Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
Encyclopedia
Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force is a first-person shooter
video game developed by Raven Software
and published by Activision
. The game was initially released on September 20, 2000 for Windows
and Mac OS
personal computers. Aspyr Media
was responsible for porting
the game to the Mac OS platform. Elite Force was later ported to the PlayStation 2
console by Pipe Dream Interactive and published by Majesco Entertainment
on December 11, 2001.
The game is set in the Star Trek
universe, specifically relating to the fourth Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Voyager
. The dates in the game place Elite Forces plot late in Voyagers sixth season. The player assumes the role of Ensign Alex Munro, a member of the Hazard Team, a new elite security section created to deal with particularly dangerous and hostile away missions. The game's plot focuses on the USS Voyager
being trapped in a starship graveyard
, heavily damaged and under attack from a variety of hostile factions. The Hazard Team is tasked with protecting Voyager as repairs are made, and investigating the cause of their entrapment.
Elite Force was one of several Star Trek games announced after Activision secured the license to Star Trek video games from Viacom
in 1998. The game was one of the first to license id Tech 3, a game engine
by id Software
used by a number of video games during the early 2000s. Elite Force was a critical success, and is often praised as the first truly successful Star Trek video game, able to appeal to people who were not Star Trek fans. Raven Software released an expansion pack
to the game in May 2001, whilst Wildstorm
adapted the story for a short graphic novel
in July 2000. A sequel developed by Ritual Entertainment
, Star Trek: Elite Force II
, was published in 2003.
An example of the first-person shooter
genre, Elite Force is based on gameplay conventions shared by multiple other games. The game is focused on story-driven combat within a 3D environment, with all activity viewed as if from the eyes of the game's protagonist. The player controls the movement of the player character
through walking, crouching, jumping or interacting with the environment. The only exception to this is in cut scenes, where the player loses control of the character to a third-person view for scripted events. The player character possesses numerical values for their health
and armor, which are displayed on the game's heads-up display
. As the player character takes damage from non-player character
s and certain aspects of the environment, both values will decrease; when the health value reaches zero, the player character will die. Armor lessens the impact to the player character's health from hostile action, but once depleted the player will be more susceptible to damage. However, both armor and health can be restored by using wall-mounted terminals or from receiving assistance from certain friendly non-player character
s such as the Doctor
.
Elite Force includes an arsenal of Star Trek–themed weapons, such as phasers and disruptors. The weapons vary in power, ammunition consumption and effectiveness in given situations. Usually, the player is equipped with a hand phaser, a low-damage weapon that automatically recharges ammunition, and a phaser compression rifle, a more powerful weapon with an optional sniper mode for long distance kills. Other weapons, acquired as the game progresses, include grenade launcher
s, stasis weaponry
and pulse energy weapons
. The player can restock on ammunition by using wall-mounted terminals that dispense weapon energy, or by picking up certain items in the game environment.
and the Klingon
s. Each group of enemies uses a different means of attacking: most humanoid enemies are armed with weapons similar to the player, and will use cover and squad tactics to attempt to kill the player character. The Borg differ from this in that, instead of using squad tactics, they eventually adapt their personal energy shields to most of the player's weapons, slowly rendering the player's attacks useless as they advance. Other enemies may attempt to swarm the player and eliminate them with melee attacks.
The player is usually accompanied by one or more friendly non-player characters, who will follow the player and provide assistance in combat against enemies. As they are often key to the story, friendly characters cannot be killed in combat except during scripted events. In between combat missions, the player can move around the USS Voyager
and interact with other members of its crew, often performing non-combat tasks to progress the story.
experience. Players can compete against other players in local area network
and Internet
games, or play against bots
, opponents that use the game's artificial intelligence
. Each player can choose one of a variety of Star Trek characters as their aesthetic player character in multiplayer. The initial release contained multiplayer game modes shared by other multiplayer games in the genre. The standard "deathmatch
" game mode involves each player moving around a level, collecting weaponry and killing the other players, with the first to reach a particular amount of kills winning. As player characters are killed, they respawn
into the game after a short time. "Team deathmatch" follows the same principle, albeit grouping the players into teams to do so. Capture the flag
involves two teams of players attempting to retrieve a flag within the other team's base and returning it to their own to score.
The Elite Force expansion pack added an additional five game types. In an "assimilation" match, one team plays as Borg and must attempt to assimilate the other team; if a player is assimilated, they join the Borg team, gradually reducing the amount of players on the other team. The "action hero" mode gives one player more weapons, health, and overall power than every other player, but when an opposing player kills this player they take these advantages. A further game type known as "elimination" is a deathmatch game except that players can't respawn. As player characters are killed, they sit out the remainder of the round until only one player is left alive. The "disintegration" mode gives every player a slow firing semi-automatic phaser rifle that will kill and vaporize an opposing player in one shot, thus requiring shots to be carefully aimed to ensure they hit. The final game mode, called "specialties," adds a class-based mode for team deathmatch and capture the flag modes, giving players the option to choose from one of six combat roles, such as a sniper, medic or infiltrator, each with different weapons, speeds and abilities.
vessel USS Voyager
, which is stranded by an enigmatic alien power in the Delta Quadrant
of the Milky Way
galaxy. 70,000 light-year
s from Federation
space, the series shows Voyagers effort to make the 75-year journey home. The stardate
of 53854.7 given in the game places Elite Force in the latter parts of the sixth season of Star Trek: Voyager, in the year 2376. Significant parts of the game are set on Voyager itself, although much of the game takes place on away missions to other ships and space stations. The player interacts with several races from the series, such as the Borg
, Hirogen
and Malon, as well as new species created solely for the game.
