star trek elite force deck 15

SCREENSHOTS

• PlayStation 3
• PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series
• More Systems

Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force – Guide and Walkthrough

Pc macintosh playstation 2.

Guide and Walkthrough (PC) by SSC-Firestar

Version: 1.1 | Updated: 04/26/2003

View in: Text Mode

Up Next: Guide part 2

Top guide sections, was this guide helpful, in this guide.

Just Games Retro

Classic console and computer game reviews

Breaking News

The House of the Dead

The Bard’s Tale

Shin Megami Tensei

Kileak: The DNA Imperative

Final Fantasy II (Famicom)

Digital Devil Monogatori: Megami Tensei II

Star trek: voyager – elite force expansion pack.

No reason to mince words here; the Elite Force Expansion Pack is one of the weakest boxed add-ons I’ve ever played. There’s a decent idea here (along with the mandatory new maps for the soulless multiplayer), but they just didn’t do enough with the concept. It would have been a nice touch as an inclusion with the base game, but as a stand alone product, it’s mostly a waste of time.

Star of the show is the new “Virtual Voyager” mode. This appears as a standalone selection on the main menu, and takes you to a self-contained adventure within the halls of the title ship. As I said in my look at Elite Force , the replications of the shows sets were actually surprisingly effective, so it makes sense to open those up in a free-roam format. You’ll be able to visit ten ship decks with limited restrictions, and can visit landmarks like the bridge, astrometrics, Seven of Nine’s cargo bay, and engineering at your leisure.

Virtual Voyager even contains its own set of challenges, which offer some basic, guided direction and crucial “things to do.” These include tasks like launching a shuttle, transporting cargo, and finding your way down to the lowest deck (15). Most will require some exploration and light puzzle solving to complete. There are also collectables – finding hidden weapons to complete your arsenal, one-off events, or all nine holographic Elite Force action figures ( oh, yes ) will check those tasks off on your mission screen.

The problem is that every major location was already featured – in the entirety shown here – in the main game. They’re the same small slices of the decks as shown before, with the same “emergency force fields” in place to keep you from exploring more than a few hallways per deck. Even more annoyingly, there’s nothing new to do in the major areas. Engineering has the same functionality as when you were called upon to shut down the warp core. You launch the shuttle from the shuttle bay almost exactly as you did in the story. You still can’t do anything in Sickbay. Neelix just stares blankly at you in the mess hall.

Overall, there are scarce few buttons to press or panels to interact with, making wandering the ship less of a long-haul proposition, and more of a quick museum tour. I’m certainly not above exploring a fake starship (as I have proven before ), but you’re given few reasons for doing so. Trigger Red Alert and Janeway yells at you. Trigger the Auto Destruct and the simulation reloads. Replicators in every room now actually dispense random food items, but that’s about the extent of the additions. You can’t interact with any members of the crew either, and not only that, everyone is surprisingly gruff to poor ol’ Munro if he tries to chat them up in the hallway.

What has been added is a fairly substantial amount of text and computer logs. A library panel on the bridge lets you explore alien and weapon bios, and even a brief history of the Federation. A notepad in the briefing room lists the synopses of Tom Paris’ favorite Captain Proton episodes. Neelix’s kitchen computer contains recipes that I assume actually work (provided you replace Kalavian flour with just the regular old Earth kind). A new living quarters deck lets you see the cabins of all the crew and read a respectable amount of personal logs from during the events of Elite Force. If you want to read up on each character’s personal thoughts and sour opinions of Munro’s performance, well, someone spent a fair amount of time on diaries for just that purpose.

Maddeningly, however, the mystery of Trek ‘s bathrooms remain unsolved. Crew cabins show nary a toilet in sight. I think they must beam the poo right out of you.

Finally, there are three new missions on the Holodeck. These are self-contained challenges of a somewhat random nature – you’ll fight giant insects in a garden or blast through a Klingon outpost. Most unique is a Captain Proton (the show’s nod to Buck Rogers ) adventure that has you blasting through Dr. Chaotica’s fortress in glorious black and white . It’s a nice bit of fan service, though the level itself is bland. The last is a training room like the one from the story mode, except updated with an active leaderboard. Now you can out-shoot all the Voyager crew. A final bonus game is found on Deck 15, which lets you play a brief top-down blaster against Borg drones in a short maze.

The Quake III engine apparently doesn’t allow you to holster weapons, so your default is now a harmless tricorder. It brings up pointless information about crew members (named after developers, I’m guessing) and some objects, and is otherwise non-functional. You’ll run around with it outstretched until you collect some proper weapons, after which you can shoot your fellow crewmates and end up in the brig for a while. If I haven’t made it clear yet, there’s really not a whole lot to do.

