Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force

Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000) is a first-person action shooter created for Activision by Raven Software on modified Quake III Arena engine technology. The player takes on the role of Ensign Munro, a member of the newly formed Hazard Team security unit aboard the USS Voyager, who deals with a ship malfunction, attacks by an alien race, and a mysterious abandoned space station full of enemies and environmental puzzles. The story fits the atmosphere of the Star Trek: Voyager show and takes place during one of the seasons of the ship stranded in a remote quadrant of the galaxy. The missions also draw on settings the show only touched on briefly, including abandoned space stations and enemy vessels that the player explores between firefights.

Unlike the strategy-focused Star Trek titles of the time, Elite Force went the route of pure action — weapon combat is fast and intense thanks to the proven Quake III engine, but the game retains typical show elements like tricorders for solving puzzles, transporters for moving between locations, and cooperation with AI companions from the Voyager crew, including familiar characters like Tuvok or Seven of Nine, who help the player in combat and while progressing through levels. Quality level design, a solid weapon arsenal, and a technically advanced engine made it one of the best-reviewed Star Trek games ever, even among players who otherwise weren't particularly fond of the Star Trek shows. The game's sound design also benefited from voice casting close to the show and atmospheric music, which heightened the sense that the player was really walking through the corridors of Voyager during a full alert.

Why play it: Elite Force is ideal for players who want to experience Star Trek from the perspective of a rank-and-file crew member in the middle of a firefight, not from the bridge of a ship like in strategy games such as Armada. Thanks to the solid Quake III engine, it also still plays surprisingly fresh even years later, and offers multiplayer modes and bonus missions that gave it a long-lived active community of players creating their own mods.