Elite Force incorporates a large cast of characters, both original characters created for the game and characters from the television series. All nine of the core Voyager characters in the sixth season appear, such as Captain Kathryn Janeway
and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok
, each voiced by the appropriate cast member from the television series. The only exception to this is the character of Seven of Nine
, who was voiced by Joan Buddenhagen in the initial release; however, actress Jeri Ryan
retroactively replaced Buddenhagen's voice through a later patch
and the expansion pack. The player takes on the role of Ensign Alex Munro; depending on the player's choice of gender, Alex is short for either Alexander or Alexandria. Munro is the second in command of an elite security force, the Hazard Team, a special unit created by Tuvok. Munro reports to Lieutenant Les Foster, the team's commanding officer. Although fourteen characters make up the Hazard Team, the player only interacts consistently with a limited number of these characters, among them Telsia Murphy, the team's scout
and sharpshooter, Austin Chang, a demolition
ist and good friend of Munro's, and Kendrick Biessman, a boisterous heavy weapons specialist. In addition, two core members of the Hazard Team are minor characters from the television series itself; Juliet Jurot, the team's combat medic
and a telepath
, is seen in the episode "Counterpoint", whilst Chell, the squad's technician
, is an apprehensive Bolian character who appears in several Voyager episodes. Most character development, such as Munro's growing relationship with Murphy, takes place between missions, when the player has the chance to explore areas of the ship and interact with the crew.
training exercise set on a Borg ship; however, the team fails the exercise as most get captured by the Borg, and Munro accidentally destroys the ship whilst trying to rescue them. Following the termination of the exercise, Voyager is attacked by an unidentified ship. Voyager manages to destroy the ship, but takes heavy damage in the battle. The hostile ship explodes, emitting a shockwave that teleports the now–crippled Voyager to an unknown location, surrounded by derelict ships. As the Voyager crew attempts repairs, the ship is boarded by scavengers, who steal some of Voyagers cargo supplies before being driven off. In an effort to establish where Voyager is, the Hazard Team is sent to a derelict ship where power is still functioning to download the derelict's database. The mission goes awry when aliens begin transporting in and attacking the team; however, the aliens, identifying themselves as Etherians, eventually manage to communicate with the team, and the ordeal is waved off as a misunderstanding, allowing the Hazard Team to access the Etherian database.
Through the Etherians, Voyager learns of an energy field being projected by a gigantic space station, the Forge, which is draining power and preventing repairs from being completed. To counteract the effects of the field, chief engineer B'Elanna Torres
suggests the use of a rare substance called isodesium, and the Hazard Team is sent on a stealth mission to the scavenger base to steal their supplies of isodesium. However, the mission is a disaster: despite acquiring the isodesium, one crewman is briefly captured and another team member is critically injured. As the team attempts to extract, Borg drones transport into the extraction point, killing a further team member, capturing Lieutenant Foster and taking the isodesium. In Foster's absence, Munro is made the team leader. Along with Seven of Nine, the team transports to the Borg cube to retrieve the isodesium. Whilst on the cube, Munro is given the chance to rescue Foster from assimilation by the Borg. Matters are complicated when the Borg corner the team, leveraging their freedom and the isodesium for assistance against a number of Species 8472
on board, a race highly resistant to the Borg. Although successful, the Borg attempt to assimilate the team; anticipating a double cross, however, Munro has Chang detonate an explosive in a sensitive part of the cube and the team escapes with the isodesium in the chaos.
As Voyager installs the isodesium, a ship is sent from the Forge to tear Voyager apart for resources. Tuvok leads the Hazard Team to a nearby derelict dreadnought gunship to use the gunship's weaponry to destroy the incoming ship, but is only successful in disabling it as it attaches to Voyager. Voyager is consequently swarmed by crab-like aliens intent on carrying off crew and cargo, although the crew manages to eliminate these aliens. Munro prompts the captain to counterattack, in order to destroy the dampening field projected by the station. The Hazard Team uses the Forge's ship to infiltrate the Forge and disable its defensive systems, allowing the Voyager crew to attack using shuttlecraft
; however, Crewman Biessman is killed while waiting for Voyagers reinforcements. The Forge's power core is destroyed, thereby dropping the dampening field. Munro, however, learns of the species behind the Forge, the Vohrsoth, and the station's true purpose: to harvest the genetic features of those trapped by the Forge to create an army designed for conquering the galaxy. Munro disobeys orders to ensure the Vohrsoth cannot recreate the Forge and kills the Vohrsoth commander. With power restored, Voyager attacks the Forge and destroys the station, beaming Munro off in the last few moments. Voyager and other active ships in the area are freed of the area, and Munro is promoted to lieutenant.
Publisher Activision
acquired the rights to produce Star Trek video games from Viacom
in September 1998. With Viacom leaving the video game industry, Activision's licensing agreement allowed the publisher to hold the rights to Star Trek video games for ten years. Elite Force was one of several Star Trek games announced shortly afterward. Developed by Raven Software
, a company whose past projects included the first-person shooters Heretic and Soldier of Fortune, Elite Force was developed using technology created by id Software
. Elite Force was one of the first games to license id Tech 3, the game engine
which debuted with Quake III: Arena. During late 1999 and early 2000, Raven revealed several screenshots and discussed the premise of the game, with Activision setting a release date for the second quarter of 2000. Activision presented a demonstration of Elite Force at the E3 convention in May 2000, alongside Away Team
and Bridge Commander
. In the months following the E3 convention, the biographies of several of the game's key characters were released as promotional material. On August 29, 2000, Activision announced that Raven Software had completed development on Elite Force, stating that the game would be released later in September. Elite Force was consequently published on September 20, 2000. Raven continued to support the game post-release, with the addition of patches and bonus content for the game's multiplayer mode.
