STAR TREK VOYAGER: ELITE FORCE

Reviewed By: Brian Wolters
VOLUNTEER GUEST REVIEWER

GAME TECH INFO

Computer Platform: PC/MAC
Produced by: Activision
Price Range: $30-50
Learning curve time: 1 hour
Age level: 13+
ESRB Rating: Teen
Patches / Upgrades: at game
System Requirements: 64MB RAM, 200 MHz Pentium, 16 meg Graphics Card

Genre: Action/Adventure
Christian Rating: 4 of 5
   (slightly offensive)
Gameplay: 5 of 5
   (excellent)
Violence: 3 of 5
   (mild)
Adult Content: 4 of 5
   (barely present)

The words “good” and “Star Trek game” rarely go together. From “Star Trek Pinball” to the unfinished feel of "New Worlds", there has been a lot of disappointing Trek games. Well, the wait is over. "Star Trek: Elite Force" is an excellent Star Trek adventure. It puts you in the role of a

member of the crew whose job is to be a leader of a sort of S.W.A.T. team.

Screenshot from 'Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force' The game starts out with a simulation aboard a Borg ship. The graphics are very nicely done in this sequence and they continue to be so throughout the entire game. You then get a chance to walk around Voyager on your way to a job duty. It looks and sounds just like the television show. It is awesome.

The individual missions are well written and are very exciting. You will get to protect Voyager from intruders as well as protecting other team members on away missions. There is an occasional “boss” level, where you have to fight an extra tough enemy, robot, alien, etc. This is fine, but you can never tell how much damage is being done to these bosses.

Screenshot from 'Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force' “Elite Force” also features multiplayer options, like “Unreal Tournament” and "Quake III". They are nicely drawn and they seem to fun even faster than the actual game. They take place in the holodeck, so you are not really “killing” your enemy. This is a nice touch.

I am running the game on a Celeron 400 with 160 megs of RAM and a GForce 2 MX with 32 megs. It is a little choppy at times, especially if there are a lot of enemies in the room at the same time. I am not sure if it is my machine to blame or if a patch is needed. But for the most part, it is very smooth.

As with most of the Star Trek games and episodes, there is very little objectionable content. There is a lot of violence (shooting, etc.) but no blood at all. You mainly have to defend yourself from aliens and other humans but none of it is graphic. There is also very little to no bad language in the game.

Despite just a few flaws, this is one of the best Star Trek games ever. It has been a long time coming. Play long and prosper!

Year of Release—2000

Positive—As both a rabid computer gamer, and Star Trek fan (never been to a convention though, I'm not that crazy) this was a fun, exciting game one of the best of the year, and probably the best Star Trek game ever made. This game is really a must buy for anyone who enjoys computer games and the Star Trek universe. The degree of violence is kept to the level of the Star Trek TV shows and movies, there is no blood or gore in this game, however, some enemies are disintegrated when hit with an overly powerful blast. The language of Elite Force is kept very clean, I cannot remember an instance of even mild language usage. All the relationships in Elite Force are kept on a professional level, there are no problems in this game with any kind of adult material. One of the neatest options in the game is the “Holodeck multiplayer match.” Even if your internet connection is too slow to play online, the game allows the user to set up matches with computer controlled opponents, which really is a blast. My Ratings: [4/5]
—Nathan Alterton, age 23

Positive—This is by far the best Star Trek game ever. If you want a shooter with no blood and guts, this is the one for you. My Ratings: [5/5]
—Ryan Deroche, age 15

…I worry about the message this [review] will send. Given Mr. Wolters's logic you are never killing anyone in any game. If all you need is needed to justify and rationalize from killing to “not really killing” by saying you are in a holodeck or computer generated reality then is any game bad? By definition a game is a computer generated reality. Just because the area the player is in is called a Holodeck doesn't change what is happening in the game. A decision needs to be made: Is the killing in a video game offensive or not? This type of sitting of the fence logic only hurts the message you want to get across. By stating well you are killing them but you are rationalizing it by saying well they aren't supposed to be real people doesn't wash. They aren't real people period, just some polygons on the screen for entertainment.
—Bryan Brooks

Well [this review] is the one thing me and this site agree on. This game was a bit short… [the reviewer's] system is a bit slow. I even get a couple of slowdowns on my system Athlon 750, 256meg of RAM, GeForce 2 Ultra
—David Strike, age 15, non-Christian

Neutral—Playing the game scenario was nice in and of itself. Although the weapons were woefully underpowered and I wound up using a 'help code' to reload several times. I was once an avid on-line gamer and found this game unplayable in multi mode. The character interactions are well thought out and true to the host drama. My main problems with the game were that it mocked scriptural principles. First off, one of the main characters uses the Lord's name in vain. Secondly, in order to defeat the character with the 'god-complex' in the end the player has to refuse an order from his direct authority. On top of that, the player doesn't get punished for his actions, rather he gets rewarded. My Ratings: [2/3]
—Brian Moore, age 36

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Christian Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Films for Christ or the Christian Answers Network.