Review: Dark Colony
Product Information
Published by : SSI
Web : <http://ssionline.com/>
Street Price : $20
System Requirements
Any PowerPC Mac
24 MB RAM (including VM)
10 MB hard disk space (66 MB recommended)
4 x CD-ROM
TCP/IP for network play (no IPX, Modem-Modem, Serial, or AppleTalk support)Supports PC vs Mac multi-player, up to 4 players. CD not required in drive for net play.
(Note : Dark Colony is rated Mature 17+ for bloody images in the cut scenes)
The aliens have landed! And they're set to plunder and exploit the newly terraformed planet Mars just as they did with their home planet of Earth.
That's right, this time you're the invader. Strictly speaking, both sides in Dark Colony are the invaders--both the humans and the conventionally alien Taar. The humans are there to exploit the natural resources, particularly one called Petra-7, which is a very powerful, but less-than-reliable, energy source. The Taar--who look like the ubiquitous "Greys"--are there because their home planet was hit by a plague that nearly wiped them out.
Both sides are eager to wipe out the other--and, as is the usual case, you can choose who you want to kill.
Dark Colony was released a little while back on the PC side and was swamped by the masses of other real-time strategy games that were released around the same time. As such, perhaps unfairly, it sold poorly and was lost in the pile. SSI released the Mac version at a much lower price to try to boost sales and included the Win '95 CD in the same box so that you can kill and maim your PC-owning friends. And who doesn't want to do that once in a while?
The game runs along the same lines as most RTSes. You start a level with a given mission, which is usually to kill all the aliens (or humans) and destroy any and all of their bases. Occasionally, you'll be given a different mission that will involve finding artifacts left behind by another race many millennia ago. These artifacts, once found, become more commonplace in the other missions and can be dug up for some serious firepower.
Each side is equipped with a collection of potential troops, though in true Warcraft style you don't get immediate access to them all. Instead, you're introduced to them gradually, and only in the last 5 or so levels for each race do you get to play with the whole gamut of killing methods available. They range from the simple trooper, through flying scout craft, heavy artillery, buried mines, and genetically engineered troops that can drop napalm. The humans are very technologically-minded, with great hulking machines and MechWarrior[TM]-like walkers, while the Taar are biological experts creating and using a collection of vile and fearsome creatures instead.
However, each and every unit has its identical counterpart in the other race. For example, the humans have their Barrager artillery that fire explosive shells, and the Taar have their Atril creatures that throw "explosive mucous sacs" through the air to the same effect. While each side looks very different, they function identically.
Of course, you don't just build troops and send them off without a care, there is the problem of money. Or, in Dark Colony, Petra-7, which is collected from erupting vents in the planet surface by your Exploiters. These trundle over to a vent spewing Petra-7 and set up shop extracting it and beaming it back to your base.
Dark Colony does not allow free-form creation of your base, and you will be stuck with a standard concrete platform of fixed size for every level. Research and factory facilities are dropped onto the platform in fixed places, and cannot be moved. As such, some of the places you start from are a tactical nightmare, while some make the level a complete doddle. To counter this, somewhat, you can build Firestorm (or Xeno-Wort) units that are essentially mobile gun emplacements. Once you've dug them in, however, they are immovable for the rest of the level.
Most other units have an extremely limited attack range--the Osprey/Ortu flying craft are restricted to vertical bombs, and the Reaper walkers must be standing directly against their target. While this makes sense for the Taar equivalent Sy Demons--big ugly things with claws larger than a man, and teeth to match--it seems artificial and unnecessary for the Reapers who are equipped with front-mounted cannons. Generally this results in a hand-to-hand mob. The exceptions to the range problem are, of course, the artillery, and the SARGE/Gorrem units who can kill from quite a distance.
The game sounds, and plays, very much like "Warcraft"--compared to the later StarCraft which has a very different feel for each race. But comparing it to the newer, and more expensive, StarCraft is neither fair nor accurate. Dark Colony is a consolidation, not an evolution. Besides, Dark Colony does have a few novel points in its favour.
Firstly, there is a day/night cycle of about 10 minutes each, and each race fights better in one of the cycles than the other. Taar, apparently, have eyes like cats and get battle bonuses in the night cycle, while humans left their night vision goggles at home and fight much better in the day. The screen dims to a nice twilight effect during the night, and you can be sure a Taar attack is on its way.
Secondly, the nature of Petra-7 makes the game often a mobile one. Vents erupt, are exploited, and then cease more often than you would have run out of wood and gold in Warcraft. They are also fought over more often because of their distance from a base--Exploiters can transmit Petra-7 across any distance. SARGE/Gorrem units can even intercept and steal Petra-7 transmissions.