There are no advancements graphically, and audio recycles clips from the main game. This version will update Elite Force to use Jeri Ryan’s dialogue instead of the Seven of Nine soundalike the game originally shipped with (Jeri was busy then, apparently), but there’s a free patch that does the same. Voyager still looks great, and the few new areas (the computer core, the crew cabins) all slot in seamlessly. The major setpieces (bridge, engineering, mess hall) also look as impressive as they did in the original game – though they also look exactly like they did in the original game. The only advantage is the freedom to visit them at any time.

Multiplayer seems to be where the real value here lies, and the expansion brings forth 21 new maps for a total of 28. Five game modes are added, which the game accurately refers to as “parameters.” These include last man standing, one hit kill, and “action hero” (one player randomly gets a significant weapon and health boost) options, and can be added to any match in (nearly) any combination.

The new “specialties” mode makes you pick a class with a default loadout, while removing pickups. The major addition here is a medic class with a hypospray that can heal others (the other classes just ration out the default arsenal). “Assimilation” is a team mode where one team plays Borg. Anyone killed by the Borg joins the Borg team (gets assimilated) with a new character model and two Borg-exclusive weapons. The other team wins by trying to kill the powerful Borg Queen. You can play any of these modes solo against computer bots, but they’re so brain dead that’s hardly a viable option.

On a final note, the tour is a touch buggy. There’s only a single save available, updated either manually or on loading a new deck. Since you’re only saving progress, this normally shouldn’t be an issue. However, on one load I inadvertently spawned atop a NPC crewman in the turbolift and killed him. Killing anyone causes you to be thrown into the brig before loading your save – you guessed it – the very save created automatically upon killing the crewman. This put me in an endless loop and forced me to restart the tour, abandoning all previous progress. You’ve been warned.

If this was just meant to be a multiplayer-focused expansion, then Virtual Voyager is a nice throw-in and a smart use of existing assets. But even if this was the intent (and who can say?) then it’s still a weak add-on for a limited slice of users. As far as I can tell, you don’t get a special bonus for completing all the tasks, and there’s very little to uncover anyway. I’m sure this was made by a limited team, and expecting more is probably asking too much, but it’s still barely worth your time. Voyager’s interesting enough to roam for an hour or so, but you’ll quickly wish more time had been spent on new areas, or giving you fun things to do.

The hallowed halls of Voyager are still looking great. Tons of text logs to pour through, if you so desire. Letting you freely wander the ship is a smart enough idea.

They basically just stitched together the areas made for the main game and added in some shallow collectables. Big focus on multiplayer, which won’t do you much good now.

4 thoughts on “ Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force Expansion Pack ”

Is it wrong that I think it’d be more fun to just poke around the ship doing nothing, than to play a Quake -skin? 😀

Nope, which is why there needs to be more to poke!

I am on of the remains of the EF community and the funny thing is that yesterday we launched an event with the modi Capture the flag + Specialties, which was quiet fun actually. I totally agree on you regarding the SP part of the expansion pack. For me the only new cool stuff which has been introduced is “Borg Slayer” – the minigame you have already mentioned. It is a shame that the developer team did not come up with more ideas and made the ship truely walkable.

Just one thing, which comes not out so clearly (at least for me) in your review:

“The new “specialties” mode makes you pick a class with a default loadout, while removing pickups.”

The pickups are not on the map anymore, which is true, but some of them are still accessible. It only depends on which class you pick, each class has access to certain pickups. As Technician you can cloak a Sniper, which is really cool. In addition the Technician can’t use his more effective fire mode anymore (because it does a huge amount of damage and the shot also bounces from walls/floors –> you hardly “miss” someone actually).

Anyway, i really enjoyed reading your review and it is pretty funny reading about this retro game while still playing it.

Thanks for writing and clarifying! Didn’t spend enough time with it to know the nuances, so always helpful to hear from someone familiar with the game. Sounds like the expansion definitely makes multiplayer much more interesting than the base game.

Best of luck with your tournament!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all). We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome , Firefox , Internet Explorer or Opera

Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Review

Star Trek fans shouldn't be alone in experiencing the game's exciting story-driven single-player campaign, as well as its solid multiplayer mode.

By Greg Kasavin on May 17, 2006 at 3:09PM PDT

Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force is an outstanding first-person shooter based on the most recent Star Trek TV series. Star Trek fans shouldn't be alone in experiencing the game's exciting story-driven single-player campaign that pits the Voyager crew against Klingon scavengers, the Borg menace, and other sinister forces - as well as its solid multiplayer mode.

