Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force 

What a pleasure to finish on a classic Star Trek game that you can still easily buy and play today. Where Star Wars has Dark Forces as its FPS classic, Star Trek has Elite Force, a genuinely great shooter that stands the test of time.

Why so good? Well, primarily because it was developed by genre experts Raven, the studio that brought us Hexen and Jedi Outcast. The result was a really mature realization of the Voyager universe, delivered using 2000’s id Tech 3, and feeling far more legitimately good than Star Trek fans were used to.

The opening of Elite Force is just fantastic, set on a Borg cube, and delivering on that creepiest aspect of the cyborg horrors: they just don’t care that you’re there. You have a task to complete, as instructed by Tuvok, but you’re warned to avoid engaging in combat if possible. That’s a bold way to open an FPS! And it’s better still, given how it puts you in that position of moving about the cube while the uninterested Borg just mill about around you. Even better, should you start firing at them, they’ll pretty quickly develop immunity to your blaster fire, and you’re stuffed. (It’s all on a Holodeck, it’s eventually revealed, but still.)

You’re part of the Hazard Team, the titular elite force, challenged to protect a very damaged Voyager that finds itself trapped in a ship graveyard. There are over 30 levels to play across eight missions, with a bunch of favorite enemy types to shoot at. And best of all, between levels you get to mooch about on board the Voyager, chatting with the crew, and doing odd jobs.

There was a sequel, a game that despite being pretty good sold so badly it saw developers Ritual Entertainment go bust, that you can also pick up today.

Where to buy: GOG