Reviewed by: BobiRoka
Developer: Raven Software / The Collective
Publisher: Activision / Pan Interactive

Normally Star Trek games are crap (Now don't hold back Rob! - Ed), but last year was a frighteningly good one for Gene Rodenberry's brainchild. The two obvious favourites were Raven's Elite Force and The Collective's The Fallen which were based on long reigning spin-offs Voyager and Deep Space Nine. While it must be made clear that I'm not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, I have watched and enjoyed episodes of both series' and haven't missed a full-length Star Trek motion picture yet. Now that we're on an even keel let's take a look at these two pretenders to the 'Best Star Trek Game Ever' throne…

Star Trek - Voyager: Elite Force

In the red corner we have Raven's latest first person shooter, Elite Force. You play Ensign Munro, second-in-command of the Hazard Team; a crack commando unit set up by ethnic Vulcan dude Tuvok to deal with extremely dangerous circumstances that coincidentally make great 3D action games. Sorry, I can't help it. I must temper my English cynicism.

Elite Force is quite proud of the fact that it's been designed around the Quake 3 Engine. 'Powered by Quake 3' it says on the box, and so it should because this game IS Quake 3 - albeit with a story… and lots more. Raven have been chipping away at the FPS block for a while now. They almost got it right with Soldier of Fortune, but can they do this license justice? Well graphically, Hell Yeah! They've actually mapped out a huge amount of Voyager itself and some of the alien environments are truly mind-blowing. Curved surfaces have been employed all over the place and some of the baddies are incredibly detailed. We all know how slick and good looking Quake 3 was. Elite Force takes it one stage further by having levels rather than maps and objectives instead of a Fragometer.

Of course, none of this would be worthwhile without audio to match and I'm advocate of this more than ever since I got one of those Soundblaster Live 1024 cards and discovered 3D sound. Music is lifted straight from the series and complemented with additional scoring to suit the frequent tension throughout the game. Voice acting is handled excellently by the real life cast of Voyager. The Borg sound just like the Borg. "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE' you hear from behind you as you realise what a mess you've made of your trousers. It really is that scary.

In recent years it has been discovered that an immersive single player game needs to be based inside a truly believable and interactive game world. As games like Half-Life and Deus Ex have shown us, there is no better way of achieving this that with the implementation of non-player characters. Gone are the days of a lone warrior taking out wave after wave of mutant alien scum with only a comlink for company (if you're lucky). This style of game is well taken care of by multiplayer games where the challenge has evolved into fighting human adversaries. For the single player game to truly survive in the 21st century, it must be the story that shines. I'm pleased to say Elite Force does not disappoint.

The narrative is communicated to the player in game just like Half-Life with cutscenes to show off more cinematic aspects. In most missions you will find yourself with other members of the Hazard Team. All have their different personalities, which range from gung-ho to cowardly, humorous to plain straight. Some characters will require cover in dangerous situations while others will be more than happy to watch your arse. Certain Team members may advise you to do certain tasks while others may attempt to talk you out of it. Although this is a linear game, some of your actions will provoke different reactions from the rest of the team, which I thought helped superbly to suck you into the story. Unfortunately, you have no control over NPCs as this is all handled by cutscenes and pre-scripted events, but the AI is excellent and I discovered no idiotic walking into walls or suchlike. Activate a lift and it doesn't move until all your team is assembled on it. Walk into an enemy infested room and both sides will look for cover and take firing positions. Yes, I know it's very Half-Life, but that really is no bad thing. It makes Elite Force a damn good game instead of a very average one.

Multiplayer thrills come in the form of Elite Force Holomatch which has it's own desktop icon and is effectively a completely separate game. Unfortunately, it's really just a Voyager mod for Quake 3 Arena. It plays just the same, but the maps aren't anything special and the weapons balancing is questionable. I can't think of any other reason play this except for the sake of variety (or if you don't have Quake 3 - Ed). Nevertheless, Holomatch has caught on and servers can be found popping up all over the place (which just makes me angry cos the Deus Ex community is so small right now).

One thing that should be mentioned about Elite Force is it's longevity. I managed to finish the game in under a week and I'm not even that good at games. The back of the box informs you that there are over 40 levels, when in truth there are more like 4 or 5 levels split into small scenes or chapters. One more Half-Life comparison for the road: Elite Force is more similar in length to Opposing Force than Half-Life and for a full price game that's not very impressive. There are multiplayer features, but is Holomatch really worth the extra tenner?