Elite Force is consistently action-packed, but nevertheless, it features a variety of settings that will challenge and impress even some of the most experienced first-person shooter enthusiasts. Best of all, these encounters are linked together seamlessly - in fact, there hasn't been a shooter with such a well-designed, albeit short, single-player mode since Opposing Force, Gearbox's great expansion to Valve Software's groundbreaking 1998 game, Half-Life. Comparing Half-Life and Opposing Force to Elite Force is an obvious gesture, mostly because the older games' influence is so evident in Elite Force's level design. Elite Force borrows Half-Life's convention of placing health and energy stations throughout the course of the game; and more significantly, the main character in Elite Force wears a special hazard suit much like the one that Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman wears. Just as in Valve's game, this hazard suit - standard issue for each member of Lieutenant Tuvok's special forces team in Elite Force - helps you suspend disbelief as it absorbs damage and reports health and ammunition ratings. It's the reason your enemies can't just kill you in one hit; meanwhile, your powerful energy weapons can literally disintegrate most of your foes on contact.

The arsenal in Elite Force consists of nine different good-looking, powerful weapons, each of which has two distinct modes of fire. The weapons range from the standard-issue Federation phaser and compression rifle to the devastating photon burst, whose explosive photon-torpedo-like attack can reduce your enemies to dust. All the weapons in Elite Force are high tech, and each produce bright, impressive effects, though the weapon models themselves don't look especially interesting. But the weapons sound good, and their alternate modes of fire either give them additional functionality (as with the grenade launcher, which can alternatively launch a sticky proximity mine) or more deadly attack modes that cost proportionally more energy or ammunition. Some veterans of first-person shooters - particularly fans of Raven Software's own Soldier of Fortune - might initially believe that the arsenal in Elite Force lacks weapons that have the same sort of satisfying impact as the shotguns and chainguns of classic shooters like Doom and Quake. Meanwhile, die-hard Star Trek fans may be reluctant to accept some of Elite Force's heavy-duty weapons as definitive Star Trek technology. In any case, on closer inspection, you'll certainly agree that the game's weapon designs are well designed - they each seem strong and useful, and yet all the guns are sufficiently elegant or alien that they do seem as if they're suitable to the Star Trek universe.

Some of the battles in Elite Force are particularly intense, because you're not the only one shooting the bad guys. Oftentimes you'll have one or more crewmates in tow, who will help you out in battle. In the interest of gameplay, they don't do too much of the real work, just as your enemies will be much more inclined to fire on you than at your squad. But these characters are surprisingly responsive, and they really give you the sense that you're not doing all the fighting by yourself. This is especially true when their special skills come into play in the game's many scripted sequences - you may have to provide cover for an engineer as he hacks into a heavily defended security system or complete a multitiered objective simultaneously with several crewmembers as you keep in contact via your communicators.

The crewmembers are a welcome asset in some of the game's large-scale battles. In one early sequence, you burst through a doorway to take part in a pitched gunfight that involves several of your crew and a host of Klingon foes who fire at each other from behind barricades. This is a memorable but not uncommon type of sequence in Elite Force - the game seems to use an ideal combination of scene scripting and artificial intelligence routines to create unique fights that play out differently on multiple trials. Elite Force even has several scenes in between the main combat missions in which you're aboard the Voyager to recuperate, rearm yourself, and discuss the situation with your crew. These parts of the game not only do a great job of modeling the deck of the Voyager, but also help make the game seem consistent and realistic, rather than merely like a series of shooter levels. Being able to chat with the Voyager's crew in between missions, either before a briefing or in the locker room, lends the game a personal touch.

Unfortunately, these sequences do point to a few shortcomings that are particularly problematic in light of how good the game is in general. Specifically, the enemy artificial intelligence in Elite Force is sometimes lacking. Some of your foes might stand idle as you fire on them, while others might move in nonsensical patterns as soon as they notice you. In addition, over the course of Elite Force you'll face several encounters in which your enemies will instantly beam into the area, a device that the designers sometimes seem to use a little too frequently. Although teleportation is certainly plausible in the context of Star Trek, it can get frustrating to have to constantly contend with enemies that materialize out of thin air.

Any such frustration won't last long, because most of the missions in Elite Force are paced very briskly. You'll face new foes, find new weapons, encounter new challenges, and uncover new elements of the plot frequently yet unpredictably enough. The game pits you against some of the most popular Star Trek villains, including the Klingons and the Borg - along with several interesting new additions to the Star Trek mythos. Unfortunately, the campaign is fairly short and won't be very difficult for shooter veterans; and all the action takes place in rather close quarters. It's disappointing that the campaign is so short because it's generally so well done. Clearly, the designers' time went into creating high-quality action sequences, rather than just a lot of them - but you'll still wish there were more.