In a June 2000 interview, Raven Software co-founder Brian Raffel stated that one of the objectives of the game was to make the player feel "like [they're] part of a Voyager episode". To this end, Elite Force extensively uses scripted sequences to interact with non-player character
s, convey plot information and build up the immersion in the game's setting, with Valve Software's first-person shooter title Half-Life cited as a direct inspiration. However, in contrast to Half-Life, the player is given the ability to influence the outcome of some scripted sequences, which can often involve the injury or death of other characters, sometimes with immediate or delayed repercussions depending on the player's actions. Over fifty in-game cut scenes were produced for Elite Force, in addition to computer-generated
cinematics. In addition, large portions of the USS Voyager were recreated from the series to enhance the player's immersion in the Star Trek setting.
published a graphic novel
based on Raven Software's story. The graphic novel was released in July 2000 as part of a Star Trek: Voyager graphic novel series produced by Wildstorm, written by British comic book authors Dan Abnett
and Andy Lanning
. The book's artwork was produced by Jeffrey Moy and W.C. Carani. The book follows a broadly similar storyline to that of the game, predominantly focusing on USS Voyager being trapped by the Forge, which is controlled by an ancient race, the Tarlus, for the purpose of creating an army to conquer the galaxy. The Elite Force graphic novel focuses on a limited number of the Hazard Team, and does not expand on the plot points created by the Etherians and the scavengers in the game, instead using the Borg to fill in these roles.
version of Elite Force was announced in late 2000. Whereas the original version of Elite Force had been published by Activision and developed by Raven Software, the PlayStation 2 version was published by Majesco Entertainment
and developed by their in-house studio, Pipe Dream Interactive. Elite Force was to be the second PlayStation 2 project undertaken by Majesco. The PlayStation 2 version of the game includes most of the same content as the computer version of the game, albeit that the game's graphics was simplified slightly for the console. Due to the lack of online support for the PlayStation 2, the port only allows for four players to compete in a multiplayer game. Pipe Dream paid particular attention to adjusting the controls of the game to suit the PlayStation 2's gamepad, introducing an auto-aim feature to assist the player. The first screenshots of the game were released in March 2001, and the game was released on December 11, 2001. An unofficial port of the multiplayer aspect of the game to the ioquake3 game engine was created, endorsed but not hosted by icculus.org. This allows the game to use the engine's more advanced effects, use ioquake3 compatible extensions, and run on more operating systems such as Linux
. Raven had previously released a dedicated server for Linux, but the unofficial port allows the game to be hosted and played on Linux.
to the computer version of Elite Force was announced by Activision in February 2001. The expansion pack does not add new campaign content in the conventional sense, rather adding a "Virtual Voyager" mode to the game, allowing the player to explore ten more decks of the ship. Within these ten levels, the player can interact with a variety of characters, collect secret items and operate various ship functions such as using replicators
, reading characters' personal logs and accessing the ship's computer files. Two new combat campaigns are added, integrated as holodeck
programs; the first revolves around Tom Paris
' black-and-white Captain Proton hobby, while the second is based around an infiltration mission into a Klingon base. In addition, five new multiplayer modes were introduced. Development was completed on May 5, 2001, and the expansion pack was released on May 16, 2001. With ratings of 59 percent and 62 percent on the aggregator sites Game Rankings
and Metacritic
, respectively, the expansion did not enjoy the critical acclaim of the original material. While the pack was considered to maintain its predecessor's production values, it was thought to lack the focus and breadth of the original game. As well as updating the original to the latest version, the expansion pack also replaced Joan Buddenhagen's Seven of Nine character voice with that of Jeri Ryan.
on April 4, 2002. The game was the last Star Trek title to be developed under Activision's supervision, following a dispute with Star Trek licensing holder Viacom, and was produced by Ritual Entertainment
. Like Elite Force, Elite Force II was developed on the id Tech 3 game engine, one of the last games to do so. Most of the core Hazard Team characters return in Elite Force II, this time set on the USS Enterprise-E
following the events of the tenth film, Star Trek Nemesis. Elite Force II was released in June 2003 to favorable reviews from critics, although with ratings of 80 percent and 78 percent on the review aggregator sites Game Rankings and Metacritic, it was not as successful as its predecessor.
and Game Rankings
. Although sales figures for Elite Force have not been released, the game's sales were reported to have significantly contributed to Activision's revenues for the second quarter of 2000. Praise was bestowed on the game's story, level design, gameplay and graphics, although criticisms focused on the perceived short length of the game's single-player campaign. In addition, Elite Force was recipient to several Editor's Choice commendations from individual publications.
A number of reviews praised Elite Forces gameplay and level design. The battles were described by GameSpot
as "particularly intense", enhanced by friendly non-player characters being "surprisingly responsive" in combat, giving the player the sense that they are "not doing all the fighting by [themselves]". While GameSpy
voiced the view that Elite Force does not deviate radically from other games in the genre, it stated that "what it does do, it does extremely well". Admiring the game's pacing, GameSpy noted that the use of periods with character interaction rather than combat helped prevent the game becoming a "continuous onslaught" and allowed the story to flow smoothly, a point echoed by GameSpot. However, both GameSpot and GameSpy were critical of the game's artificial intelligence in some circumstances, leading friendly characters to get in the way of the player during firefights. IGN
was impressed with the variety of gameplay, from finding solutions to problems in coordination with other characters, engaging in stealth missions and pursuing a wide selection of objectives within the individual missions. Several reviewers were complimentary towards the design of the weapons in the game, commenting that they were powerful and fun to use as well as fitting for the Star Trek theme.
The game's graphics were thought to be very good, using the id Tech 3 engine effectively. Describing the graphics as superb, Game Revolution
commented that "from detailed weapons to terrific lighting effects to smooth character animation, everything just looks great". Eurogamer
commented that the characters were "very well done" on the engine, although Allgame
felt that the character models for the original Voyager cast were "just a little off". Other reviewers were equally impressed; IGN described the graphics as "fantastic" while GameSpy commented that "in each environment it's obvious that the artists were limited only by their imaginations".
