olony Wars: Red Sun follows the story of Valdemar, a miner turned mercenary pilot, as he fights on both sides of an interplanetary war. As a mercenary, Valdemar is willing to take missions from nearly anyone. This adds variety to the plentiful enemies he faces, and it lets Valdemar see the complex story surrounding the new battleship, Red Sun. The game begins as Valdemar is chosen by a higher power to participate in the struggle, and it takes the mercenary on a course that has the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.
Valdemar fights at four orbital stations. Each station offers a roster of increasingly difficult missions. Red Sun is big. It has 50 missions that pit the player against four alien races, interplanetary mobsters, rebels and others. With more than 30 weapon systems and a large selection of ships, Red Sun lets players tweak their ships to their tastes, although some missions require certain weapons like stun missiles or a grappling hook. Most of the missions come in the usual flavors--escort duty, item retrieval and simple destruction. There are a few innovations, however, such as using stun missiles to round up space cows.
Game play is unchanged from the previous Colony Wars titles: players fly a space ship, kill the bad guys and use the spoils of war to improve their ship. Those familiar with Colony Wars can jump right in and cruise through the first set of missions. Those new to the space combat series can get acclimated via the training missions, but anyone familiar with the PlayStation controller can easily figure out the controls.
Fly around. Blow stuff up.
Red Sun falls prey to space sims' most common stumbling block: If today's game manufacturers are to be believed, all species-endangering conflicts in the far future will revolve around one-person space fighters. The hard-to-swallow premise might be the first thing players notice about Red Sun, but the great graphics, fast-paced play and varied missions are what they'll remember.
The missions are exciting, rarely frustrating, and varied enough to keep things interesting. The most creative missions (like rounding up the space cows) don't show up often enough, though. Not all of the 50-some missions are hits, but the few duds don't last long, and a new batch of enemies is only a jump-gate away.
Both of the previous Colony Wars titles looked sharp, and Red Sun looks even better, with better clipping and more detailed enemies. The game's one graphical problem is that, regardless of how fast enemy ships whiz by when the afterburners are on, there's never really a sense of moving at great speed. This is especially true during planet-based missions where the overwhelming fog blocks most of the terrain that would impart a sense of motion.
The best parts of Red Sun far outweigh the minor flaws mentioned here. The music sets a nice, dramatic tone and rarely gets repetitive. The controls, while simple and intuitive, deliver all of the space-fighting abilities that players expect after years of Wing Commander and Star Wars games. Overall, Colony Wars: Red Sun is a solid game.