Throughout the game, the highly detailed 3D characters, including all the regular cast of the show, are easily distinguishable and also have fairly articulate facial expressions as they speak their lines convincingly. Elite Force even gives you the option to play as either a male or a female character - Alexander or Alexandria Munro, both "Alex" for short. Both the male and female alter egos are confident and charismatic characters, and the game's dialogue changes slightly depending on which of the characters you choose. Elite Force also features a great interactive tutorial that takes place in the Voyager's holodeck, whose realistic holographic projections create a makeshift obstacle course that you're instructed on how to traverse.

The holodeck is also prominent in Elite Force's multiplayer mode, which is in many ways just as impressive, and as clever, as the game's single-player mode. Dubbed the holomatch, this mode is presented as a combat-training simulation aboard the Voyager's holodeck. As such, the designers have been able to take some liberties in creating themed levels that you might not expect from a Star Trek game - among these are a medieval castle and an Old West ghost town, in addition to the more typical settings like Borg and Klingon ships. You can square off in the multiplayer levels against computer-controlled bots of variable skill levels, or against human opponents in deathmatch, capture-the-flag, or other standard multiplayer action modes.

Since the game uses id Software's state-of-the-art Quake III: Arena engine, the multiplayer combat in Elite Force is predictably smooth and fast - and it's also a lot of fun because of the good graphics and diverse levels and character models, as well as the game's fairly distinct emphasis on focused energy weapons, which require precise accuracy. The holomatch does have some problems - it's somewhat cumbersome to have to load a separate executable file to play the multiplayer game, but apparently this is because some of the game's 3D architecture is streamlined in multiplayer. Likewise, the game's multiplayer weapon balance seems skewed in favor of the rapid-firing guns like the tetryon pulse distruper, since players can move and dodge about so quickly; and some of the maps are noticeably more interesting and more complex than others.

But such criticisms are presented largely to convey the sense that, in a perfect world, Elite Force would have been better. However, given that most Star Trek games - and, in fact, most first-person shooters - aren't actually very good, then it's easy to see all of what makes Elite Force so special. It's undoubtedly one of the best Star Trek games to date, and its only rival in its genre so far this year is, unsurprisingly, Raven's own shooter, Soldier of Fortune.

• Leave Blank

About the Author

Greg Kasavin

More gamespot reviews.

Use your keyboard!

Log in to comment

TREKCORE > GAMING > ELITE FORCE > FAQ

Parts of this FAQ are thanks to Chris Anastasia.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. When was Star Trek Elite Force released? 2. What are Star Trek Elite Force�s system requirements? 3. What video cards are not supported by Elite Force? 4. Will Elite Force be released for other platforms? Mac? Linux? Playstation2? DreamCast? 5. Is there a demo for Star Trek Elite Force? 6. What is EF's ESRB rating? 7. What engine does Star Trek Elite Force utilize? 8. Does Elite Force have the same third person camera support that Quake III had? 9. Will there be a software development kit for Star Trek Elite Force? 10. What company developed Star Trek Elite Force? 11. Who published Star Trek Elite Force? 12. Is there a collectors edition of Elite Force?

GAME QUESTIONS

1. How many levels does Star Trek Elite Force feature? 2. How does the menu system work? 3. How do I configure Elite Force? 4. What are some known demo issues? 5. What is the console command to check the framerate? 6. How do I skip the cinematics? Space Bar and Escape don't work? 7. Do any Star Trek cast members appear in the game? 8. Who is the character that I am playing in the game? 9. How much of the inside of Voyager will I see? 10. Does the game depict excessive violence, such as blood and gore? 11. Is there multiplayer in Star Trek Elite Force II? 12. Will Elite Force be freely playable on the Internet, like Quake (R) ?

GENERAL QUESTIONS ANSWER S

GAME QUESTIONS ANSWERS

Hi, what are you looking for?

TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion

First Photo from Star Trek: Section 31 revealed, legacy character confirmed

New Star Trek: Discovery posters revealed ahead of final season premiere

Revisiting “The Lost Era: Serpent Among the Ruins” Retro Review

Star Trek: Discovery’s final season begins April 4

Star Trek: Section 31 production begins, cast revealed

Revisiting “Star Trek: Legacies – Captain to Captain” Retro Review

‘U.S.S. Cerritos Crew Handbook’ Review: A must-read Star Trek: Lower Decks fans

‘Making It So’ Review: Patrick Stewart’s journey from stage to starship

The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film Review: A gem for your Star Trek reference collection

Strange New Worlds director Jordan Canning talks “Charades,” the versatility of the series & Star Trek fandom