Then there's your commander, a unique unit who can inspire the troops to greater efficiency ("Make 'em bleed!"), and call in reinforcements from orbital drop ships. The commander gains power and skill with the more kills he makes, or the troops around him make, so he is always in the thickest of the fighting. In the case of the Taar, rather than call in reinforcements, the commander can call in a saucer to abduct human troops right off the planet. Now you know what really happened to Samantha...
And finally, there is the terrain. Dark Colony offers four different terrain types--plains, jungle, desert, and underground. Underground missions mean no Petra-7 and a limited number of troops to use, and as such, can often be the most challenging. It also offers a kind of 3D to its terrain, in that you get ledges and outcrops on the desert scenarios, and troops walking through the jungles can vanish under the green canopy. While there is limited tactical advantage to either situation, it makes a nice change from the pancake flat Warcraft landscape.
Overall, though, Dark Colony comes across as just more of the same. The few new points are overwhelmed by the simple strategy and "Warcraft" feel to it. The lack of difference between the races gives little or no incentive to try the other once you've completed the game under one. The cut scenes, while bloody and violent--there is one with the camera panning up a trail of blood to the maggot-ridden corpse of your commander after a failure--are somewhat blurry and can be very blocky in places.
In game, the graphics are better, clear and effective, though carrying a cartoony feel to them. The explosions are bright, and you can easily follow the trajectory of enemy artillery back to its unseen source. Soundwise, despite the packaging's claim "flesh burns, metal melts, both scream" the game is full of less-than-impressive thuds and gunfire. Trooper screams, when they happen, are thin. The good side is that the units are distinctive in their sounds, so you'll
know who's killing you.
There is also the obvious PC-port nature to it. Mac niceties in the way of open/save dialogs are unknown, and the pointer can lag visibly behind where the mouse really is. Lacking a right mouse button, SSI assigned all right mouse functions to the enter key on the keypad, and it cannot be changed. Unless you're left handed this can be a very uncomfortable way to play.
While there are options to select all of a certain troop type on-screen, there is no facility to assign your own groups to quick-keys. This can mean your troops end up in one mob with artillery and foot-troopers all mixed in uselessly together.
But Dark Colony is not a bad game. It is not a great game. What it is, is "Warcraft in Space", and an OK game.
With the paucity of Real-Time Strategy options on the Mac and the low price, it is worth shelling out for if you're a real RTS fan. It'll keep you busy until Starcraft at least. But for those in the take-it-or-leave-it RTS frame of mind, Dark Colony just doesn't make enough hits to make up for the misses.
Copyright ©1998 Martin Cox <mcox@ihug.co.nz>. Reviewing in ATPMis open to anyone. If you're interested, write to us at <reviews@atpm.com>.
Reader Comments (51)
First, it is a very good real-time tactics platform--you must act decisively, use time wisely, get a feel for geography and situations, all in real time. Fumble for time, flail around, or play passively and you're toast. I especially enjoy the fact that the AI will gladly launch multiple simultaneous attacks on different positions--if you can't think fast, prioritize, and keep a cool head, you're toast. It's very like command in real combat, and you won't get that rush in turn-based strategy games or other RTSs.
The game requires that you learn each of the essentials--reconaissance, siting of defenses, combined arms, choosing ground, mixing offense and defense, and the importance of economics and logistics. Really, it's an ideal training platform at the tactical level. Look at the game as an abstract tactical trainer, and see a new game, especially for learning the military use of terrain. Every salient factor appears in a simple, easy to understand form--lighting conditions, choke points, money, production facilities, concealment positions--it's all there.
An essential part of the game, and a feature that both lends to the versimilitude and the effectiveness of play, is the ability to make multiple units do different things simultaneously. You want to keep your people aggressively doing things all the time, and the better you get at managing them, the better you are as a player. The balance between your control and the autonomy of units is ideal - if you send a grunt to recon a pile of brush and he runs into a firefight, that's exactly what happens, and you have to deal with it.
Second, the timing in the game is perfect. You must learn patience and always, always think ahead. Seconds can literally mean the difference between holding a critical position and losing it. At the same time, the game does not require interminable boring waits for equipment builds or construction of buildings--the delays are there to remind you of their roles, but they don't dominate the game, as they do in 'Earth 2150,' for example, which is stupefyingly soporific.
Third, the mix of weapons available to either side is an ideal training mix--artillery that is vulnerable to armor and air attack, armor vulnerable to air attack, aircraft vulnerable to small arms, and so on. One would be hard pressed to find a better instruction platform for learning how to effectively combine arms. If there is a design mistake anywhere in the game, it is the sheer power of the defensive turrets, which were apprently designed to be essentially defensive weapons, but are game winners if properly used in mixed offensive/defensive roles.
Fourth, the importance of economics to military achievement and of balancing military and econonomic objectives to achieve a result can be learned in DC, which is almost a pefect 'mini-lab' for a WW2-type production-means-units type of encounter environment. Fall behind economically in DC, and the enemy will GM you to death.
