Star Trek Elite Force 2

Rating:
Summary: Spoiled by Bridge Commander
Review: I made the mistake of playing Star Trek Bridge Commander before Starfleet Command 3. SC3 feels like a kiddie version, an old 2-D flyer game. The ships appear to have no physical weight. They're unrealistic. There's also a floating red line which signifies the boundary over which you cannot cross without exiting a mission. I spent half my time trying to avoid this dreaded 'edge of the universe' instead of enjoying the game. There's also no Z-axis. The universe has become a flat place, so without looking up or down, you can always find something to ping with your tiny torpedoes. This game has even done what no Star Fleet scientist has even been able to do. They've conquered the dreaded cloaking device. What's the fun in that?

Maybe I just didn't get it. When targeting subsystems like the aft beams on ships in Bridge Commander, you can watch your phaser fire literally blow the tail off a Cardassian Galor and send the pieces floating off into space. SC3 phasers reminded me of water guns. A quick short beam at the middle of the ship with no visible damage, no matter what I targeted. It was nothing like the real Star Trek episodes or movies. And all ships are evidently in partial phase, because you can fly your ship directly through every other ship with no danger of collision. I guess that was necessary with no Z-axis.

Star Fleet Command 3 is much like the ships programmed into it--no real weight or substance. The opening movie sequence is as good as it gets. The rest looks like an old Dungeons & Dragons board. If you like Star Trek as real as it gets, buy Bridge Commander instead.

Rating:
Summary: What the heck happened here?
Review: While you can see where they were trying to go with Starfleet Command 3, it doesn't cut the mustard. They tried to simplify the game and bring in people who didn't want to learn the complex command of the first two StarFleet Commands. While the idea is admirable, they've failed miserably.

Not all is lost, there are some nice touches, the new ships from the Next Generation era, and things like Warp Speed actually doing something.

Unfortunately, this isn't enough to make me ditch my SFC II.

Rating:
Summary: Live Long and Prosper
Review: If you are a star trek nut like me this is the game for you
Spock couldn't have made a better game even though he came back from the dead I couldn't have seen that coming myself! Spock is such a great guy! McCoy was the best doctor he could mend anything from a space rash to a bird of prey attack. The way Kirk escaped the GIANT PLANET EATER! is amazing! They needed more Spock in this video game more he is the best he is also as cool as Picard he is the best! This game is good. But Star Trek the show is much much better. Live Long and Prosper.

Rating:
Summary: More than Point & Shoot
Review: You can get blown up every time by just letting your weapons officer do all the work. It's an intense game of strategy. Sometimes they make it easy for you; sometimes it's a try again and again challenge. Some ships can only be defeated by targeting certain subsystems. Sometimes you just flat have to take the helm and fly the Sovereign yourself. At times you can only defeat a fleet of bad guys by ganging up your Allies against one ship. At other times, keeping your allies apart is the only way to avoid suicide. Add to that the delicate balance of powering your own ship's systems, maneuvering between deadly orbiting satelites, and trying not to blow up your own badly-behaved Klingon friends, and you've got a game.

The only minuses to this game are the heavy video card requirements, which can bump you right out of the game if you're trying to max out limited resources, and the carefully controlled script. After playing a few times, I'd just love to blow the Cardassian Matan out of the sky when we first bump into him, but that would just ruin episodes 5-8, wouldn't it? So he escapes in the nick of time. And Ensegn Lomar is very unreliable when it comes to getting you to a ship under attack in time or avoiding Cardassian listening posts. Just take the helm.

Rating:
Summary: The politcally correct version of Unreal 2; sort of....
Review: Good? Yes. Just as good as the original Elite Force? No.

Elite Force II is a worthy sequel of it's prequel-hardly.

Ritual Entertainment failed to execute the original star trek expansive level design that Raven did in the original, and feeling. Music is cheesy. There's a lot of big guns and blowing up huge aliens with alotta surprises, at least. Thank god theres no geekish "Set phases to stun" crap! Multiplayer isn't as well established as the original but still holds it's poor boy scene. Graphically, elite force 2 pushes the limits of a enhanced version of quake 3 arena engine. It provides pretty good detail in both characters and environments using direct-x 9 and opengl software and opengl hardware capabilities. Thus the graphics need a bit more polish. The game is twice as short as the original and is easier by a long shot. There is no gender choice like there was in the original. At least ef2 provides two exclusuive multiplayer models. Voice acting is big budget and top notch, and sound effects really depend on what your PC is capable of, but on state of the art systems, elite force 2 manages very nicely sound effects wise. Weapons are very cool! 10 weapons of mass destruction really shines during game-play. Enemies are tough big and don't hold back a punch! Physics are pretty realistic though could have been written more efficiently. A.I is poor and pathetic, whoever wrote the A.I needs 12 months in the school of "A.I scripting", really! Overall game-play is good, but not great. The game performs lousy on systems that are below the high-end system specifications. (P4/AMD 3ghz, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra/Radeon 9800 pro 256, 1GB+ of RAM) Interface is decent and can be cool at times. LAN play is a smooth buttah! Online play isn't so smooth, that' for sure! Cut-scenes aren't the best. They could be better. There are a variety of hardware and software accelerated graphics and audio options, and really make their apperance well. The same quality real-time shadows that were used in Jedi Outcast are used in elite force 2 as well, which is great! Hopefully a patch will be released soon for ef2. Other graphics effects are the standard, you know. high quality 44khz sound output rates, A3D-EAX, 16-bit+ sound quality, and surround sound options are implemented into audio options. Of course. The average. But what really is disapointing is how EF2's disapointing worthyeness of it's presedood really impacts my hype and drooling trek anticipation. Elite force 2 overall is a good game, but not great. Pretty good, actually. But isn't quite the worthy sequel I expected. But that's not all to say about it! There's a lot more to ef2, as you know! [hopefully], so the bottom line is:

The game is pretty good but not very good.

