Introduction

Developer: Ravensoft
Publisher: Activision
Elite Force official page: http://www.ravensoft.com/eliteforce/
More Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force resources

Raven - last thing first, first thing last

Raven Software has long been known for quality shooters based on id software engines. Starting with Heretic and Hexen, and on up through their recent game, Soldier of Fortune, Raven's signature has always been fast action with an emphasis on traditional, old school design. Interestingly enough, Soldier of Fortune was the last game to be released that was based on the Quake 2 engine (we'll just pretend Daikatana doesn't exist, OK? Isn't that a nice thought?). With the recently released demo of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Raven also becomes the first 3rd party developer to offer a playable game based off the Quake 3 engine. Essentially, they are the torchbearer for all developers who use id's engines, transitioning away from the old and into the new.

Die, Borg Scum!

Menacing aren't they?

Not another Star Trek game!

When we first heard about Elite Force, we were initially very skeptical - slapping a Star Trek license on your game has traditionally been the kiss of death. It's as if all Star Trek games are doomed to suck. But glimpses of Elite Force at recent trade shows, including this year's GDC and E3, left us feeling much more optimistic and hopeful about Raven's offering.

Assimilate THIS

Heat hot I-Mod

Why a demo review?

Some people (those blessed with T1/DSL/Cable) have asked us why we bother with demo reviews - the file is free for download, and the whole point of it is so that anyone can grab it and try it for themselves, right? Well the fact of the matter is that most of the world is still on dialup, while demos keep ballooning larger and larger. It seems as if 100+MB "downloadable" demos are standard procedure these days. While that's fine and dandy for those of us with high bandwidth, huge demos can take hours to grab over a modem connection. The point of us doing articles like this is that we can tell our modem using readers if a demo is worth tying up their phone line for 10 hours or so.

They work in packs

Busting out the secondary fire

What do I get for 115MB?

So what does this 115MB demo have to offer? There's a tutorial, two single player levels (each broken down into a couple of sublevels), two multiplayer deathmatch levels, and five weapons to play around with. Read on for more details