Star Trek: Elite Force 2
Worse than the original. Better voice acting, though.
Tags: Star Trek: Elite Force 2 Categories: PC Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Harold Foundary on Aug 29th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: Elite Force 2 (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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The original Elite Force played as though you were following a single character through an episode of Star Trek. Some would say that the game was the only redeeming thing to come out of the Voyager series, and was an excellent way to add violence and grit to the touchy feely spin-off.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t end gracefully with the series. Ritual did not put the care and thought into this game that it should have, choosing instead to latch onto the Star Trek name to assure them a steady stream of sales.
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The gameplay, is repetative, linear, and predictable. Of course, you could say all of these things about the original, too. But these faults are exacerbated by phoned in level design, and a rehash of the same old first person crap. Level’s are mostly button chases, though there’s a tricorder to use on those buttons. The boss battles (one of the weakest points of the first game) are much more plentful now, insuring forced story progression stretched across inappropriate and awkward situations.
As you stalk through another Borge ship, another ice planet, another large steel-beam lined ship interior, you’ll get to play with another grenade launcher, another rocket launcher, and another sniper rifle.
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The tricorder is the only real improvement here, and it’s not much of one. The Fallen: Deep Space Nine was the first and only game to get the tricorder right, and Ritual should have taken a few more notes from that game. Here, the tricorder now offers simple info on most targets, like people, weapons, and enemies. It is also the key to the new puzzle system, which was cool the first time, but becomes lame after the seventh time you have to do it.
But hey, did I mention the voice acting? Patrick Stuart! Tuvok! All your favorite once-Shakespearean-now-Trekean actors are here to put their real live chords into use. It’s a refreshing change, but doesn’t salvage the game.
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The most exciting part of the game is the opportunity to push your fellow Hazard team members around the hallways of Star Fleet Academy and watch them gesticulate while having a conversation with a plant. They never seem to realize that you’ve moved their partner across the room to another plant, and thus continue their discussions with ficcuses instead of ensigns.
Obviously, the pleasure of pushing around other characters is not worth the admission price.
If you haven’t played the original Elite Force, go get a copy. It’s odd, but the game was better when Voyager was still adrift in the Delta Quadrant.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
Voice Acting. Multiplayer. |
4 |
| What Doesn't | |
| Maps, gameplay, plot, puzzles, actually attempting to make the player fall in love with virtual trek women. | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Christ Scotty! Beam me back up! Please! Quick man, there's no intelligent life here! | |
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Tags: Star Trek: Elite Force 2
Posted by Harold Foundary on Aug 29th, 2003 and is filed under PC Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