Elite Forces attention to immersing the player within the Star Trek universe was praised as one of the stronger points of the game; GamePro
suggested that even people who were not fans of the franchise "will marvel at the amount of detail in the ships and characters", further praising the game's "faithful" recreation of key sets of the USS Voyager in the TV series. Many reviewers were positive towards the game's story, GameSpy suggesting that the plot "really draws you in", while IGN praised the story as one in stark contrast to many of the poorly produced storylines used in the TV series. However, many reviewers felt that the game's single-player campaign was too short, while others felt the game's closing levels were disappointing.
Due to shared technology and similar gameplay conventions, critics often compared Elite Forces multiplayer to that in Quake III: Arena, with varied opinions. For their part, Raven Software stated that so little had been fundamentally changed that the multiplayer could almost be labeled as a modification
of Quake III. Game Revolution commented that the multiplayer felt more refined than that in Quake III and innovative in its attempt to mimic a holodeck
, and while Eurogamer agreed with the latter, criticisms were directed towards the gameplay seeming "very slow and unexciting". However, other reviewers disagreed; IGN described the multiplayer as "a solid experience", and GamePro expressed that it helped compensate for the short length of the single-player campaign.
There was a consensus amongst reviewers that Elite Force was the first truly successful Star Trek game, standing out from past titles deemed to be mediocre in quality and design. Game Revolution stated that Elite Force managed to "fight off the curse which until now has plagued most Star Trek action games", while IGN enthusiastically proclaimed "Trekkies, rejoice! You've finally got something to be proud of". GamePro further commented that "you don't even have to be a full-fledged Trekker to appreciate the gaming goodness that Elite Force has to offer". GameSpot put Elite Forces success down to the influence of Half-Life and its expansion Opposing Force
, noting that the influence of these games is "evident in Elite Forces level design". GameSpy closed its review by putting Elite Force as one of the year's best first-person shooters, and "almost certainly the best Star Trek game period, a franchise infamous for its string of bad titles". Likewise, PC Gamer UK commended the game as "the best Star Trek game ever, and a first-rate FPS in its own right".
Although the original PC version of Elite Force gained critical acclaim, the 2001 PlayStation 2 port received a more negative reception. Majesco's port of the game garnered mediocre reviews, holding scores of 54 percent and 52 percent on Game Rankings and Metacritic respectively. While the level design, story and atmosphere were praised, critics were negative towards what was seen to be a poorly performed port, with complaints focused on difficult controls, graphical problems and frame rate
issues. In addition, the artificial intelligence was deemed to be significantly worse than the earlier PC incarnation of the game. Several reviews suggested that Majesco had simply not put effort into the port, resulting in a level of quality behind that which was expected of PlayStation 2 games at the time.
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game developed by Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
and published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
. The game was initially released on September 20, 2000 for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
personal computers. Aspyr Media
Aspyr Media
Aspyr Media, Inc. is an Austin, Texas based company that specializes in porting Windows games to Mac OS. It has been in business since 1996, and as of 2003 owns 60 percent of the Mac entertainment market...
was responsible for porting
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
the game to the Mac OS platform. Elite Force was later ported to the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
console by Pipe Dream Interactive and published by Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment is a video game publisher founded in 1986.-History:Majesco first made a name as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices dramatically and, eventually, arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both Nintendo...
on December 11, 2001.
The game is set in the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe, specifically relating to the fourth Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
. The dates in the game place Elite Forces plot late in Voyagers sixth season. The player assumes the role of Ensign Alex Munro, a member of the Hazard Team, a new elite security section created to deal with particularly dangerous and hostile away missions. The game's plot focuses on the USS Voyager
USS Voyager (Star Trek)
The fictional Intrepid-class starship USS Voyager is the primary setting of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. It is commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway....
being trapped in a starship graveyard
Ship graveyard
A ship graveyard or ship cemetery is a location where the hulls of scrapped ships are left to decay and disintegrate, or left in reserve...
, heavily damaged and under attack from a variety of hostile factions. The Hazard Team is tasked with protecting Voyager as repairs are made, and investigating the cause of their entrapment.
Elite Force was one of several Star Trek games announced after Activision secured the license to Star Trek video games from Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
in 1998. The game was one of the first to license id Tech 3, a game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
used by a number of video games during the early 2000s. Elite Force was a critical success, and is often praised as the first truly successful Star Trek video game, able to appeal to people who were not Star Trek fans. Raven Software released an expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
to the game in May 2001, whilst Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
adapted the story for a short graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
in July 2000. A sequel developed by Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment was a computer game software developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller and Tom Mustaine...
, Star Trek: Elite Force II
Star Trek: Elite Force II
Star Trek: Elite Force II is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by Activision. It was released on June 20, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. Elite Force II is a sequel to 2000's Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force...
, was published in 2003.
Gameplay
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
genre, Elite Force is based on gameplay conventions shared by multiple other games. The game is focused on story-driven combat within a 3D environment, with all activity viewed as if from the eyes of the game's protagonist. The player controls the movement of the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
through walking, crouching, jumping or interacting with the environment. The only exception to this is in cut scenes, where the player loses control of the character to a third-person view for scripted events. The player character possesses numerical values for their health
Health (game mechanic)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
and armor, which are displayed on the game's heads-up display
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
. As the player character takes damage from non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s and certain aspects of the environment, both values will decrease; when the health value reaches zero, the player character will die. Armor lessens the impact to the player character's health from hostile action, but once depleted the player will be more susceptible to damage. However, both armor and health can be restored by using wall-mounted terminals or from receiving assistance from certain friendly non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s such as the Doctor
Doctor (Star Trek)
The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram Mark I , is a fictional character from the television series Star Trek: Voyager, played by actor Robert Picardo...
.
