| Product: |
Space Colony (PC) |
| Date: |
08/07/08 (80 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: enaging characters and interesting scenarios, nice touch of humour, great graphics
Disadvantages: you will be left wanting expansion packs or a sequel, which don't exist
Often hailed as Sims in Space, this is a curious little game that goes beyond what that description paints upon the mind. It's an engaging little strategy sim that takes you through various missions for the rather corrupt conglomerate Black Water Industries. It IS somewhat similar to the Sims in that you have simulated persons that you order about with certain tasks, assigning them jobs, building their friendships, and so on, as well as some building design. Unlike the Sims, however, you do not create these people. now, this may sound like a failing, but oh what a crew they give you. The staff are selected by Black Water Industries according to the individual's contract, so upon starting a mission, certain personnel are assigned. Sometimes you get only a few of them,and at other times you get the whole complement, which actually makes things rather interesting as they are a rather eclectic mix. The cast of characters include a Norwegian biker, a rather cyber punk Japanese national and her best friend, a hayseed who just LURVES space chicken farmin' , a recluse who just wants to "talk to the stars", a stranded socialite, a Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon type blonde bimbo, a rather combative Irishman, an easy going motherly Indian woman, a clingy alcoholic Texan, and more. Pretty well much, these are all misfits, or people who need the cash in order to get their lives set up back home.
You can play the missions, which have two paths, Civilian and Military. The Military path, as it suggests, deals more with Black Water Industries more aggressive expansions, while the Civilian Path leans more towards peaceful expansion and building up space tourism. This does not mean you won't run into trouble where you need weapons however, as such places might be seen as easy pickings by rival companies, or worse, Black Water may have unwittingly built near some VERY occupied ruins....There is also galaxy mode, where you can select the planet you wish to play by terrain type and so on and go along on a Black Water mission, as well as sand box mode, where there are no scenarios, just various planets and their different challenge level environs. On the net there are also more scenarios to download, one of which is official, and others that use the editor features Firefly put in.
The editor features allows you to edit not only the map, but to create your own simple or complex scenarios. It can be a bit daunting at first, but luckily there is a simple guide to it on the net that will hold your hand and guide you step by step. this same site also links to various free to download scenarios made by others, so is well worth the visit. You can find this at http://www.spacecolonyfans.net/sc_campaigned.html
Game play is relatively straight forward, and rather a lot of fun. I particularly liked the little intros to the scenarios where we get a little film of a screen where the computer puts through our message from the Black Water Industries CEO, followed by video comms between listening characters. The computer then reiterates the assigned mission, and we can begin. The computer's voice keeps us abreast in changes around the base, and from time to time, the staff get video feedback from that very cranky and greedy CEO. The little asides and occasionally outrageous behaviours the characters make as their particular personality traits react to the stresses of the environment and the mission is quite humorous yet realistic. The missions start off rather simple, though as game play progresses, what the game considers easy and you consider easy may be two different things, but one thing is for sure, its engaging and even if you fail a mission the 1st, 2nd, or even third time, you just keep coming back. I have to tell you here that I have actually completed every single scenario on the disc, plus the official bonus one from firefly, and yet, here I am 18 months later, having another go round and just as challenged and amused.
The graphics on this game are gorgeous. The rendering is smooth and the buildings and people on Sim City and the original Sims look rather old school by comparison. This is particularly impressive when you realise that not only did they do all this work on 20 individual colonists, but over 100 different buildings, all rendered meticulously, and smoothly integrated.The AI is pretty flawless too, responding with a much appreciated immediacy. The result is smooth game play that is nearly flawless, and that is really enjoyable to look at. You can almost feel yourself there, its so good.
While I am reviewing the PC platform, this title is available also for MAC,with exactly the same features. The PC version will run on 98, ME, 2000, and XP as stated on the box, as well as Vista as we found when hubby tried it on his shiny new laptop. It runs best with 128 MB Ram free or you will get the odd game freeze and 850 MB free hard drive space, which is not that large by gaming standards. Having been released in 2003, it is not as greedy as many games, so it performs very well on older PCs that may not have the latest golly gee whiz gaming capabilities .Because it has some violence and the occasional mature theme (romance, alcoholic issues, mental illness outbreaks, death from battle), it is marketed at the 12 and up age group, while I feel it is really more suitable for ages 16 and up. The only downside is Firefly never revisited this gem and to create expansion packs or sequels. It's definitely one worth adding to your strategy Sim collection though, and the price is great too, as it is an older title. You can find it from 99p on eBay and Amazon marketplace, and Play.com amongst others, and at that price, its worth it even if you only play through once. At that price, after hubby borrowed mine for his laptop, I got him his own copy. Its mine I tell ya..all mine!
Summary: 20 misfits work off their debt & compile their personal fortunes working at Black Water Industries
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