$000|2-Dark Colony







$fff|1-Previewed by D!ck...


$012
Remember  Dune  II?   Warcraft  II?   Command & Conquer?  Dark Colony is
pretty  much  like  all of the above, it's an overhead strategy sim that
takes  place  on  Mars, you command a base and have to defend it against
the  greys,  build  up  your  forces, allocate resources on research and
developement,  and  eventually attack and defeat the greys in your area,
just like all of the above games.

Only better...

This  type  of game just seems to get better and better, and Dark Colony
enters  the  genre  right  at  the top of the tree, the graphics are all
Super VGA and the sound it awesome, the gameplay is wonderfully easy but
the  missions  a  themselves  bloody hard, so far it all looks perfectly
ballanced and is set to be a winner.

We  tested  an  Alpha version, it is far from complete but allows you to
play  the  first mission so you can get a feel for the game, there are a
few  serous  problems in it with regards to the stability of the engine,
but as it's an aplha you can hardly moan at it.

Your  weapons  are  all  pretty much believable earth-style-machines-of-
mass-destruction,  there  are  Exploiters  which  are for parking over a
power  source  (these  erupt  on the planet surface), Reapers which look
suspiciously  like  the  Ed209,  a Barrager which is the equivalent of a
heavy tank and so on.

The  Greys, however, use genetically engineered creatures (they must be,
the alternative is unthinkable!) as weapons:  Atrils are waddling beasts
the  size  of  a  house that spawn and hurl missiles at you, Syth Demons
look  like something from Aliens and the Prozaar is a giant maggot which
feeds from the energy sources, all very bizarre indeed.

These excellent graphics are accompanied by crystal clear sound effects,
the  whole  impression  is  that of a movie where you can see everything
that is going on, and hear it too, even me (ol' deaf-head).

It  looks to be a corker of a game, one that I will definitely be buying
on release, play a demo as soon as you can!

Dick