Colony Wars

Moby ID: 4265
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Description official description

Since 3095, the Earth Empire has spread throughout the universe, taking what it wants and destroying the rest - all in the name of sustaining life on Earth. To the Empire, expansion is of the utmost importance, even above famine, drought and death. The League of Free Worlds exists to offer resistance and hope to the plundered outlying colonies. After a key victory, it is shown that the Empire's Navy can be harmed and the ranks of the League begin to swell.

Colony Wars is a combat fighter game set in space. You, as the player, join as a recruit in the League's fleet. Missions take place in various fighters, from a 1st person view inside the cockpit, or a 3rd person view from behind your ship. Ships have separate meters for shields and armor, and the player must cycle between weapons designed specifically to damage each. At the most basic, purple lasers must drain a target's shields, followed by switching to red lasers to destroy them.

The game features advanced lighting and particle effects for the PlayStation, as well as a basic simulation of Newtonian physics. Thrusters are only active for as long as the accelerate button is held down. The player can burst fire their thrusters and drift, allowing for some advanced maneuvers.

The campaign features branching missions and storylines which, depending on your performance in the previous operations, lead to up to five different endings. Unlike most games of this genre, the destruction of the player's ship does not imply the immediate loss of the game: the pilot automatically ejects on an escape pod, but the mission is marked as failed, thus potentially putting the player on a losing path.

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Credits (PlayStation version)

117 People (107 developers, 10 thanks) · View all

Original Game Concept and Storyline
Game Designer
Gameplay Co-ordination
Mission Building
Lead Programmer
Programming
Lead Artist
In-Game Models
Intro and Extro Movies
In-Game Movies
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 19 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 13 ratings with 1 reviews)

Not another evil empire!?

The Good
The first thing I thought was this game is just another Star Wars clone. We're faced with a small band of righteous rebels fighting against the evil, tyrannical galactic empire. Yawn...

To be honest for the first couple of missions the game does disappoint. You're introduced to the rebellion as the evil colonial empire closes in for the kill. However imagine my surprise when I discovered that this is a game that gets better the further you progress. You go from cheery rebel to a war-hardened veteran to understanding the viewpoint of your enemy. The more you play the deeper you'll get into the plot of Colony Wars. Really the more hours you put into this game the harder it'll be to leave it alone.

The huge amount of information available on the universe of Colony Wars is truly staggering. It's a credit to the game's writers. It's refreshing to see that the developers spent some serious time writing and researching a decent back-story for the game.

Another factor that distinguishes Colony Wars from other space shooters is the continuity between missions; you can fail the mission and continue playing. In fact half of the games plot can only be accessed by failing the first few missions of the game. If you fail too many the game will end but this'll depend on the act you're currently playing in. There are nine different endings to this game. In fact you can win the game but loose in a broader sense. You'll have to play the game to understand what I mean!


The Bad
The game narrators voice! All credit to the guy who did it, he does a good job but I couldn't keep thinking that he was a cheap version of James Earl Jones!

The save system of the game is fundamentally flawed. You're only allowed to save at the beginning of each act (roughly every three missions). While this does sound fair in theory in practice it's one of the most frustrating aspects of this game as many of the key missions rest near the end of each act. If you fail you have to return to the beginning of the act and retrace your progress.

Probably the most annoying factor with this game is that a number of missions are impossible to complete without the aid of cheats. This is especially true of the final mission which can ONLY be done with the aid of cheats, believe me not even Topper Harley could fly out of that battle...

The Bottom Line
I'd have to say that Colony Wars is one of the best space shooters for the playstation. It has good graphics (well for it's day anyway), an excellent plot and will keep a fan of the genre entertained for some time. The game is pretty easy to find in the bargain bins seeing that it's an old playstation game, my advice is that it is well worth purchasing...

PlayStation · by Ciarán Lynch (84) · 2004

Trivia

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • January 1998 (Issue 102) - Game of the Month
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - PlayStation Game of the Year Runner-Up
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Best Graphics Runner-Up
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Best Sound Runner-Up
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Game of the Year Top Write-In (Readers' Choice)
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Shooter Game of the Year Top Write-In (Readers' Choice)
    • 1998 Buyer's Guide - Best Print Ad Runner-Up
  • PSExtreme
    • 1997 (Vol.3, Iss.3) - Best Shooter of the Year

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Frumple.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Big John WV, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger.

Game added June 11, 2001. Last modified March 19, 2024.