Dark Colony

The Good
Dark Colony is just a rock solid, no nonsense RTS. Everything from development of your base to gathering resources is kept simple. Your base can only be built on the small platform you start with and there is only one resource to gather. Basically, all you have to worry about it pumping out units and upgrading them as fast as you can. Both factions basically have the same units. Sure one side uses different genetically engineered monsters and the other uses mostly automated death machines, but tomato tomahto as they say. You have your infantry, support, artillery, medic, bombers etc. Dark Colony had a few innovative features for its time that this fan still enjoys to this day. Features like having an on the field commander and capturing different "artifacts" each with pretty frightening abilities such as creating a gravity well and sucking all in its grasp to oblivion or focusing the energy of the sun into a 1 meter wide beam to fry the target. There’s even an artifact that takes control of the local fauna! The skirmish mode allows for huge battles with up to 8 different sides, you can have the computer as an ally which, at that time, was rare. You can also transfer funds to your allies and vice versa, which is a neat little feature that makes LAN play extremely fun. There’s no rushing in this RTS, battles are long and extremely bloody, making it that much more satisfying when you see your troops marching into the enemy base. Lastly, in all my years of playing video games, Dark Colony has the best cinematic introduction I've ever seen. I'd suggest getting your hands on this game for that if nothing else.

The Bad
The campaign is challenging to the point of frustration sometimes. The AI always seems to you have you outnumbered. You always seem to be out of money and the bulk of a mission is spent waiting for your funds to reach a certain point. Even for it's time, the graphics are nothing to brag about, they're not bad but they're not good. There are some faux lighting effects and decent amount of detail, but that’s about it. It's nothing to cry home to momma about either. More so for the skirmish, all that really matters in this game are numbers. A good general rule to follow when playing is "If you're outnumbered, you're going to lose". There are a few exceptions to this rule, but it’s generally true. Now this is really a matter of taste, this fan personally doesn't like it, but you might not care.

The Bottom Line
In this day and age, Dark Colony is a solid, pick-up-and-play RTS. You can just jump into a skirmish with a few AI buddies or on a LAN and have blood spattering on the screen within minutes. If you like sci-fi themed RTSs and don't hold graphics as a super important factor in a good gaming, you will enjoy this. Dark Colony is not for everyone, but this slightly above average game can keep most gamers entertained for a decent amount of time with good replay value.