Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force
Living Long and Finally Prospering

Its starships have been cruising television galaxies for thirty-five years, and over this time, Star Trek has become a big-time enterprise that's spawned four television shows, as well as movies, merchandise, conventions, and computer games.

While the movies and television shows have been generally good, the computer and video games have never quite succeeded at creating a compelling virtual experience out of Star Trek themes. I remember being excited about new Star Trek games over the years, and being disappointed when I finally reviewed the titles.

So what can we expect from a first-person shooter that's based on Star Trek: Voyager? I'm happy to say that there's finally a compelling and entertaining game that's based on Star Trek. In fact, Raven Software's Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force is an excellent first-person shooter in which you roam and shoot through familiar, and not-so- familiar settings from the show to take on Klingons, Borg, and other Trek enemies. And in multi-player games, you get to fight side-by-side with, and even as, some of the characters from the show.

As in a weekly episode, Voyager and her crew are stuck in yet another calamity where they must fight for Voyager's freedom and their lives. (Sound familiar?) The enemy is an evil alien entity, and in a strange Star Trek twist, the fight somehow includes such notables as the Klingons, Borg, Hirogen, and more.

In the game, you're a member of Captain Janeway's new Hazard Team-an elite fighting group that will take on Voyager's most difficult missions. You will fight through eight missions, spanning some 40 levels. Along the way, you'll defend Voyager from an assault, battle through a derelict ship, infiltrate a Borg cube and more.

I've always been a fan of first-person shooters, but I've never played one that carried out a theme the way Elite Force does. In the very first level, you'll find yourself roaming the bowels of a Borg vessel, and the experience is right out of the television shows. It's downright eerie to walk around the ship with the Borg passing near you, with their laser beams scanning everything. When they attack, they adapt to your weapons, just as they do in the show. Elite Force plays like an interactive TV show.

I like the way that fellow crew members fight at your side. Although these team members don't fight as aggressively or as well as you do, and don't seem to take their share of enemy fire, the game is able to create the sense of a team, featuring the familiar characters from the show. For example, Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine, and Lt. Commander Tuvok offer assistance during missions. By the way, the game features the voices of most of the Voyager television cast.

The game features a variety of Star Trek weapons - nine in all, ranging from Federation-issue phasers, to weapons of mass destruction that splay photon bursts. Another Star Trek touch is teleportation. You'll find that enemies will suddenly appear in front of you, with their guns a-blazing.

Powering the game is the Quake III: Arena engine. But while the game's engine is Quake, Elite Force looks and plays more like Valve Software's excellent Half-Life, in that it's not simply a collection of levels set on star ships, but offers a story line and other characters to interact with. Elite Force also features detailed cut scenes that frame each level and continue the story line. If there's anything to criticize about the single-player mode, it is that it's too short.

Dressing up the game's first rate action are graphics that make the Star Trek world come alive. The game's designers did an excellent job of modeling the sets from the television show, and the detailed 3D character renderings resemble the show's cast.

If you're a big fan of the Star Trek holodeck, you'll have a blast with the game's multi-player mode, the "Holomatch," which presents some 50 multiplayer characters, and lets you fight alongside crew members, or fight as them. Multi-player games include free-for-all, capture the flag, and team play. With the Quake III: Arena engine at the game's core, multiplayer battles are responsive, and fast.

If you love first-person shooters such as Half-Life and Quake III, and you're a Star Trek junkie, with or without a Federation uniform hanging in your closet and pointy rubber ears, this is the game you've been waiting for.

909-593-9675 e-mail:wkawamoto@earthlink.net