Colony Wars Vengeance

Developer: Psygnosis

Publisher:  Psygnosis

Launched just one year after the first game, no would blame you if you expected Colony Wars Vengeance to be a rehash of the original title, but believe me when I tell you this is not the case at all, the people at Psygnosis must've all been wizards because Vengeance is an improvement on almost every level (keyword: Almost).

An unspecific amount of time has passed since the first war (yeah the game's lore seems a bit confusing and contradictory at times), the colonial Navy was defeated, Earth was sealed off and is now a Planet in a constant status of civil war, amidst all this you play as Mertens, a fighter pilot who recently enlisted in a new faction also calling themselves the Colonial Navy despite the fact that it has very little in common with the old one.

The story for this game is really good, there are no real characters per se, sure you hear some names being thrown around but there's very little dialog, what really makes the plot interesting is Mertens' narration, you learn that despite it being brutal and at times savage, the Colonial Navy is not really 'evil', it's just trying to survive on a Planet with few resources left, it makes for a great 'war is hell' setting and the fact that there aren't even any real characters only adds to it, making you feel like you're just an easily replaceable number.

The franchises' alternate path style of gameplay also makes a return, but this time it's been scaled down (likely so they could fit it all on one disc), the choices, consequences and impact of all the battles seem to be pretty minor this time around, not helped by the fact that almost all of the endings are pretty much the same thing, moreover, it feels like there's a miscommunication between the story writers and the level designers, as plot points are raised and then promptly forgotten depending on what path you take in the war, they just mysteriously disappear with no real resolution.

On the gameplay side of things, it's very similar to the first game with a few tweaks, there's a greater mission variety, new weapons, both the enemy and friendly A.I were improved (thank god for that last one) and you got a boost ability, but the most noteworthy addition are the planetary missions, these looks great and add some nice variety to the game, despite the improvements make no mistake, the game is still very difficult and the capital ships are as cheap as they ever were.

Unfortunately, this time you're limited to only 4 ships and unlike the previous the game, all of ships here are incremental upgrades of the last one, meaning once you unlock a new vessel, there's no need to ever go back to the old one, you can also upgrade them this time around, but it's a very underdeveloped process, every time you complete a mission you get a few upgrade tokens and you can use them to improve your ship's speed, boost, shields or turning speed, there no downsides or compromises to upgrading, which is a shame.

Graphically the game looks amazing, leagues ahead of the first game, there's much more detail, the capital ships are huge, the ship designs are for the most part pretty interesting and the planetary missions look great with the exception of their draw distance, as every planet tend to look too foggy.The orchestral soundtrack fits the overall 'war is hell' theme pretty well, the game feels darker, even oppressing, it never lets you forget just how unimportant you are in the overall struggle.

Overall colony wars is an improvement over the first game, the production values and the plot are really good, but unfortunately some of the features like the ship upgrading system feel underdeveloped, while others feel downgraded from the first game, namely the alternate path system, moreover, they still didn't address how cheap enemy capital ships are.

Trivia: Did you know the creators' original intention was to create a setting in which neither side was 'good' or 'evil' ? In the their own words they wanted to make a game that 'focused more on two factions that were forced together to fight over what remained of dwindling resources. There was no right or wrong, just two very hungry animals'

Pros:

- Engaging 'war is hell' story
- Graphically, it's quite the step up from the first game
- Orchestral soundtrack fits the theme pretty well
- Great mission variety, new planetside missions are fun

 
Cons:

- Alternate path options have been downgraded from the first game

- Ship upgrade system is underdeveloped
- Enemy capital ships rely on cheap shots
- Depending on the paths you take, plot points are sometimes raised and promptly forgotten

Final Grade: B

The cover looks nice and action packed, featuring two fighters dogfighting with an ominous presence in the background.

The manual is also somewhat impressive, it features some very high quality paper by game manual standards and it fills you in on some backstory for both the settings and some of the characters, it also gives you a short description of every weapon and item which can be pretty useful.

Overall, not a bad packaging, it's not perfect by any means but it has enough content and is just flashy enough to warrant a second or even a third look.


Packaging Grade: B