Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Impressions

GameSpot has acquired the latest build of Activision and Raven Software's first-person shooter, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. As the name implies, the game uses the setting of the Star Trek: Voyager TV show. You assume the role of Ensign Munro, a Voyager crew member assigned to the special away team unit known as the Hazard Team. Raven Software has done an impressive job of adapting the feel of the Star Trek Voyager show into the game.

Running on the Quake III engine, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force attempts to accurately re-create the Voyager universe, and the development team has even secured a good deal of technical detail on the Voyager sets from Paramount. An early level sends you into the ship of the Federation's most dangerous enemy, the Borg. As you travel through the Borg cube, the Borg will not pay attention to you and continue to work or regenerate in their alcoves unless they deem you a threat to the ship. But be careful nonetheless - you'll only have to take out a few power sources to provoke them. Once the Borg attack, you'll have to use your firepower sparingly, since they adapt to your phasers and can erect personal force fields to completely block your weapons.

The actual Voyager starship is as impressive as the other locales. Raven Software remodeled important areas of the ship such as the bridge, the engineering room, the turbo lifts, and the mess hall. While on the Voyager, you'll spend a large portion of your time interacting with nonplayer characters by listening to them speak with you and each other. You'll even be asked to help out during any emergencies that might arise, such as a potentially disastrous warp-core meltdown. Before the start of each mission, you will be required to visit the equipment room, where you can select which weapons you want to take on the mission and test them out in the holodeck. The holodeck becomes a valuable tool for learning the primary and secondary firing mode of each weapon.

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force is due out this fall. We'll have a full preview of the game soon.