n 1997's Colony Wars, the League of Free Worlds stood
up to the powerful and exploitative Earth Empire, throwing off
its yoke of oppression and finally sealing off Sol system from
the rest of the galaxy. Ten years later, in Colony Wars:
Vengeance, the Empire's new Navy has found a way to break out of the Sol system and stands poised to dish out some payback to the
League.
Players take on the role of an Earth Navy pilot named Mertens, who
must fly a variety of small fighter craft on missions set
against the backdrop of the new Earth/League war. The missions
range from escort duty to mining asteroids, defending installations and capital ships, and attacking various enemy forces.
Vengeance also adds surface-based missions to the Colony Wars milieu, which involve flying and fighting in an atmosphere-based craft. As in the first game, dogfighting involves battering the enemy's shields down with special anti-shield lasers, then finishing them off
with normal lasers, missiles, etc. The game also makes good use of
a grappling hook, with many missions that call for Mertens to tow
things here and there.
Cinematic cut scenes introduce Vengeance's "acts," which are sets of one to three missions. The game has a branching plot structure, so
when Mertens fails a mission, the story moves in a different
direction than when he succeeds. Repeated failures will bring an
early end to the game. Six endings are possible, most of them
quite unhappy. As Mertens progresses, the missions don't just
get harder; the cause he's fighting for comes into question as the Navy,
hungry for victory, resorts to more and more atrocious acts to
achieve its ends.
The best--and worst--space sim ever
Like the original Colony Wars, Vengeance is beautiful, fast and exciting. Wormholes, nebulas and planets (including a very realistic Earth) fill the screen with vibrant colors. The weapon and shield effects are striking, and the explosions look and sound great, especially
in Dolby. This makes it absolutely thrilling to dash between two capital ships as they tear into each other with massive beam weapons.
On top of its great look, Vengeance is an incredibly
creative space simulation. The missions are not the old "get out
there and kill everything" drivel, but are quite inventive. For
example, one mission involves towing radioactive reactors away
from a Navy installation and dropping them into a wormhole while
fending off enemy raiders--quite a juggling act.
All in all this should be a fantastic game. But it falls
apart because it's simply too frustrating. Okay, the missions are tough. That's fine. Games can be tough if that's what the
designers like, although casual players looking for a light
distraction won't last long with this one. But the real problem is
how the toughness clashes with the game's structure. Many
missions require players to die two or three times just to
figure out the lay of the land. But the game saves only at the
beginning of each act, and that often forces players to redo
missions they've already completed just to get back to the one
they're currently working on. This is enormously tedious. Why can't the game be saved after each mission?
This forced replay, and the game's tendency to shunt out into
a dreary ending after two or three strikes, keeps Vengeance from achieving the lofty status its graphics engine and creativity warrant.
