Star Trek Elite Force II E3 2003 Preshow Report

Activision and Ritual are working to put the finishing touches on Star Trek Elite Force II in time to release the game this summer. Activision will have the first-person action game on hand at its E3 booth. While the first Elite Force game had you assume the role of a special forces operative aboard the USS Voyager, that setting is only the springboard for a new adventure that will regroup the hazard team on the Enterprise and see you fend off a new threat to the Federation. Fans of Star Trek will note that the game's introductory missions replay the events of Voyager's fight against the Borg and return to Earth in the television series' final episode, but the action sequences in the game are designed to be intense and varied enough to please any action fan.

Elite Force II will offer a good variety of missions, from the story-based exploration sequences so typical of Star Trek to frenetic assaults on critical objectives. There are 11 different indoor and planetary environments to explore and plenty of secret locations to find, plus the game will give you the opportunity to run through the decks of the Enterprise E itself and fend off a hostile force. Despite the fact that the game has more than a dozen potent weapons to use against the Federation's enemies, the game won't always play like a first-person shooter. The handheld tricorder will be useful on a number of occasions to locate weak points in walls that can offer an entry point or to solve other sorts of puzzles. But when the action gets heavy, there are some impressively potent weapons at your disposal, including a guided quantum torpedo launcher and a Romulan radiation gun.

Activision is going in a slightly new direction with Elite Force II to broaden the game's appeal. Between the involved single-player missions and the full range of multiplayer features, Elite Force II promises something for everyone. The game is set to launch this summer.