Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force
Review of Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force
Ah, my beloved Star Trek has finally come home to the PS2…but wait, it’s not really Star Trek, but that sorry ass excuse for a Star Trek series called Voyager. Errrr…well at maybe Seven of Nine is in here somewhere…
Starting up the game, players will be greeted with a nice clean, slick interface that is both futuristic and simplistic at the same time. Jumping into the single-player mode I soon find out that I will be playing the game as a member of Voyagers elite Hazard Team. As the story goes, after Voyager accidentally got stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Janeway assembled a team of specialists that would be capable of defending the ship, going on away missions and investigation of potential dangers that may threaten the ship and her crew.
Security Chief Tuvak is my commander and mentor and I will be taking orders from him. In addition to a separate menu section that consists of a training mode, the first “real” mission ends up being bogus as well. I don’t feel I am giving too much away by saying that, considering that fact that gamers attention spans should be held long enough to get through this first part of the game anyway.
The first real mission, and in my opinion the first real workout for the Quake 3 engine is when you are beamed over to a Borg vessel with the intend to infiltrate it and rescue your comrades.
The flow of the game is extremely well orchestrated and constructed with the story revolving around the character you control. Since it is from a 1st person perspective, you see the action unfolding around you as if you are standing there right in the middle of things. All of the crew from Voyager is there for you to interact with and the voice acting is well done, being presented by the original cast from the TV series.
Maneuvering through the game and targeting you weapons at an opponent is also well done and quite intuitive. I liked the default controller settings and found the control for a 1st person shooter to be exemplary. The other good news is that if you don’t like the controller, pop in a USB mouse and keyboard and have at it.
The missions are nicely varied and peppered with enemies from the series and new foes never seen before. I was certainly challenged and intrigued throughout my missions but I always felt there was that little something “special” missing. Like I said, the game plays very well…almost like you are the star player in the TV show…but it just felt kinda sterile.
The multiplayer mode pit up to 4-players in various scenarios (arenas) that are created in the Holodeck. These games were lots of fun and moved along at a nice clip, but were really secondary in comparison to the main 1-player experience.
The biggest disappointment though came in the area of the graphics. Using the Quake 3 engine, I was expecting some stellar texturing, jaw-dropping visuals and a smooth frame rate. I got one out of the three….
The graphics are way too reminiscent of an underpowered PC. Characters are extremely blocky and of low poly count. The backgrounds, while quite pleasing to eye from a distance, become a smeared mess up close and really take away from the overall atmosphere of the game. The color scheme used throughout the game was pleasing with nice varied use of shading and lighting effects, but I just could not get over the overall lack of artistic quality in the game. After seeing and playing a game like FFX I am getting “textured” spoiled…
To expand a bit more, the lighting and particle effects, which the PS2 is apparently extremely good at, are indeed well done. Weapon effects, explosions, fires are all represented as they should. All of this is also done at a constant 60fps. Even when the screen was virtually clogged with enemies, I didn’t experience any slowdown.
The Voyager universe is wonderfully captured in the sound and music department. As I mentioned earlier, the voice acting is superb. The sound effects are also right on the money and accurately mimic what you would expect to hear in this type of environment.
The musical score is familiar in parts and only makes itself apparent in key moments. It never interfered with the gameplay, but held that nice Star Trek “feel” throughout.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Tom Rooney © Absolute PlayStation
Click here to view our 9 Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force in-game screenshot slideshow
Have You Played Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force ?
If you have owned 'Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force' long enough to have formed a solid opinion on it, then click here to write your own mini review of Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force.
Alternatively, if you would like to read what other gamers who already own Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force think of it, click here to view all of our reader comments and mini reviews of Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force.
Want To Know More About Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force ?