Customer Reviews

Colony Wars III Red Sun

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The folks at Psygnosis, after months of delay and constant promises, have finally shipped Colony Wars III, Red Sun. A hard-core fan of the first two games, I have been waiting for long. When I stumbled on it at a video store, I rented it and hoped for the best. My hopes were more than answered. This game is friggen awesome! The AI is horribly improved, and the mission tree is much cooler, as you can now chose your missions as Valdemar, a Han Solo-type. The graphics and gameplay are massivly improved, and I now live for Thunderbowl, the constantly hightening tournament that works pretty much like Twisted Metal. Bottom line, with great CGI, the best characters the CW universe has ever had, and a fabulous universe of aliens and factions, this lives up to the best Playstation series this side of Final Fantasy!

Colony Wars III: Red Sun is definitely more enjoyable than its predecessor, Colony Wars: Vengeance. Psygnosis and Midway finally made a game that is not overly difficult in the opening missions but gradually forces the player to strategize (i.e. luring fighters away from capital ships in order to take them out more easily) instead of plunging into the hazardous heart of the battle.

The mission tree aspect of the first two games is gone, which means that the critical Engram missions must be completed. If you'll remember, though, all except one ending in Vengeance were basically losses, so the difference isn't that great.

CW: Red Sun really gives the player an idea of what it's like being a mercenary. Your only concern is cash for upgrading your ship and equipment. Thus, rival factions offer impersonal contracts for jobs that need to be done, which is why you'll often find yourself eliminating certain units in one mission and then protecting similar ones in the next.

I enjoy not only the freedom to willingly upgrade my craft, but also to customize the weapons on it. Many of the weapons offered are veterans of CW and CW: Vengeance; others are newcomers, like the Gauss Gun, which penetrates shields and directly damages enemy hulls.

In response to complaints, the cutscenes are NOT too short. Only Vengeance did a poor job of moving the story along; CW and Red Sun have outstanding narrations and fairly lengthy CGI movies. In fact, Red Sun has the longest opening scene in the series. For those who don't understand why the League and the Navy are still fighting, you obviously didn't read the back of the jewel case. There it states that the Vengeance Wars are raging (as in Colony Wars: Vengeance) and it is explained in the intro that the final battle (obviously before Kron is ousted) is about to begin. Red Sun does not pick up after Vengeance but somewhere near the end.

Finally, it's interesting to see a different perspective of the conflicts between the League and the Navy. Valdemar knows little about the war and is informed during a dream that something much more critical is about to transpire. Wary that mankind actually does not depend on the outcome of the war, Valdemar embarks on a journey in search of a greater scheme. I enjoy his final remark, "I quit my job. It was time to go to work."

I expected this game would be very easy.It was not.Even though it had lots of cool new weapons,a Stun Missile,a Stun Torpedo,a General Purpose Laser,(three of those),and a gauss gun,and some returning weapons,a shield laser,a hull laser,a scatter gun,a plasma cannon,a plasma missile,and a plasma torpedo,it was very challenging.And you don't fight the League hardly any in the game.And the Navy are traitors late in the game.You also fight some aliens,the Sha'Har,and ally some other people,the Darogothans.In fact the League at the end ally you! Aside these few problems,Colony Wars Red Sun is a very good game.

I have never played any other of the colony wars games, and now I finally have! This game is fun, actionpacked, and cool special effects. It is alot like starfox, but you can go anywhere you want. I gave it four stars because after awhile, its just the same thing over and over. But then again, starfox was too.

I loved colony wars 1 and 2, but red sun is the best one so far. It has better level, better guns, better ships. Colony wars is the best!

I will be honest and admit that I am a huge fan of this series from Psygnosis, however I feel cheated in some respects after finishing this game. The gameplay has been greatly improved from Vengeance and the graphics are lot more fluid in terms of details, but something is missing from this game. Maybe its the substance of the story or the lack of it. Personally Valdemar's story was not all that interesting to me. I rather like the feel of the first game where you are a nameless pilot fighting on the front lines of a tremendous civil war. That is just my opinion. In short, the game is a great mindless shooter with some spectacular effects and a few interesting missions. However the cons are ineffective enemy AI and repetitive mission goals (blow everything up).

Colony Wars Red Sun has been delayed, delayed, and delayed. And for what? For a game that just wasn't done right. Although the graphics are good, and the gameplay is just about the same as the others, the new things just don't seem to fit with the game. What i don't like is all the missions that you get to choose from. They serve no purpose in the game, except to purchase items. in the others every battle had a purpose, these just don't seem meaningful. Also i don't like how you don't move on after every battle, except those special ones that you must succeed in. The good thing is the explosion effect has been greatly improved. I only wish that the explosions diversed; each ship would randomly explode with the effects of all three colony wars games. The missions seem extremely easy, but i only am on the first system still. They all do seem the same though, shoot and kill. The story line is the best yet, but still needs work. All and all i'd say they should take the game back and work on it for another year.

This is the worst of the series, no doubt in my mind. First and foremost most of the missions are just moneymakers. They don't influence the course of the game. If you ask me, if you go off and sell yourself to the Imperial Navy (the "empiret") then why would the League want to hire someone who has sold themselves to the otherside repeatedly.

My other complaint is the lack of connection with the last game. If you haven't played or completed Colony Wars: Vengence skip this paragraph. If I understood the ending (the only REAL ending of Vengence) then there was something of a peace between the League and the Navy, yet from the very beginning that wasn't there. What happened?

This game was a disappointment after Colony Wars and Vengence. *sigh*