Colony Wars

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...