Publisher: Gathering
Ages: teens & up
Parental
Advisory:
Edgy language and
themes
It's a brilliant idea. Combine the strategy of a building/management/tycoon game with the interaction of "The Sims," and set the whole thing in space, and you have Gathering's Space Colony. The title is no better than either The Sims or a good management/building game, but it's an ambitious and fresh approach that offers an entertaining experience of its own.
At its core, Space Colony invites gamers to establish and build cosmic settlements and manage a dysfunctional crew of 20 characters. As in most management games, players have to collect, oversee and allocate resources, and here, these include: energy, oxygen and food (space chickens). And the game serves a series of objective-based missions that asks players to defend the colony from alien attacks, expand the base and more.
The humorous characters each have distinct, if two-dimensional personalities. Players have to make sure that the characters are adequately fed and paid; have friends and more, and they must also be trained and assigned duties to help accomplish mission objectives. To take care of the characters' needs, the game provides a medical center, restaurant and disco dance floor. Players will find that some characters can't get along and even fall into fights, while others can fall in love.
The title offers an in-depth single-player adventure with no multi-player options. And there is an editor for creating new worlds. The graphics are detailed and well done, but offer no means to take closer looks or rotate the view. As a result, characters can sometimes become lost behind objects and difficult to spot. The characters do come alive with decent animation and voice acting. The game does feature some rather mature language and themes, so it's not for young kids.
In the end, Space Colony succeeds at blending a management/tycoon experience with that of "The Sims." However, the melding of these two genres, as done in Space Colony, does not result in a game that's superior to those that inspired it. The title simply offers its own entertaining experience.
11/07/03 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