Elite Force includes an arsenal of Star Trek–themed weapons, such as phasers and disruptors. The weapons vary in power, ammunition consumption and effectiveness in given situations. Usually, the player is equipped with a hand phaser, a low-damage weapon that automatically recharges ammunition, and a phaser compression rifle, a more powerful weapon with an optional sniper mode for long distance kills. Other weapons, acquired as the game progresses, include grenade launcher
Grenade launcher
A grenade launcher or grenade discharger is a weapon that launches a grenade with more accuracy, higher velocity, and to greater distances than a soldier could throw it by hand....
s, stasis weaponry
Stasis (fiction)
Stasis , or hypersleep, is a science fiction concept akin to suspended animation. Whereas suspended animation usually refers to a greatly reduced state of life processes, stasis implies a complete cessation of these processes, which can be easily restarted or restart spontaneously when stasis is...
and pulse energy weapons
Pulsed power
Pulsed power is the term used to describe the science and technology of accumulating energy over a relatively long period of time and releasing it very quickly thus increasing the instantaneous power.-Overview:...
. The player can restock on ammunition by using wall-mounted terminals that dispense weapon energy, or by picking up certain items in the game environment.
Single-player
The game's single-player campaign consists of around 30 linear levels, divided up into eight distinct missions. Missions have different objectives, from retrieving a particular item and accessing computer systems, escorting a friendly character through hostile territory, or destroying vital ship and station components. Enemies come in multiple forms in the game, often as Star Trek species such as the BorgBorg (Star Trek)
The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
and the Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
s. Each group of enemies uses a different means of attacking: most humanoid enemies are armed with weapons similar to the player, and will use cover and squad tactics to attempt to kill the player character. The Borg differ from this in that, instead of using squad tactics, they eventually adapt their personal energy shields to most of the player's weapons, slowly rendering the player's attacks useless as they advance. Other enemies may attempt to swarm the player and eliminate them with melee attacks.
The player is usually accompanied by one or more friendly non-player characters, who will follow the player and provide assistance in combat against enemies. As they are often key to the story, friendly characters cannot be killed in combat except during scripted events. In between combat missions, the player can move around the USS Voyager
USS Voyager (Star Trek)
The fictional Intrepid-class starship USS Voyager is the primary setting of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. It is commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway....
and interact with other members of its crew, often performing non-combat tasks to progress the story.
Multiplayer
Elite Force was originally released with a 32-player multiplayer element, in which participants use the weaponry and characters from the single-player game to compete in several different game modes. Referred to as a "holomatch", the multiplayer is themed as though it were a holodeckHolodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
experience. Players can compete against other players in local area network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
and Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
games, or play against bots
Computer game bot
A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison,...
, opponents that use the game's artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
. Each player can choose one of a variety of Star Trek characters as their aesthetic player character in multiplayer. The initial release contained multiplayer game modes shared by other multiplayer games in the genre. The standard "deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
" game mode involves each player moving around a level, collecting weaponry and killing the other players, with the first to reach a particular amount of kills winning. As player characters are killed, they respawn
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
into the game after a short time. "Team deathmatch" follows the same principle, albeit grouping the players into teams to do so. Capture the flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
involves two teams of players attempting to retrieve a flag within the other team's base and returning it to their own to score.
The Elite Force expansion pack added an additional five game types. In an "assimilation" match, one team plays as Borg and must attempt to assimilate the other team; if a player is assimilated, they join the Borg team, gradually reducing the amount of players on the other team. The "action hero" mode gives one player more weapons, health, and overall power than every other player, but when an opposing player kills this player they take these advantages. A further game type known as "elimination" is a deathmatch game except that players can't respawn. As player characters are killed, they sit out the remainder of the round until only one player is left alive. The "disintegration" mode gives every player a slow firing semi-automatic phaser rifle that will kill and vaporize an opposing player in one shot, thus requiring shots to be carefully aimed to ensure they hit. The final game mode, called "specialties," adds a class-based mode for team deathmatch and capture the flag modes, giving players the option to choose from one of six combat roles, such as a sniper, medic or infiltrator, each with different weapons, speeds and abilities.
Setting
Elite Force is based on the fourth Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Voyager. The series follows the adventures of the StarfleetStarfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
vessel USS Voyager
USS Voyager (Star Trek)
The fictional Intrepid-class starship USS Voyager is the primary setting of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. It is commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway....
, which is stranded by an enigmatic alien power in the Delta Quadrant
Galactic quadrant
A galactic quadrant, or quadrant of the galaxy, refers to one of four circular sectors in the division of the Milky Way galaxy.-Quadrants in the galactic coordinate system:...
of the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
galaxy. 70,000 light-year
Light-year
A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s from Federation
United Federation of Planets
The United Federation of Planets, also known as "The Federation" is a fictional interplanetary federal republic depicted in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures...
space, the series shows Voyagers effort to make the 75-year journey home. The stardate
Stardate
A stardate is a date in the fictional system of time measurement developed for Star Trek, commonly heard at the beginning of a voiceover log entry such as "Captain's log, stardate 41153.7...
of 53854.7 given in the game places Elite Force in the latter parts of the sixth season of Star Trek: Voyager, in the year 2376. Significant parts of the game are set on Voyager itself, although much of the game takes place on away missions to other ships and space stations. The player interacts with several races from the series, such as the Borg
Borg (Star Trek)
The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
, Hirogen
Hirogen
The Hirogen are a fictional race in the Star Trek universe, a long-running plot device in the Star Trek: Voyager television series, appearing nine times in Seasons 4-7....
and Malon, as well as new species created solely for the game.
Characters
Kathryn Janeway
Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. As the captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, she was the lead character on the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and later, a Starfleet admiral, as seen in the 2002 feature film Star Trek...
and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok
Tuvok
Tuvok is one of the main characters on the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Tuvok is a Vulcan who serves as the ship's chief of security and its chief tactical officer. Tim Russ portrayed Tuvok throughout the show's run, from 1995 to 2001....