‘Star Trek Online’ lead designer talks the game’s longevity, honoring the franchise, and seeing his work come to life in ‘Picard’

Gates McFadden talks Star Trek: Picard, reuniting with her TNG castmates, InvestiGates, and the Human Condition

Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating talk ‘Enterprise’, their relationship with Star Trek in 2023 and their first live ‘Shuttlepod Show’

John Billingsley discusses what he’d want in a fifth season of Enterprise, playing Phlox and this weekend’s Trek Talks 2 event

57-Year Mission set to beam 160+ Star Trek guests down to Las Vegas

Veteran Star Trek director David Livingston looks back on his legendary career ahead of Trek Talks 2 event

ReedPop’s Star Trek: Mission Seattle convention has been cancelled

56-Year Mission Preview: More than 130 Star Trek guests set to beam down to Las Vegas convention

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 trailer teases Burnham & crew’s final mission

2023: A banner year for Star Trek — here’s why [Op-Ed]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 to premiere in April + watch a brand new clip from CCXP

54-Disc Picard Legacy Collection, Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Complete Series Blu-ray box sets announced

Star Trek: Picard series finale “The Last Generation” Review: A perfect sendoff to an unforgettable crew

‘The Next Generation’ cast is back on the bridge of the Enterprise-D in new ‘Star Trek: Picard’ photo gallery

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Blu-ray, 4K UHD and DVD this December

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Hegemony” Review: An underwhelming end to the series’ sophomore season

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 finale “Hegemony” preview + new photos

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 209 “Subspace Rhapsody” Review: All systems stable… but why are we singing?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” preview + new photos

Star Trek Day 2021 to Celebrate 55th Anniversary of the Franchise on September 8 with Live Panels and Reveals

Paramount+ Launches with 1-Month Free Trial, Streaming Every Star Trek Episode

Paramount+ to Officially Launch March 4, Taking Place of CBS All Access

STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS Season 2 Now Streaming For Free (in the U.S.)

[REVIEW] STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS “Children of Mars”: All Hands… Battle Stations

New photos from this week’s Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale

Star Trek: Lower Decks “The Inner Fight” Review: Lost stars and hidden battles

New photos from this week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Prodigy begins streaming December 25th on Netflix

Star Trek: Prodigy lands at Netflix, season 2 coming in 2024

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 sneak peek reveals the surprise return of a Voyager castmember

Star Trek: Prodigy canceled, first season to be removed from Paramount+

The events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to continue in new IDW miniseries “Echoes”

Star Trek: The Original Series “Harm’s Way” Book Review

William Shatner’s New Book ‘Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder’ Review: More of a good thing

Star Trek: Infinite release date + details on Lower Decks­-themed pre-order bonuses

‘Star Trek: Infinite’ strategy game revealed, set to be released this fall

Hero Collector Revisits The Classics in New Starfleet Starships Essentials Collection

New Star Trek Docuseries ‘The Center Seat’ Announced, Coming This Fall

Star Trek Designing Starships: Deep Space Nine & Beyond Review: a Deep Dive Into Shuttlecraft of the Gamma Quadrant

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Illustrated Handbook Review: Terok Nor Deconstructed in Amazing Detail

Robert Beltran Is Officially Returning to Star Trek as Chakotay on ‘Prodigy’ + More Casting News

Robert Beltran Says He’s Returning to Star Trek in ‘Prodigy’

John Billingsley Talks Life Since Star Trek: Enterprise, Going to Space and Turning Down Lunch with Shatner and Nimoy

Star Trek: Enterprise Star John Billingsley Talks Charity Work, Upcoming TREK*Talks Event

Video Games

Voyager: elite force boldly went where no star trek game had gone before. here’s why.

TrekNews.net has written before about the best entries in Star Trek ’s storied yet divisive video game history. For every gem that takes advantage of the medium to tell a great Star Trek story, there seem to be two that failed the franchise’s high expectations. This checkered past isn’t totally surprising: how would a company make a game based on a property that covers many different aspects; namely, exploration, diplomacy, and yes, action set pieces? Such an endeavor is… well, bold.

Topping TrekNews.net’s list of best Star Trek games is Elite Force , a first-person action game revolving around the Hazard Team, an elite squad of commandos stationed on Voyager as they made their way home from the Delta Quadrant. While one might not consider an action game as being prime Star Trek material, as Elite Force proved 17 years ago, that was indeed the case. Of course, there’s a reason why this game is the highest-ranked Star Trek game, sitting at a comfortable 86 on Metacritic .

Star Trek: Elite Force cover

However, reviews only tell part of the story.

