Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen Review

The method for killing enemies had to be simplified because of the fact that the game uses 3rd person view. You could hardly hit anything if your character's back covers half of the screen. This is why they introduced automatic aiming feature. The problem is that when you turn it on, all combat comes down to clicking the mouse button as fast as possible. Experienced players can turn this feature off, but the lack of ammo and the number of enemies would make the game very hard in that case. Your arsenal consists out of nine weapons: the famous Phaser (weak power, long reloading time) then Cardassian Disrupter Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Plasma Thrower, EMP Gun, Shock Rifle, Polaron Pulse Rifle, Photon Mines and Type-3a Phaser Rifle.

Some of those will feature primary and secondary attack, and the Phaser has adjustable frequency that would enable you to shoot through various obstacles or armor. The most useful tool in the game is the TRICORDER. It can scan the surrounding area regardless of nearby walls and it will often give you valuable info on enemy positions even before they spot you. This would give you a chance to surprise your enemies, but as you cannot use the tricorder and a weapon at the same time, you probably will not be using this option too much. This useful piece of hardware will more often be used for discovering hidden switches, mines or determining the proper direction for completing your current task.

Elite Force had been done using the Quake III engine, and DS9 is using full potentials of the Unreal engine. This will grant you perfect graphics and animation, especially if you have a 3DFX card. (Yeah, you've heard of the late 3dfx, haven't you - Ed.) You will fully enjoy the interiors of the space ships, and some of the scenes look good enough to be used in the TV series. The camera has been solved rather well, and it won't give you any trouble. Energy and weapon data are located on the sides of the screen. They are functional, and do not take up too much space.

The sound is commendable. Sound effects are typical for a game like this, but the original actors from the series did voice-over acting. Unfortunately, Cisco and Chief O'Brien mutated a bit as they had not been done by te same people, but they are equally as good. The well-known soundtrack is there to help you immerge into the world of Star Trek.

Enemy AI is a bit dodgy though. Still the enemy will compensate their lack of intelligence with their numbers. Each of them will strive to hurt you as much as they can regardless of their own well-being. Friendly NPCs are not too smart either, and usually don't live long.

There is no multiplayer mode. The authors probably thought that the three different scenarios should suffice, but when you finish the game, you'll have no reason to desire to start it again.

Even though it is far from perfect, DS9: The Fallen will together with Elite Force (FPS) present a solid proof that the electronic Star Trek serial slowly started improving. The market is crammed with similar arcade adventures, so you cannot expect anything revolutionary from this Collective Studios' game. The only thing that should secure good sale is the popularity of the Star Trek world. I would still recommend the game both to trekies and rest of the audience, as it can provide you with the true feeling of this famous, yet until recently faraway fictional world.