Dark Colony

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Description

In a gloomy not-so-distant future, mankind have finally made it to Mars. The colonization of the red planet is vital for humanity's survival, as the heavily polluted Earth's resources are nearly depleted. At the same time, the Taar, a mysterious alien race that lost their homeworld many centuries ago, has decided to take Mars as their new home.

As the war between the two species erupts, the player has to choose his side and lead his people to ultimate domination over the red planet. Things become even more complicated when the ruins of an extinct ancient civilization are found on Mars, revealing immensely destructive weapons that could easily turn the tide of the war in favor of the faction that manages to gain control over them first.

Dark Colony is a real-time strategy with heavy emphasis on the actual combat. Resource gathering, base construction and unit production have been made as simple and fast as possible, allowing the player to focus on decimating the enemy armies. Ancient artifacts, available in some of the missions, provide unique options for beating the odds, even when they seem to be against you (and they often will).

The game plot advances through short cutscenes, briefings and debriefings which detail the development of the war. The game also offers various promotions and decorations that you can earn for your player character, who will actually be present on the battlefield, acting as a more powerful and durable trooper with some special abilities (such as calling in reinforcements and inspiring the regular troopers).

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "DC" -- Official abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• Dark Colony series
• Gameplay feature: Day / Night cycle
• Gameplay feature: Fog of war
• Replay (GT / Infogrames / Atari) releases
• Setting: Mars
• White Label releases

User Reviews

Aliens check in, they don't check out.	Windows	Gatekeeper (306)
Simple sci-fi RTS	Windows	Viktor Kovacs (15)

Critic Reviews

Gameplay (Benelux)	Windows	Oct 01, 1997	86 out of 100	86
PC Joker	Windows	Oct, 1997	83 out of 100	83
Power Play	Windows	Sep, 1997	81 out of 100	81
Mac Game Gate	Macintosh	1998		80
PC Games (Germany)	Windows	Oct, 1997	70 out of 100	70
About This Particular Macintosh	Macintosh	Jul, 1998		60
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Windows	Nov, 1997		60
GameSpot	Windows	Sep 19, 1997	5.3 out of 10	53
Reset	Windows	Oct, 1997	5 out of 10	50
Game Revolution	Windows	Jun 05, 2004	C-	42

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Trivia

Light

Dark Colony is one of the first RTS to add day/night cycle as a tactical consideration, as the Greys see much better during night time (those big eyes, you know).

Related Web Sites

• Polish Dark Colony Fansite (One of little remaining Dark Colony fansites. Patches, a multiplayer client and full game downloads are uploaded and tournaments are occasionally organised. The site can be read in both Polish and English.)