I endeavored to discover why exactly Elite Force became such a well-respected Star Trek game. After all, this is an important aspect for Star Trek in the mainstream media. Video games have been around for a while, and the industry only gets more popular each year. To have a reliable presence on the video game scene is something that benefits any property. For a franchise that has inspired much of the technology and vision behind video games, and especially virtual reality’s recent emergence onto the tech scene, it is important that fans can point to one Star Trek game or another and say, “that right there is good Star Trek .” Elite Force is one of few titles to do that.

More than that though, the reasons for writing this article are personal for me. As a kid, I played Elite Force for what seemed like years on end, and it became one of The Video Games of My Childhood. I was captivated by its story and Voyager itself, and I had a blast, well, blasting aliens. 17 years after Elite Force ’s release, I replayed the game for the first time, and the experience was even more special. Besides bathing in the nostalgia of playing as Ensign Munro, I was able to take a critical look at the game and see exactly why it ranks among Star Trek ’s best game entries.

Hailing Frequencies Open

Elite Force takes place in Voyager ’s sixth season, a time when the crew has had their share of hostile encounters with various Delta Quadrant races. (For you diehards, the game’s stardate indicates the plot takes place between the episodes “Live Fast and Prosper” and “Muse.” Thanks Memory Alpha!) To respond to these threats, Tuvok creates the Hazard Team. Players control either a male or female Ensign Munro, and after an attack by an alien ship, Voyager gets transported to an alien graveyard. Stuck fighting the Borg, Malons, Klingons, Hirogen, and a new species, the Etherians, Munro and the Hazard Team ultimately defend Voyager from the Vohrsoth, a creature controlling the Forge, the device that created the alien graveyard.

To help tell the story behind the game, I contacted Brian Pelletier , Elite Force ’s game director. Nowadays, Pelletier has his hand in multiple projects, including work at Arch Virtual, Creative Kingdoms, and Human Head Studios. But back then as director, Pelletier was the person responsible for overseeing just about every aspect of game development. However, heading the creation of Elite Force is one of numerous roles he’s had in the industry. In 1992, he helped build the studio that would go on to create Elite Force and many other titles: Raven Software. In these early years, he was a game designer, focusing on art design and animation for many projects. However, after publisher Activision acquired Raven Software in 1997, things really kicked into high gear for Pelletier. For the next 13 years, he would work on several high-profile projects, including a couple X-Men games, Heretic 2 , Call of Duty: Black Ops , Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast , and of course, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force . 1998’s Heretic 2 , the first game Raven Software made after Activision’s acquisition, was a milestone for Pelletier. It was the first title where he was game director, an experience he would draw on for Elite Force even though his background was mainly in art design. However, as with any game studio, and especially one of Raven Software’s small size, the input of his team was invaluable.

Making a Star Trek Game

“I remember the challenge for our team to develop a Star Trek shooter was that Voyager and much of the Star Trek franchise was not about fast-paced action and gun shooting,” recalled Pelletier. “We really did feel challenged to create a game that shooter fans would like, but also wanted to feel like you were playing in an episode or movie that fans could embrace. We did feel pressure on how to balance the narrative cerebral part of Star Trek with a shooter. This fine line became a very conscious effort on the team’s part to blend these into a cohesive fun game experience.

Authentic, immersive, cerebral, and encompassing. These are words that first spring to mind for Pelletier when thinking of Elite Force . To create this authentic shooter experience, Pelletier and his team drew on Trek-inspired weaponry players could utilize throughout the game. These weapons could be ones we’ve seen before, like the phaser or phaser rifle, or it could be new to the franchise, yet instantly familiar. Case in point: one of the weapons players gain later in the game is a mobile photon torpedo launcher, complete with the typical torpedo sound effect heard in multiple Star Trek incarnations. Alien weapons also have a familiarity about them even if their appearance in Star Trek lore is unique to Elite Force . The I-MOD, a weapon that makes fighting the Borg a piece of cake, is a great example of a familiar aesthetic design. Its Borg roots are evident in the tubes protruding to the front, while the body of the gun looks like a Federation assault rifle. Likewise, the Tetryon Pulse Disruptor, a mini-gun of Hirogen design, is not only a blast to use, but follows the metallic Hirogen aesthetic introduced in the early seasons of Voyager . The fact that these and other weapons not only follow established Star Trek designs, but also that they feel great to use in the game, is one of the main reasons why Elite Force can appeal to more general shooter fans and the Star Trek faithful.

Of course, weapons alone can’t carry a Star Trek game. Characters have always been the heart of any Star Trek production – and remember, a starship can be a character. Tell me the Enterprise doesn’t have a personality. The team recognized this early on, and Pelletier was determined to make the game as authentic as possible in this way. The best way to do this was actually go to Paramount Studios, where they were filming Voyager .

