|
 | |
DEVELOPER
Psygnosis
PUBLISHER
Psygnosis
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
2 CDs
PLAYERS
One
| | |
|
 n Colony Wars you play a veteran pilot who is fighting against the evil Empire. You belong to the League of Free Worlds and your goal is to defend its colonies from the advances of the Empire. The story actually becomes more detailed as you get further in the game and see a few of the cool cinema sequences. Depending on your actions, the fate of millions of people will be decided.
Games by Psygnosis have been known to be more difficult than average. Colony Wars fits into this category well. Similar to Star Fox 64, the levels you play depend on how well you perform in them. After every third mission a new route is chosen for you. If you did everything correctly in all three missions, you'll be one step closer to your goal. If you happen to continuously perform poorly you'll eventually see a bad ending to the game, but you'll then be able to access the mission log and select which block you want to retry in order to do better. The catch is that each block consists of three missions. So, if you only screw up on one of the missions in that block, you'll still be forced to beat all three missions again. Throughout the game you'll only be able to save (or write down a password) after every block (three missions). You only get one ship per mission. If you get shot down or screw up the mission in some way, it will probably change the outcome of the game for the worse, and you'll most likely be redoing the mission sometime down the road. There is no option available that will let you immediately retry a level.
Colony Wars is one heck of a good looking game. Almost every single special effect you can think of has been thrown in. Instead of flying around in the dark and empty vastness of space like in other games, you'll notice planets, jump gates, black holes, suns, and even the occasional asteroid are used to spruce up the scenery. Stars whiz by you, creating an amazing sense of speed. In addition to the smaller enemy and friendly crafts there are also huge freighter ships that look absolutely marvelous up close. Even the lasers and other weapons have a certain glow about them. The cinema scenes are all CGI and look fantastic. All of these features make this the best looking space shooter seen in quite some time.
|
Beautiful is not the word.
|
|
One of Colony Wars' biggest assets is its soundtrack and sound effects. The music is done extremely well and will catch your ear right away as being one of the best soundtracks to grace the PlayStation. All of the instruments sound great even though the music isn't redbook audio (it sounds just as good, but the tracks aren't playable on a CD player). The voice throughout the game also sounds great. Some other companies need to learn a few lessons from Psygnosis on how voices should be done. This is one of the few games that support Dolby surround sound. If you have a good surround sound system hooked up, this game will immerse you like no other before it. In addition to some of the music, menu selections, ship sounds, and most of the explosions will come from the rear speakers. Sometimes the explosions are so loud that they drown out the music and the voices, and they do a nice job of vibrating everything in the room. Crank up that bass for some intense playing. The only minor negative thing I found while playing was that the music seems to stop playing every time someone talks, which puts a damper on the overall cinematic effect.
It's amazing how much information is packed into Colony Wars. There's an extensive story line to begin with, but even more interesting tidbits are right at your fingertips. There are a couple of databases for you to browse through which will show you the key planets in the galaxy and the different types of spaceships present in the game. Especially interesting are the different planets. When you select one, a computer voice will tell you about its history, military data, and general data. You don't need to know any of the background stories, but the option exists and it's obvious the developers spent a lot of time on this feature. While not critical to your mission, the databases provide extra information for those that are interested in learning more about the conflicts that exist throughout space.
|
Great ship designs don't hurt, either.
|
Controlling your ships is pretty easy after a few missions. The default button layout seems to work just fine. Unlike Star Fox 64, in Colony Wars you are able to fly anywhere you want. This total freedom isn't fully realized until after you've played the game for awhile. In most of the levels, if you fly too far away you'll be yelled at by one of the commanders. Chances are you'll stay near the mission objectives since exploration isn't a key aspect of the game. There's never a dull moment with all the fighting going on. There are a few different views to select from, with the default being inside the cockpit of your ship. You can change the view to the outside of the ship, but I found it easier maneuvering with the interior view. Catching some of the enemy ships, even after you've played for awhile, can be quite a daunting task. The controls can become frustrating after you've been trying to shoot down an enemy craft for a couple minutes to no avail. This situation becomes even worse if you're on a mission that has a time limit. In order to become accustomed to the ship's controls there are a few training exercises available to take. These short levels teach you how to fly and shoot your weapons. They don't take too long to go through and they will probably benefit most new players.
In the end, Colony Wars delivers what it set out to do. Imagine this: You're cruising around at insane speeds while huge battleships are shooting lasers across your path, homing missiles are locked on to your tail, and you're heading straight for a stray asteroid, when all of a sudden you execute a barrel roll and the asteroid gets blown up into small pieces as the homing missiles make contact, and you make it out alive without even a scratch on your shields. This can happen (and probably will) as soon as you pick up your controller and start the game. The sense of actually taking part in the various missions is second to none and is what truly separates Colony Wars from the rest of the so-called competition.
With the glut of PlayStation games being released lately, I'm afraid many gamers may overlook Colony Wars. There haven't been many advertisements for the game so the name may not be familiar to most people. It's easily the best shooting game available on the PlayStation so far. If you're up for a challenging game that rivals the Star Wars franchise, then Colony Wars is a must-buy. You won't regret playing this game!
-- Craig Majaski
|