, each voiced by the appropriate cast member from the television series. The only exception to this is the character of Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine is a fictional character on Star Trek: Voyager, portrayed by actress Jeri Ryan. Born human, she was assimilated by the Borg at the age of six. Eighteen years later, Voyager left Borg space with Seven on board, after attempts to negotiate passage through Borg space proved only...
, who was voiced by Joan Buddenhagen in the initial release; however, actress Jeri Ryan
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Lynn Zimmermann Ryan is an American actress best known for her roles as the liberated Borg, Seven of Nine, on Star Trek: Voyager; Tara Cole on Leverage; and Veronica "Ronnie" Cooke on Boston Public. She was also a regular on the science fiction show Dark Skies and the legal drama series...
retroactively replaced Buddenhagen's voice through a later patch
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
and the expansion pack. The player takes on the role of Ensign Alex Munro; depending on the player's choice of gender, Alex is short for either Alexander or Alexandria. Munro is the second in command of an elite security force, the Hazard Team, a special unit created by Tuvok. Munro reports to Lieutenant Les Foster, the team's commanding officer. Although fourteen characters make up the Hazard Team, the player only interacts consistently with a limited number of these characters, among them Telsia Murphy, the team's scout
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
and sharpshooter, Austin Chang, a demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
ist and good friend of Munro's, and Kendrick Biessman, a boisterous heavy weapons specialist. In addition, two core members of the Hazard Team are minor characters from the television series itself; Juliet Jurot, the team's combat medic
Combat medic
Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...
and a telepath
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, is seen in the episode "Counterpoint", whilst Chell, the squad's technician
Engineering technician
An engineering technician is a specialist who is trained in the skills and techniques related to a specific branch of engineering, with relatively practical understanding of the general engineering concepts...
, is an apprehensive Bolian character who appears in several Voyager episodes. Most character development, such as Munro's growing relationship with Murphy, takes place between missions, when the player has the chance to explore areas of the ship and interact with the crew.
Plot
The game opens with the Hazard Team conducting a holodeckHolodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
training exercise set on a Borg ship; however, the team fails the exercise as most get captured by the Borg, and Munro accidentally destroys the ship whilst trying to rescue them. Following the termination of the exercise, Voyager is attacked by an unidentified ship. Voyager manages to destroy the ship, but takes heavy damage in the battle. The hostile ship explodes, emitting a shockwave that teleports the now–crippled Voyager to an unknown location, surrounded by derelict ships. As the Voyager crew attempts repairs, the ship is boarded by scavengers, who steal some of Voyagers cargo supplies before being driven off. In an effort to establish where Voyager is, the Hazard Team is sent to a derelict ship where power is still functioning to download the derelict's database. The mission goes awry when aliens begin transporting in and attacking the team; however, the aliens, identifying themselves as Etherians, eventually manage to communicate with the team, and the ordeal is waved off as a misunderstanding, allowing the Hazard Team to access the Etherian database.
Through the Etherians, Voyager learns of an energy field being projected by a gigantic space station, the Forge, which is draining power and preventing repairs from being completed. To counteract the effects of the field, chief engineer B'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres is a main character in Star Trek: Voyager played by Roxann Dawson. She is portrayed as a half-human half-Klingon born in 2349 on the Federation colony Kessik IV. Torres joined the Maquis in 2370 and was serving on the Val Jean when brought to the Delta Quadrant...
suggests the use of a rare substance called isodesium, and the Hazard Team is sent on a stealth mission to the scavenger base to steal their supplies of isodesium. However, the mission is a disaster: despite acquiring the isodesium, one crewman is briefly captured and another team member is critically injured. As the team attempts to extract, Borg drones transport into the extraction point, killing a further team member, capturing Lieutenant Foster and taking the isodesium. In Foster's absence, Munro is made the team leader. Along with Seven of Nine, the team transports to the Borg cube to retrieve the isodesium. Whilst on the cube, Munro is given the chance to rescue Foster from assimilation by the Borg. Matters are complicated when the Borg corner the team, leveraging their freedom and the isodesium for assistance against a number of Species 8472
Species 8472
Species 8472 is a fictional extraterrestrial race in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. They inhabit another dimension called fluidic space. These beings are rendered by animation from Foundation Imaging, Inc...
on board, a race highly resistant to the Borg. Although successful, the Borg attempt to assimilate the team; anticipating a double cross, however, Munro has Chang detonate an explosive in a sensitive part of the cube and the team escapes with the isodesium in the chaos.
As Voyager installs the isodesium, a ship is sent from the Forge to tear Voyager apart for resources. Tuvok leads the Hazard Team to a nearby derelict dreadnought gunship to use the gunship's weaponry to destroy the incoming ship, but is only successful in disabling it as it attaches to Voyager. Voyager is consequently swarmed by crab-like aliens intent on carrying off crew and cargo, although the crew manages to eliminate these aliens. Munro prompts the captain to counterattack, in order to destroy the dampening field projected by the station. The Hazard Team uses the Forge's ship to infiltrate the Forge and disable its defensive systems, allowing the Voyager crew to attack using shuttlecraft
Shuttlecraft (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, a shuttlecraft is a small auxiliary spaceship carried by the larger craft such as the Enterprise. Shuttlecraft were documented in the writer's guide for the series in 1966 and first appeared in the episode The Galileo Seven. Galileo was the name of the...
; however, Crewman Biessman is killed while waiting for Voyagers reinforcements. The Forge's power core is destroyed, thereby dropping the dampening field. Munro, however, learns of the species behind the Forge, the Vohrsoth, and the station's true purpose: to harvest the genetic features of those trapped by the Forge to create an army designed for conquering the galaxy. Munro disobeys orders to ensure the Vohrsoth cannot recreate the Forge and kills the Vohrsoth commander. With power restored, Voyager attacks the Forge and destroys the station, beaming Munro off in the last few moments. Voyager and other active ships in the area are freed of the area, and Munro is promoted to lieutenant.