“We needed schematics and layouts for Voyager so we could accurately create our game levels,” said Pelletier. “On one of the trips to Paramount Studios, I met with legendary Star Trek visual designer Rick Sternbach , who had done many technical manual books showcasing layouts from many Starfleet ships. I was hoping to get some Voyager deck layouts from him but he didn’t have any. He said he designs areas of the ship for only what the show needs per the scripts. A great consolation for working with Rick was that he helped us develop Voyager deck layouts specifically for the game.”

For all intents and purposes, Pelletier and his team set out to create a virtual Voyager , and that’s indeed what they did. In between away missions, players have the ability to roam many areas the ship. Want to visit engineering and walk around the warp core? Just go to deck 11. Want to view the Delta Flyer in Voyager’s shuttle bay? Help yourself (although you might want to ask Tom Paris first). In fact, as an expansion for the game after its release, Raven Software released “Virtual Voyager,” a sub-game that takes place shortly before the game’s final mission. In this mode, players can access Voyager deck-by-deck, taking their time to explore the Intrepid -class starship. The attention to detail is outstanding, as you can see in this walkthrough video. Obviously, using both old and new set designs paid off, in that the two blend seamlessly together to create one huge explorable ship. Of course, not every room is available to tour, but this is still the most accurate representation of a ship in a Star Trek game, and a large part of why Elite Force is so immersive.

But Voyager is not an empty ship. Thanks to Paramount’s support, the team was able to get the entire Star Trek: Voyager cast together to reprise their characters in Elite Force (While Jeri Ryan was initially unavailable to reprise Seven of Nine, a post-release patch added her voice into the game.) How cool was it to have Kate Mulgrew giving orders on the bridge of her ship? Or to have Ethan Phillips play Neelix flawlessly as Munro and crew see an alien starship looming toward them? When all was said and done, Elite Force featured the entire main cast of Voyager, which makes roaming the ship’s decks even more special.

“When voice recording with the cast we got many compliments on our script and dialogue writing,” remembered Pelletier. “In fact one of the actors, after delivering a great performance to one of the lines, said, ‘Wow! This writing is really great! This is almost better than what our show’s writers do.’”

The Continuing Mission

“I believe Elite Force ’s lasting appeal is due to it truly feeling like a day in the life of a Starfleet officer during a time of conflict requiring a lot of action,” explained Pelletier. “The development team was committed to creating an authentic narrative Star Trek experience. We had a tremendously talented team of developers and many of them were hardcore Trek fans. Our main goal of the game was to make players feel like there were witnessing Trek from the inside; a simulation if you will. These design pillars held strong all through production, where even Paramount was on board and approved many aspects of the game.”

Some action games have the tendency to offer a simplistic “go there, shoot that” narrative, designed more to showcase the game’s gunplay than offer an intriguing story. Being a Star Trek game, however, Pelletier and his team knew the story had to offer Trek fans the kind of storytelling they came to expect from hundreds of television episodes. Characters had to offer emotional beats and interesting moral situations amid impressive alien backdrops and action set pieces. Therefore, story took priority, and the plot Pelletier and his team developed did indeed feel like an episode of Voyager , a goal assisted by the game’s recreation of the show’s opening title sequence, complete with the names of the development team. Of course, making a Star Trek story was helped by the fact that Pelletier, along with many members of the development team, were already Star Trek fans.

“I was definitely a Star Trek fan. I remember watching the classic series in the 1970s with my older brothers and even playing Star Trek where our front porch was converted into the Enterprise ,” remembered Pelletier. “I also watched my fair share of The Next Generation in the late 80s. I was working at Raven when Voyager came out. There were plenty of Trek fans at the studio and we had a Voyager party to watch the pilot episode. I sporadically watched the show over the next four years but never got into it as much as the first two series. Once we started developing Elite Force , the team engrossed themselves into watching the show and becoming experts in the canon. It’s hard not becoming a fan when you delve deeply into the show and see how good some of those episodes were. I became a fan and still am today.”

The result of this effort was evident when the game came out. In September 2000, Gamespot wrote that “ Star Trek fans shouldn’t be alone in experiencing the game’s exciting story-driven single-player campaign…it features a variety of settings that will challenge and impress even some of the most experienced first-person shooter enthusiasts.” Eurogamer praised the game, saying “Disregarding completely a lot of the ageing concepts of single player FPS titles, Elite Force is consistently exciting, and like a good book the pace and tone of the action varies and the player’s emotional attachment to the characters is very strong.” And with a perfect score, GamePro said “With its high production value, smart level design, and impressive story, [ Elite Force ] is simply one of the finest first-person shooters to come out this year.” Not a bad reception at all. Elite Force ’s critical success meant a sequel would follow, although not by Raven Software. Instead, in 2003 Ritual Entertainment would take the reins and tell a post- Voyager , post- Nemesis story focusing once again on Ensign Munro. That game was received well, although not as well as its predecessor. But that’s a story for another time.

The Undiscovered Country

Video game remakes and re-releases are a common occurrence in today’s industry. While this is unlikely to happen to Elite Force , as Spock would say, “there are always possibilities.” I asked Pelletier ponder what he would do if given the option to remake Elite Force , and to take it a step further, what a hypothetical Elite Force 3 would be like.

“A Elite Force remake would stay the same in terms of creating an immersive Trek experience that truly captures the feeling of being on a Starfleet ship, witnessing and doing all the cool things you see in the movies and shows,” explained Pelletier.” That is the core to its lasting appeal, after all.”

As for a third entry in the series, Pelletier would have even more ambitious plans than what his team set out to do 17 years ago.

“To help with the immersion, I would develop and design Elite Force 3 for both flat screens and virtual reality,” said Pelletier. “I’ve been designing and developing VR experiences and often think about how you could take a franchise like Trek and make it truly immersive. When designing the first Elite Force , I often closed my eyes and visualized the Trek world around me. I wanted it to be very immersive, thinking back to my days of playing with my brothers and friends, what it felt like being on my front porch decked out to look like the bridge of the Enterprise . We ran around our house pretending to scurry through the ship to get to the warp core, or beam away to a planet and run around our neighborhood shooting aliens. I would take that imagination and wrap it in today’s technology where it can be visually realistic and a true Star Trek universe.”

As it is, fans will have to be satisfied with the two existing entries in the Elite Force series. While the first Elite Force may be getting up there in age, it still plays really well. I can attest to this after revisiting the game this summer. Walking around Voyager is still a great experience, unrivaled in any other Star Trek game, except perhaps for Elite Force II ’s recreation of the Enterprise-E . If you are a fan of great shooters, a Star Trek fan, or better yet both, you owe it to yourself to experience Elite Force . Unfortunately, the game isn’t exactly easy to come by – it’s not available on popular gaming platforms like Steam or GOG – so third-party sellers are likely your best bet. However you come across it, be prepared for a treat. Or if you are like me and have played the game before, now is as good a time as any to revisit it. Good Star Trek games are few and far in between, which makes what Pelletier and his team accomplished all the more special.

[amazon_link asins=’B01NAJ4HMI,B01M70T4WU,B01BP06ENA,B01N47VPJG’ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’treknenet-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’73e1018e-c18b-11e7-a76c-77f8803c0c6d’]

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

November 5, 2017 at 12:52 pm

It’s a brilliant game. There are a lot of misses in the Trek video game pantheon, but right around the same time, DS9: The Fallen, Klingon Academy and both Elite Force games made a great impression. They also deserved greater success, which have been wonderful now, as especially popular games get updated and restored for current platforms. My Mac OS long ago was updated beyond the ability to play Elite Force I or The Fallen, but it’s nice to still be able to fire up the PS2 and play the (unpatched and sorely missing Jeri Ryan) old EF version once in awhile. Revisiting this storytelling approach to encompass all the series would be a dream these days.

CoolcatTerri

December 1, 2017 at 2:38 pm

I loved both Elite Force 1 and 2. I would greatly support a third game especially for VR. Please make this a reality.

Billy Beefcaked

December 7, 2017 at 2:21 pm

As fun as Elite Force was Elite Force II was one of the most fun 1st person shooters of the early 2000’s that I remember playing.

Not only was the game absolutely beautiful at the time, but Elite Force II gave us the first full imagined look of the decks on the Enterprise-E.

During that time we had one amazing Star Trek game after another with ST: Bridge Commander coming out the following year.

Such a shame Star Trek games died with Interplay going out of business in the mid-2000’s.

Daniel Brongers

August 22, 2019 at 8:31 pm

While not a big fan of VR, I would LOVE a third game is being made. Love these games, though I loved Elite Force 2 a bit more than I did with the original game. But, regardless, I don’t complain…

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending Articles

An article celebrating the longevity of the Star Trek franchise has given us our first look at Michelle Yeoh’s upcoming Star Trek: Section 31...

With the launch of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery right around the corner, Paramount+ has released an official trailer for the series’...

Back to the Stars: Rediscovering Star Trek’s Legacy with Captain to Captain – A Retro-Review There are near-countless Star Trek novels out there. Unlike...

Production has begun on Star Trek: Section 31 The 14th Star Trek film has now begun production, as Paramount+ announced the start of production...