Fifth, DC is an ideal platform for learning coordination with allies, since they can be AIs as well, allowing you to focus on the learning, and not on the vagaries of opponent (and ally) personalities.
Sixth, there are all sorts of ways to vary the scenario in significant ways to play radically different games--turn vents on and off, use alien artifacts, play multiple opponents, or experiment with arm mixes, like aircraft and cyborgs only, infantry and artillery only, etc. The same terrain and game can play very differently.
Seventh, the overall design of the game is sound. It just hangs together very well--timing is right, graphics is just right, capabilities are balanced, weapons mix and capabilities make sense, and there is a broad spectrum of playable options.
Eighth, I have the sense that some who criticize DC never got very far into exploring its capabilities or features. For example, it is certainly possible to hopelessly mix up groups of units by sending wads of them to the same place to create 'mobs.' It's also possible to screw up your car's engine by putting dirt in the gas tank. Why would you do that? You can create echeloned formations in good order by putting units exactly where you want them--if you bother to learn how to do that, and take the time to explore it. Setting way points is an ideal way to time unit arrivals, perform recon, patrol areas and control placements.
In summary, while I hold out little hope that the world will listen, DC is an excellent learning platform and a very good real time tactical game. There is nothing 'strategic' about it--the geography is too limited for that, and the strategy is already dictated--aggressively seize resources early and often, deny them to the enemy, out-produce the enemy in quantity and quality and destroy him without mercy with as few casualties to your side as possible. That is the essence of any military scenario anyway.
Sadly, a very good concept game has been over-shadowed, as usual, by games with over-done graphics and little else. I'll take the 'cartoons' of DC in a realistic tactical battle scenario over the excruciating boredom of over-blown do-nothing graphic monstrosities like Earth 2150 any day.
-Lance
Also, if anyone knows where I can get Dark Colony, please tell me. I can't find a copy anywhere. Thanks.
If somebody to want to be part of this community, contact me on ICQ 69284638 or e-mail me. You can also visit the web site for the greater clan of Brazil.
Crepeaufromage
Please tell me where I can get this game for the Macintosh.
Does any one know where to find it?
www.coloniadc.hpg.com.br
Does anyone have a workaround or anything that can help me and the other people out with this? Dark Colony rocks and I want to play it again!
I'll post again when I've got it up.
I haven't played it for a few years, but it is a great game to have fun with.
Kris Dee
This History of SSI Games is the best information I was able to find.
Also, DC for the Mac can be found for about US$7.00 on eBay.
I will end by saying that the sound is in many ways one of the most phenominal parts of the game. Imagine full scale war, being aptly produced through your speakers over ambience or electronic tracks.. It's kind of intense. Loud, but by no means a bad thing, I always want to turn up the volume.
I'm going to be creating a dedicated clan page for DC, SC, and Diablo games. If any persons are interested in this, please let me know.
If anyone wants to play, please contact me on MSN--knez_sendai@hotmail.com
This is the best and coolest game. It has no match. Best game ever made and the most fun to play. It has awesome action. Multiplayer mode rocks. The missions rock. Everyrthing rocks!
But there's more to the game then that, Dark Colony has been made with movies, for every mission, and those movies are made using high-resolution models making it looks very real, if they had saved those charracters and put them into a game like F.E.A.R , the game would lagg on any computer, it was wild in 1997, and is wild today in 2006, i mean this game isnt about being good or anything, its about enjoying it, anyone with any experience with M\K systems will fit into the game like a fish in water after a few days.
There are things in this game, that just simply make it better then any other game, starcraft has been updated since 1997 and does not count, this is usually an original thing, unupdated since 1997\1999 either way, the content i am about to list are things people COPIED of DC ( im not going to say anything but "its cold in this blizzard" )
Day and night cyclus
(makes aliens look farther, humans look less (coincidentally)
Animals ( that can attack )
Artifacts
( with unique abillities meaning not another one of those "spacecraft shoots missiles, artifact shoots missiles" but a TOTALLY different GOOD programmed visually entertaining "effect".)
Different death animations for all ground units
( They die in more then 2-3 ways )
Defense: Heavy mines and defence turrets
(They make it very easy and fun to make base defences, many people that i know would have bought the game if they had known just HOW satisfactional the defence units of Dark Colony are.)
So many nights without sleep, but it worht :)
and that means a lot coming from a 15 year old gamer
i used to play it before i could read. yes back in the good old days were you just what ever you want and hope you won
and i think it would be hard to make DC2 it probably wont be as good as the first game but man if it came even close i would play it to no end!(i swear i am going to get carpal tunnel someday)
just played it for the first time in 13 years amazing time goes by, but the game although slightly dated now is still fun to play and i felt it was always advanced for its time. Perhaps one day the game will be picked up by a developer and reworked on or something new will come up from it.
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