Development
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
acquired the rights to produce Star Trek video games from Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
in September 1998. With Viacom leaving the video game industry, Activision's licensing agreement allowed the publisher to hold the rights to Star Trek video games for ten years. Elite Force was one of several Star Trek games announced shortly afterward. Developed by Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
, a company whose past projects included the first-person shooters Heretic and Soldier of Fortune, Elite Force was developed using technology created by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
. Elite Force was one of the first games to license id Tech 3, the game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
which debuted with Quake III: Arena. During late 1999 and early 2000, Raven revealed several screenshots and discussed the premise of the game, with Activision setting a release date for the second quarter of 2000. Activision presented a demonstration of Elite Force at the E3 convention in May 2000, alongside Away Team
Star Trek: Away Team
Star Trek: Away Team is an isometric real-time tactics game set in the fictional universe of Star Trek and focusing on commando-style reconnaissance and combat...
and Bridge Commander
Star Trek: Bridge Commander
Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a space combat simulation game for the PC, published by Activision and Totally Games in 2002, based in the Star Trek universe....
. In the months following the E3 convention, the biographies of several of the game's key characters were released as promotional material. On August 29, 2000, Activision announced that Raven Software had completed development on Elite Force, stating that the game would be released later in September. Elite Force was consequently published on September 20, 2000. Raven continued to support the game post-release, with the addition of patches and bonus content for the game's multiplayer mode.
In a June 2000 interview, Raven Software co-founder Brian Raffel stated that one of the objectives of the game was to make the player feel "like [they're] part of a Voyager episode". To this end, Elite Force extensively uses scripted sequences to interact with non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s, convey plot information and build up the immersion in the game's setting, with Valve Software's first-person shooter title Half-Life cited as a direct inspiration. However, in contrast to Half-Life, the player is given the ability to influence the outcome of some scripted sequences, which can often involve the injury or death of other characters, sometimes with immediate or delayed repercussions depending on the player's actions. Over fifty in-game cut scenes were produced for Elite Force, in addition to computer-generated
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
cinematics. In addition, large portions of the USS Voyager were recreated from the series to enhance the player's immersion in the Star Trek setting.
Graphic novel
Prior to the release of Elite Force, WildstormWildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
published a graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
based on Raven Software's story. The graphic novel was released in July 2000 as part of a Star Trek: Voyager graphic novel series produced by Wildstorm, written by British comic book authors Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
and Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning is a British comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett.-Career:Lanning works primarily at Marvel Comics and DC Comics as an inker...
. The book's artwork was produced by Jeffrey Moy and W.C. Carani. The book follows a broadly similar storyline to that of the game, predominantly focusing on USS Voyager being trapped by the Forge, which is controlled by an ancient race, the Tarlus, for the purpose of creating an army to conquer the galaxy. The Elite Force graphic novel focuses on a limited number of the Hazard Team, and does not expand on the plot points created by the Etherians and the scavengers in the game, instead using the Borg to fill in these roles.
PS2 port
The development of a PlayStation 2PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
version of Elite Force was announced in late 2000. Whereas the original version of Elite Force had been published by Activision and developed by Raven Software, the PlayStation 2 version was published by Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment is a video game publisher founded in 1986.-History:Majesco first made a name as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices dramatically and, eventually, arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both Nintendo...
and developed by their in-house studio, Pipe Dream Interactive. Elite Force was to be the second PlayStation 2 project undertaken by Majesco. The PlayStation 2 version of the game includes most of the same content as the computer version of the game, albeit that the game's graphics was simplified slightly for the console. Due to the lack of online support for the PlayStation 2, the port only allows for four players to compete in a multiplayer game. Pipe Dream paid particular attention to adjusting the controls of the game to suit the PlayStation 2's gamepad, introducing an auto-aim feature to assist the player. The first screenshots of the game were released in March 2001, and the game was released on December 11, 2001. An unofficial port of the multiplayer aspect of the game to the ioquake3 game engine was created, endorsed but not hosted by icculus.org. This allows the game to use the engine's more advanced effects, use ioquake3 compatible extensions, and run on more operating systems such as Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. Raven had previously released a dedicated server for Linux, but the unofficial port allows the game to be hosted and played on Linux.
Expansion Pack for PC
An expansion packExpansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
to the computer version of Elite Force was announced by Activision in February 2001. The expansion pack does not add new campaign content in the conventional sense, rather adding a "Virtual Voyager" mode to the game, allowing the player to explore ten more decks of the ship. Within these ten levels, the player can interact with a variety of characters, collect secret items and operate various ship functions such as using replicators
Replicator (Star Trek)
In Star Trek a replicator is a machine capable of creating objects. Replicators were originally seen used to synthesize meals on demand, but in later series they took on many other uses.-Origins and limitations:...
, reading characters' personal logs and accessing the ship's computer files. Two new combat campaigns are added, integrated as holodeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
programs; the first revolves around Tom Paris
Tom Paris
Thomas Eugene "Tom" Paris, played by Robert Duncan McNeill, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Paris serves as the chief helmsman and an auxiliary medic aboard the USS Voyager...
' black-and-white Captain Proton hobby, while the second is based around an infiltration mission into a Klingon base. In addition, five new multiplayer modes were introduced. Development was completed on May 5, 2001, and the expansion pack was released on May 16, 2001. With ratings of 59 percent and 62 percent on the aggregator sites Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, respectively, the expansion did not enjoy the critical acclaim of the original material. While the pack was considered to maintain its predecessor's production values, it was thought to lack the focus and breadth of the original game. As well as updating the original to the latest version, the expansion pack also replaced Joan Buddenhagen's Seven of Nine character voice with that of Jeri Ryan.
