Release Date: 11/04/1997 Platform: Playstation 1 Developer: Psygnosis
You know, 1997 doesn’t seem so far away for some people, but popping this game back in my old PlayStation and seeing how some games age makes the time seem as long as it should. Sometimes longer than that even. Colony Wars was a favorite of people who had fallen in love with early space simulations. Wing commander was as close as most people thought they could come. The controls were extremely clunky and the action was more of the ‘waiting for things to happen’ sort (it was pretty cool for the time though). Then comes along Colony Wars. With controls that were far more smooth and fast married to action that would become truly hectic at the drop of a dime it became an almost overnight sensation – which was quite an achievement considering the type of game it was. It was so good in fact that it quickly influenced a generation of new developers and was soon forgotten about almost completely as the Space Shooting genre took off. A clear case of doing a job too well and not having the foresight to run with the results, I’m afraid. Let’s see what you’ve missed, eh?!
Twelve years ago shooting things in space was just starting to move into an open area field. When Colony Wars came out people were still playing the likes of Decent and Wing Commander. While both of these series were great in the simulation aspect they lacked in the action category. Colony Wars blended a then-perfect combination of simulation and arcade action. For many gamers this was the Star Trek-esque combat simulator they had wanted for over thirty years. The combat was fast and furious and when you were in a sticky situation, quick thinking and good reflexes got you out – or you were toast. None of that waiting around crap. Things like overheating and armor plating wear were a problem but there wasn’t too much on your plate.
Downsides? Back when this game was released, flight games were still in their fledgling developmental stages. Thoughts of ‘hey, 360 degree free-roam movement hasn’t been done like this before, let’s see if this works better than what’s out there’ were still being dredged out of developers heads. The whole idea was still new and exciting. These days it’s pretty much old news. Space shooters or game with space shooting segments are a regular occurrence and in comparison, Colony Wars has been left in the dust. It now stands as a brilliant flash in a huge gaming universe. I know that may sound cheesy, but if you remember the game as many of us do when it was released, it was so great and then >poof< you had a dozen other games that were doing it better in a matter of months.
Well shit, this is a tough one to judge. For those of you that have been down this particular road, there may be some good nostalgic fun that lasts longer than you would expect. For those of you that have never experienced an old space shooter this may seem like a slow, clunky piece of software sprinkled with exciting moments that take forever to come across. I will say that if you come across this in a nice cheap PS1 bargain bin, pick this one up out of curiosity. There is enough here I believe to warrant a check.
THEN:
NOW:
