.FLYINGHEAD WE GOT GAME!
.TITLE Retro gaming redux: to boldly go…
.AUTHOR James Booth
.SUMMARY In a previous We Got Game column, Senior Editor James Booth profiled a couple of older games that at one time were leading edge, but are now considered outdated. He feels these older games are perfect for taking your gaming on the road with your laptop. Now he’s back with a retro gaming redux, covering a couple of games that didn’t make the previous article due to length.
.DEPT
In a previous We Got Game column, I profiled a couple of older games that at one time were leading edge, but are now considered outdated. These older games are perfect for taking your gaming on the road with your laptop. The previous column ran a little long and I didn’t get to cover all the games I wanted, so now I’m back with a retro gaming redux. Like the previous column, I won’t be rating these games, as this really isn’t a review, but rather a presentation of games that I already think are great, and perfect for taking on the road.
As stated in the previous column, another great thing about these older games in the price. Many of these older games can be found in discount bins and on eBay for literally a couple of dollars, compared to the $50 price tag of today’s new games.
.H1 To boldly go
One of the best games of the Star Trek franchise was Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Built on the Quake III engine, Voyager: Elite Force, in Figure A, was an FPS (First Person Shooter) set on the starship Voyager.
.FIGPAIR A Voyager: Elite Force, a first person shooter in the Star Trek universe.
Elite Force wasn’t the first shooter set in the Star Trek universe, Klingon Honor Guard came before it, but Honor Guard wasn’t considered that great of a game.
The premise of Elite Force is that due to being stranded alone in the Delta Quadrant, Lt. Tuvok, the chief of security aboard the USS Voyager forms the Hazard Team, an elite security team designed specifically for handling the more dangerous situations and away missions that normal crewmembers shouldn’t be exposed to. You, the player, are ensign Alex Munro, with the choice of playing as a male or female (Alexander or Alexandria, Alex for short), assigned to the newly formed Hazard Team. The choice of a male or female player makes for some interesting plot development later in the game.
.BREAK_EMAIL Click here to boldly go where only gamers have gone before.
I must confess, at the time Elite Force came out, I had never seen a single episode of Voyager. At that time, we didn’t have a UPN affiliate in my area, so we had to watch the episodes in syndication, which was at o’dark thirty on Sunday nights. I missed the first episode, and the entire first couple of seasons actually, so I really didn’t see much point in watching the show, as I had no idea what was going on.
But through the game, I found the premise and characters so interesting that I started watching the syndicated episodes and even subscribed to Dish Network’s Superstation package so I could watch the new episodes in prime time. By the end of the fifth season I was completely caught up. And I’m glad I did, as Voyager rapidly became my favorite of all the Star Trek shows.
Now, back to the game.
Elite Force brings you all the famous characters and locations from the television show, even featuring the voice talent of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Voyager’s previously-Borg crewmember. In Figure B you can see a couple of screenshots from the bridge of Voyager, showcasing all the major players of the show being portrayed in the game.
.FIGPAIR B Voyager: Elite Force has all the stars of the television show.
Elite Force brings you all the familiar locations of the starship Voyager as well, including Engineering, and Captain Janeway’s Ready Room shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C In Elite Force, you’ll visit many of the show’s familiar locations.
You’ll also visit places like crew quarters, the mess hall, the holodeck, and cargo and shuttle bays. And that’s just on Voyager. On those dangerous away missions you’ll visit places like mysterious alien ships, Klingon vessels, Malon ships, Borg cubes, like in Figure D, and even an alternate universe version of a ’60s Federation ship like in the Mirror, Mirror episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.
.FIGPAIR D Infiltrate a Borg cube.
In one Hazard Team mission, you’ll even take a ride in Tom Paris’ custom shuttlecraft the Delta Flyer, shown in Figure E.
.FIGPAIR E Take a ride in the Delta Flyer.
Voyager: Elite Force should give you quite bit of play time, and because it’s an older game, you should be able to play at its highest detail setting, even on laptops that aren’t top of the line. Elite Force quickly became one of my favorite games, and I’ve come back to it time again when I couldn’t find anything new to hold my interest.
There was also an expansion pack for Voyager: Elite Force. The expansion pack, shown in Figure F, does require the original Elite Force of course, but even at the $20 it cost when it came out, I didn’t feel it was worth the money.
.FIGPAIR F Voyager: Elite Force’s rather lackluster expansion pack.
There really wasn’t much of a plot to it, and it was only a momentary distraction.
.H1 Boldly going again
Activision followed up Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force with Star Trek: Elite Force II in Figure G, continuing the career of ensign, now Lt., Alex Munro.
.FIGPAIR G Star Trek: Elite Force II continues the career of Alex Munro.
Before Voyager’s triumphant return to the Alpha Quadrant, the Hazard Team has one more showdown with the Borg, in Figure H, in an expansion of the events that took place in the final episode of the Voyager television series.
.FIGPAIR H One last showdown with the Borg before returning to the Alpha Quadrant.
Now back in the Alpha Quadrant, the crew of Voyager has been broken up by some insipid Starfleet bureaucrat, and Munro is stuck teaching squad tactics at Starfleet Academy, shown in Figure I.
.FIGPAIR I The beautiful Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.
.PAGE
Munro ends up back on the Hazard Team of course, rescued by Captain Picard of the Enterprise, who values the skills a Hazard Team would bring to Starfleet’s flagship, shown in the cut-scene in Figure J.
.FIGPAIR J Captain Picard sees the value of a Hazard Team and rescues Munro from a short-sighted bureaucracy.
Back in action, Lt. Munro, with the assistance of Commander Tuvok, who is filling in as security chief aboard the Enterprise, falls headlong into a new mystery, taking the team to a whole new cornucopia of locations. In Figure K, the Hazard Team, in EVA (Extravehicular Activity) gear investigates the derelict USS Dallas after receiving a distress call.
.FIGPAIR K The Hazard Team investigates the derelict remains of the USS Dallas.
In one mission, Munro even gets a little cosmetic makeover in order to infiltrate a Romulan base, shown in Figure L.
.FIGPAIR L Don’t blow your cover while infiltrating this secret Romulan base.
Like in the first version of Elite Force, Elite Force II has a bit of a romantic subplot in the storyline, giving the player choices to make in regards to how that plot develops. But in Elite Force II, the player doesn’t have the option of choosing the sex of the character; you’re cast as the male Alex Munro.
Unlike the original, to date there has been no expansion pack for Elite Force II, which is kind of a shame because it was such a good game. There’s a pretty good online community though, so you should have no problem finding fan-created missions to continue your play well after finishing the game.
Combining assault tactics with stealth and puzzle solving, Elite Force II will give you the opportunity to explore the flagship of the Federation’s star fleet, as well as many hours of playtime. Like the original Elite Force, Elite Force II is one of my favorite shooters, and I come back to it time after time.
Once again, I’ve grown a little long in this article and didn’t get to cover all the games I intended to. I have one more game to cover, which will have to wait for a future segment of retro gaming on the go, so stay tuned for more.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources.
For more information on Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force and its expansion pack, visit http://www.ravensoft.com/elite_force.html.
For more information on Star Trek: Elite Force II, visit http://www.ritualistic.com/games.php/ef2.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO James Booth is the Senior Editor for ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he’s the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and Palm specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.