Elite Force II
Towards the end of March 2002, rumors were reported that a sequel to Elite Force was in development. Activision confirmed these rumors at the beginning of April, officially announcing Star Trek: Elite Force IIStar Trek: Elite Force II
Star Trek: Elite Force II is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by Activision. It was released on June 20, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. Elite Force II is a sequel to 2000's Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force...
on April 4, 2002. The game was the last Star Trek title to be developed under Activision's supervision, following a dispute with Star Trek licensing holder Viacom, and was produced by Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment was a computer game software developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller and Tom Mustaine...
. Like Elite Force, Elite Force II was developed on the id Tech 3 game engine, one of the last games to do so. Most of the core Hazard Team characters return in Elite Force II, this time set on the USS Enterprise-E
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
The USS Enterprise is a Sovereign-class starship in the Star Trek franchise. It serves as the primary setting of the films Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
following the events of the tenth film, Star Trek Nemesis. Elite Force II was released in June 2003 to favorable reviews from critics, although with ratings of 80 percent and 78 percent on the review aggregator sites Game Rankings and Metacritic, it was not as successful as its predecessor.
Reception
Elite Force was a critical success, scoring 86 percent on the review aggregator sites MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
. Although sales figures for Elite Force have not been released, the game's sales were reported to have significantly contributed to Activision's revenues for the second quarter of 2000. Praise was bestowed on the game's story, level design, gameplay and graphics, although criticisms focused on the perceived short length of the game's single-player campaign. In addition, Elite Force was recipient to several Editor's Choice commendations from individual publications.
A number of reviews praised Elite Forces gameplay and level design. The battles were described by GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
as "particularly intense", enhanced by friendly non-player characters being "surprisingly responsive" in combat, giving the player the sense that they are "not doing all the fighting by [themselves]". While GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
voiced the view that Elite Force does not deviate radically from other games in the genre, it stated that "what it does do, it does extremely well". Admiring the game's pacing, GameSpy noted that the use of periods with character interaction rather than combat helped prevent the game becoming a "continuous onslaught" and allowed the story to flow smoothly, a point echoed by GameSpot. However, both GameSpot and GameSpy were critical of the game's artificial intelligence in some circumstances, leading friendly characters to get in the way of the player during firefights. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
was impressed with the variety of gameplay, from finding solutions to problems in coordination with other characters, engaging in stealth missions and pursuing a wide selection of objectives within the individual missions. Several reviewers were complimentary towards the design of the weapons in the game, commenting that they were powerful and fun to use as well as fitting for the Star Trek theme.
The game's graphics were thought to be very good, using the id Tech 3 engine effectively. Describing the graphics as superb, Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...
commented that "from detailed weapons to terrific lighting effects to smooth character animation, everything just looks great". Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
commented that the characters were "very well done" on the engine, although Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
felt that the character models for the original Voyager cast were "just a little off". Other reviewers were equally impressed; IGN described the graphics as "fantastic" while GameSpy commented that "in each environment it's obvious that the artists were limited only by their imaginations".
Elite Forces attention to immersing the player within the Star Trek universe was praised as one of the stronger points of the game; GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
suggested that even people who were not fans of the franchise "will marvel at the amount of detail in the ships and characters", further praising the game's "faithful" recreation of key sets of the USS Voyager in the TV series. Many reviewers were positive towards the game's story, GameSpy suggesting that the plot "really draws you in", while IGN praised the story as one in stark contrast to many of the poorly produced storylines used in the TV series. However, many reviewers felt that the game's single-player campaign was too short, while others felt the game's closing levels were disappointing.
Due to shared technology and similar gameplay conventions, critics often compared Elite Forces multiplayer to that in Quake III: Arena, with varied opinions. For their part, Raven Software stated that so little had been fundamentally changed that the multiplayer could almost be labeled as a modification
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
of Quake III. Game Revolution commented that the multiplayer felt more refined than that in Quake III and innovative in its attempt to mimic a holodeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
, and while Eurogamer agreed with the latter, criticisms were directed towards the gameplay seeming "very slow and unexciting". However, other reviewers disagreed; IGN described the multiplayer as "a solid experience", and GamePro expressed that it helped compensate for the short length of the single-player campaign.
There was a consensus amongst reviewers that Elite Force was the first truly successful Star Trek game, standing out from past titles deemed to be mediocre in quality and design. Game Revolution stated that Elite Force managed to "fight off the curse which until now has plagued most Star Trek action games", while IGN enthusiastically proclaimed "Trekkies, rejoice! You've finally got something to be proud of". GamePro further commented that "you don't even have to be a full-fledged Trekker to appreciate the gaming goodness that Elite Force has to offer". GameSpot put Elite Forces success down to the influence of Half-Life and its expansion Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for...
, noting that the influence of these games is "evident in Elite Forces level design". GameSpy closed its review by putting Elite Force as one of the year's best first-person shooters, and "almost certainly the best Star Trek game period, a franchise infamous for its string of bad titles". Likewise, PC Gamer UK commended the game as "the best Star Trek game ever, and a first-rate FPS in its own right".
Although the original PC version of Elite Force gained critical acclaim, the 2001 PlayStation 2 port received a more negative reception. Majesco's port of the game garnered mediocre reviews, holding scores of 54 percent and 52 percent on Game Rankings and Metacritic respectively. While the level design, story and atmosphere were praised, critics were negative towards what was seen to be a poorly performed port, with complaints focused on difficult controls, graphical problems and frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
issues. In addition, the artificial intelligence was deemed to be significantly worse than the earlier PC incarnation of the game. Several reviews suggested that Majesco had simply not put effort into the port, resulting in a level of quality behind that which was expected of PlayStation 2 games at the time.
External links
- Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force official website at Raven SoftwareRaven SoftwareRaven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
- Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force at Memory AlphaMemory AlphaMemory Alpha is a wiki that is an encyclopedic reference for topics related to the Star Trek fictional universe. Conceived by Harry Doddema and Dan Carlson in September 2003 and officially launched on December 5 of that year, it uses the wiki model and is hosted by Wikia, Inc. on the MediaWiki...
, a WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
project - Hazard team at Memory Beta, a WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
project