Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force

The Good
Great atmosphere, everything about Voyager is "right on", so it sure won't disappoint Trekkers. On the other hand, the wide variety of weapons with alternate fire modes for each keeps even the hardcore shooters happy. With the Holodeck you have infinite map possibilities, and indeed many fans are working on multiplayer maps based on the various memorable missions.

The Bad
The game is a bit short. A shooter is not exactly in the Star Trek spirit of exploration and such. At its heart, it's really still just Quake.

The Bottom Line
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force is a first-person shooter that allows you to take control of Alex (either male or female) Munro, XO of Hazard Team, an elite force of security personnel chosen for the most hazardous missions. You can think of it as Star Trek Quake, though that would not be giving enough credit to Raven, its creator.

EF is an excellent adaptation of STV to a game, because everything fits right in. Usually in a theme-based shooter the theme was subordinated to the action. Not this game. You are tasked to help solve various problems onboard Voyager at the start, then you will have to invade enemy ships, sneak around and gather information, and ultimately shoot plenty of aliens, everything from Borg and Specie 8472 to Klingons and Hirogens.

On the other hand, this is NOT a Star Trek game where you need to whip out a tricorder every once in a while to get readings. The emphasis is action, and that means you'll be using your weapons most of the time. You'll have to flip a switch every now and then, destroy a few things here and there, and figure how to get there from here (the way isn't always THAT obvious). You'll climb into crawlways, climb up ladders, ride turbolifts and elevators, jump in low-gravity, and more. There are a wide variety of missions, from stealth to jump to puzzle to shoot-everything.

The wide variety weapons all have their equivalent in the typical shooter arsenal, but all with a Star Trek touch. Phaser rifle have sniper mode. Regular phaser recharges automatically. You also get special weapons like personal photon burst (think mini photon torpedo!), Tetryon Disruptor, and "the dreadnaught weapon" which is equivalent to Quake's Lightning gun). All weapons have alternate firing modes, and many use differen types of ammo.

The missions are pretty involving and some even have time limits, though you can take your time on most of them. The final encounter is hard as you are simply surrounded on all sides.

You are usually accompanied by teammates, and they will engage the enemy (though doesn't seem to do any damage). They also have excellent path finding and have no problem catching up to you.

The Holomatch multiplayer component is at least as good as Quake III, and many gamers are working on mods to enhance that even further.

All in all, this may be one of the best Star Trek games ever. If you like a bit of background story to go with your first-person shooter, or if you are a Star Trek fan, you should definitely get this title. You would NOT be disappointed.