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine: The Fallen

In the blue corner we have the sombre yet multi-talented The Fallen. Swinging the perspective round to 3rd person you get to play from three different perspectives. Each angle on the game is related to whichever character you choose at the start, so if you play Sisko you'll find him in a damaged Bagorean ship rescuing survivors. On the other hand, as Worf you will play the first level on board your own ship, fighting off an invasion whilst trying to repair vital components. Three games in one effectively. Clever.

The Unreal Engine is The Collectives tool of choice for realising the world of Deep Space Nine in glorious 3D interactiveness. Everything looks as pristine as you would expect. Reflections in mirrors are present; as are floor shadows although it's a shame these don't extend to walls and ceilings. I guess we'll have to wait for Severance for that. Ho Hum. After the frantic trek-jargon laden intro sequence you're treated to the calming shades of an Unreal rendition of the Deep Space Nine opening sequence. Camera panning around the infamous space station as starships fly by in glorious stereovision. This reminded me very much of the start of X-Wing Alliance…

Like Elite Force, The Fallen employs the score and talents of the real life cast of its associated TV show. One instant advantage this game has over Elite Force is the Unreal Engine's superior 3D sound support. You can pinpoint enemies by their footsteps and shouts, but all this loveliness is somewhat marred by the fact that you are hearing everything from an elevated position behind your character, rather than from inside his/her own head. More a criticism of the genre than this game in particular. Time to shut up… (Not yet! You haven't finished - Ed)

So a 3rd person adventure this is, but The Fallen does have its innovations, most notably the so far under-used Tricorder. Always a premier gadget in the original Star Trek series, it has taken until now for it to be implemented properly in a game (What about the 25th Anniversary point & click adventure? - Ed). The Tricorder is treated as an inventory object and cannot be used at the same time as a weapon. Thankfully, it has it's own assigned key. When active the Tricorder is represented by a radar that can be switched from a birds eye view to an isometric display at the touch of a button. As you move your mouse around so too does the Tricorder display. Any items of interest are highlighted by small coloured blobs, which can be analysed with a press of the right mouse button. However, it soon becomes apparent that what was initially a tasteful addition to a tried and tested formula is actually an essential staple of this game's design. Let me explain…

You're running down a corridor in some godforsaken hellhole of a spaceship. You've just picked up an access card that will get you into a door down here somewhere. Out of an adjoining passageway (that you're sure as hell you cleared out a few minutes ago) comes a nasty mechanoid beastie. You empty every single clip of your assault rifle into it and it's still coming for you. Somehow you vaguely remember something about using your Tricorder to analyse force field strengths. 'This beastie must have it's own force field', you randomly think.

You target your foe with your Tricorder and analyse it. Your phaser takes a little while to adjust itself to the frequency of the bad guy's armour. Now - and only now, can you attack. It takes about 1.5 times the phaser's total energy supply to finish off the bastard. All that for one poxy enemy! It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't another five of them running round the corner. As the great Yoda once said, "Fun this is not!"

Character interaction is minimal as most of the life forms you come across will try to kill you. However, it is possible to contact your crew through your trusty communicator badge. They're always on hand to beam down medical supplies to safe locations or provide you with a handy tip. You also get the chance to talk to them face to face back on Deep Space Nine and it is possible to take a wander round the station should you feel the need to get into character.

The Collective feel justified in supplementing multiplayer aspects with the ability to play through the game again as different characters. However, I'm dubious that many people will want to do this after completing it once. Although the levels are different for each character, the actual variety of gameplay is not. It's a nice idea that may have worked had each character required a different approach in line with their statistics. The ability to swap characters between levels would have been nice too, allowing you to plot your own route through the game. As it is, I was frustrated with the lack of variation playing the game through once, let alone three times.

The Verdict

If Elite Force is Captain Kirk then The Fallen is a much more Mr. Spock kind of game and because of this is much more loyal to it's franchise. While I consider Elite Force to be the better game, I only feel this is down to Raven applying their stock formula to the Star Trek Universe. The Collective seem to have done it backwards and so their title has automatically inherited many of the character flaws of almost every Star Trek game ever. It's unfair to think of The Fallen in the same vein though. It's awesome Unreal graphics, tremendous sound and commendable game ideas make it a truly worthy PC title - so long as you love Star Trek. At the time of writing, the shops are absolutely swelling the 3rd person action titles like Alice, Hitman: Codename 47 and Rune. I really cannot recommend The Fallen over these games. The same argument could be true for Voyager, but it's such a fun game - if a little too short.

As an interactive interpretation of Star Trek, The Fallen is at times so convincing you might as well be watching the TV show. What sounds better though? To be an outsider looking in or the star of the show? It is the latter that Elite Force emulates and as a Gamer I found this much more appealing. I think that makes it Raven 3 - The Collective 1… or something…