Star Trek: Voyager - Arcade Light Gun Game (Game Refuge 2002)
3Star Trek: Voyager is an arcade light gun game based on the classic science fiction television series of the same name. The game was developed by Game Refuge, and published to arcades in 2002 by Monaco Entertainment; while the arcade cabinets were manufactured by Team Play inc.
The game takes players deep within the corridors of Star Trek's USS Voyager and Borg Ships, battling it out against numerous alien forces. Enemies include the Cybernetic Borg's, Species 8472, and Hirogen Hunters, among other alien like creatures.
Game play generally follows a first-person perspective; although some scenes, such as with the space battles aboard the Delta Flyer, follow more of a rail shooting type of theme.
Although, the rail shooting sequences are really short in comparison to the battles on the USS Voyager. Nonetheless, the space battles looked visually appealing graphics wise, but they certainly could've been more in-depth and bit longer in duration.
Weapons in the game include a laser gun, along with special power-ups; such as a Plasma Shield, that engulfs enemies in a barrage of fire that sweeps across the screen, among others.
The game was only licensed for sale in the U.S. upon release, never finding its way to foreign markets as a result. It was also thought to be a commercial success in the U.S., this was despite critics having panned the game almost entirely, often citing its repetitiveness and lack of variety in terms of enemies.
Some parts of the game were quite repetitive too, such as the battle with the Borg Queen. Likewise, there's no real graphical effects to be seen when firing upon enemies, no real enemy reactions, and they simply fall over like a cardboard cutout and disappear upon defeat.
The assimilated Borg monster bosses were far more compelling than the game's standard enemies; with some bosses taking on a more cartoon like appearance in nature. Some of the game's bosses also look more like something out of the Doom series than Star Trek.
A better rail shooting experience can be had with Starsphere Interactive's space combat sim known as "Star Trek: Shattered Universe"; which was released for home consoles such as the original XBOX and PS2 just a couple of years after Voyager was first released to arcades.
Voyager was a game that was fun to place at least once, but left a lot to be desired in terms of long term replay value. To date, there are no known ports of this game for home consoles.
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