And that's a fact!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Game
Review: This game is great! The single player story line is emersive and interesting, and to play campaigns from 3 different races is fantastic. You get to play as the bad guys, the good guys and the trigger happy allies to the good guys.

The multiplayer is great as well. It uses dynaverse 3 with is like a Starship RPG (Well sort of.) It also has a skirmish setting for immediate firefights.

The only problem with this game is the lack of a patch, which means the multiplayer crashes a about 30-45% of the time. Not very good. Otherwise this game is excelent with many ships of varying design and streangths. I.E. A Warbird has different weapons and systems than a Sovereign.

Rating:
Summary: Star Trek Elite Force 2, The End of the EF Saga :(
Review: I know, it sounds pretty bad doesnt it? Let me just say before you skip this review, that the single player is pretty good. The enemies can be challenging at times, the puzzles are a nice touch and the graphics are top notch. Here lies the problem.

Ever try to play a fast paced multiplayer game? You clanners know what I'm talking about ;) That blurring speed with wich you rocket jump over your enemies, snag the flag and strafe jump like theres not tomorrow for your team-mates? Dont expect that here. :( Imagine EF's low grav settings being made the standard. Yup, try strafing in that! This game's graphics are way too intensive for multi-player action, and the weapons fire way too slow.

Great game types though, all refreshing from the standard CTF DM, TDM game types. One thing though, if you want to "Kill" an opponent, not "holofrag" them, get another game.. this game is just too lame for MP :(

And no, Im not talking as some kid who just randomly picked up this game, I'm not a n00b. I'm [SR]Warpcore, I've been in clans for 2 and a half years, and Star Trek Voyager Elite Force was my first FPS game. Since then I've played games like UT2k3, Halo, RTCW, BF1942, Red Faction, Jedi Knight 2 and Quake 3.

Core
...

Rating:
Summary: Good Concepts but Poor Execution: A Disappointing Sequel
Review: Like many fans of the original Elite Force, I bought this game on the very first day. I was quite happy with the new and improved graphics and more advanced AI and weapon accuracy. Unfortunately, the game's weak spots became very evident as I progressed. Three in particular are worth mentioning. [1] Huge areas of the game are not clipped. If I'm not supposed to explore an area - fine. Build a fence. Or add some crates close me into the designated space. But don't keep having me hit non-existent walls. [2] Also, the cinematic segments in this new game are far less true to the TV shows and movies than the cinematic segments in the original game were. The plot often makes no sense at all (during Mission 6, the bad guys are trying to destroy the ship one minute and then disabling the auto-destruct the next). [3] My final complaint is with the weapons. Unlike the original, where one could pick from any weapon acquired, the new game gives you only a handful for any given mission, and often deprives you of one of the two truly excellent ones (the assault and sniper rifles). The missions are good; the locals are better, but key faults in this game make it a frustrating experience. Although it requires a little bit of universe-hopping, I recommend Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast over Elite Force II to any gamer.

Rating:
Summary: SP rocks, MP is a dud
Review: Well, as my subject heading says, the single player was pretty darn good, with the multi-player being quite a disapointment (I'll get to my reasoning in a moment).

SP had a good plot, graphics, map design, character interaction, etc., etc, that I believe is just as good, if not better, than the first game's SP (designed by Raven). Ritual definitely spent most of their efforts on this part of the game. The weapons and maps were nice and varied, the bosses nice and tough, and the character interactions (especially when the NPCs talked amongst themselves) quite entertaining. The love triangle aspect of the plot was also a nice touch. The only bad thing I can say about it was your team AI. They were not much use throughout the game, and most of the time, you went off alone to do your own thing. I was wishing for a bit more involvement on their part.

Now... as for the MP part. First, let me say that I am/was a big fan of EF1's multi-player. It absolutely rocked. EF's CTF was so addicting that I spent many a hours trying to get MVP and win the game for my team. To sum up quick, just about the best online game I have ever played.

So, to be fair, EF1s MP basically ruined EF2s MP for me. I had such high expectations. I wanted to believe that EF2 was just going to be an update on an already great game. Boy, was I wrong. It took less than a minute on a server to realize everything was different. The physics, movement, fire rate, weapons, power-ups, etc., were all changed. I don't think it's a matter of getting used to it. It just felt "wrong" and counterintuitive. I tried it for one night, and just game up after that.

I figure if you have never played EF1, you might be able to jump into EF2's MP easier than myself, but I think it's a waste of time. On a side note, on Ritual's support forum, Ritual had mentioned the possibility of a MP patch to make it more accessible. However, as I write this review, there is some sort of lawsuit between Activision and Ritual. So basically, any mention of a patch has died. IMHO, the patch itself is dead too.

There's also grumbling from the EF community abour releasing the source code (or GDK or something like that) so modders can get their hands on it and "fix" it themselves. No word on if that will happen.

To sum it up again, SP was great, MP was a stinker. You decide which is more important to you.

Rating:
Summary: I Love This Game
Review: My dad researched Star Trek games and bought this for me based on the recommendations of others. I think Bridge Commander is a very cool game. If you like TNG, you can't go wrong buying this. I have dozens of PC games, but I have spent more time playing this than any other.

by
Kenny