Published by Simon & Schuster Interactive
Designed by The Collective
Price £19.99 (£9.99 in some shops)
Released: Out Now

Recently it's been a little quiet here at Deaf Gamers. The big titles are around the corner just in time for the Christmas build up. Instead of just waiting we thought we would look at some of those games that came out a while ago and for one reason or another was not reviewed. One of these games is ST DS9 - The Fallen.

The Fallen came out a couple of weeks before Star Trek Voyager : Elite Force. With its Quake 3 engine and higher profile Elite Force sold very well indeed while The Fallen didn't seem to do very well at all. A year on and the game can be bought for £9.99 in some stores which as this review will point out makes it a hell of a bargain.

The Fallen is a 3rd person action/adventure game that places you in the role of either Captain Benjamin Sisko, Major Kira Nerys and Lt. Commander Worf. The roles of each the three characters is a different perspective of the same story line. Speaking of which your goal is to collect all three orbs as they are the key to preventing disaster in the guise of the Pah-wraiths. The story has been very well thought out and structured in such a way that the experiences of each of the characters is similar yet different.

The graphics are very good. The Fallen uses the Unreal Tournament engine (it has been slightly improved) and it allows the game to look every bit as good as Elite Force. Explosions and others effects look excellent especially when you consider the game is a year old.

The controls are similar to Max Payne or other shoot 'em ups and the game is very easy to get into. Should your character be up close he/she becomes transparent and unlike the early Tomb Raider games visibility is never a problem. The level have been well constructed and seem sufficiently different so you never get the feeling that each mission is just a repeat of the last one.

The all important subtitles are there as well. When you first start the game cinematic (cutscene) subtitles are not switch on but this can be activated by going the options menu and enabling them (you will then have all cutscenes enabled). The text is very clear and well positioned. The enemies that you come across will always make there presence known and never silently creep upon you, like in the Thief games were the ability to hear them was essential.

The Fallen is an impressive game with movie like feel to it. The story is interesting and makes the highly enjoyable. The replay value is wonderful with the ability to play through the story in three different ways. The length of each characters version is longer the total game in Elite Force which says a lot when you consider that it is just one third of the total game. If you haven't already bought The Fallen by now then I would say that it comes as highly recommended. At £30 the value was very good, At £20 and lower the value becomes exceptional.

Overall Game Rating: 8.4/10 Well worth the asking price.

Quality of text: 9/10 Very good but you have to enable the subtitles.

Graphics: 9/10 Very nice when you consider it is a year old.

Interface:7/10 Adequate for a game of this type.

Gameplay: 8.5/10 Impressive although there is not too much variety between the characters.