosions, zaps, screams of agony. The voice acting is top notch.
Overall a great game. I have always been a trekkie, so I loved the game. Even if you are not but are a fan of the genre, give it a shot. Chances are you will become one.
