Space Colony

                    Demo downloaded from
             www.spacecolonygame.com/sc_uk.htm

                      Reviewed by Sue

   Yay! Funky music. What a great start to a demo. Having found
Moon Tycoon to be a disappointment, I was interested to see
Space Colony in PC World. I dotted down the name and
looked for a demo when I got home. I found it on the official
site and when I saw the game comes from the makers of
Stronghold, I felt that this game would be a much happier
experience.

The first area you're shown in the demo is the bridge. This
controls the base's power, oxygen and medical facilities. Solar
power collectors and an oxygen plant supply the raw materials
but only if a colonist is manning them.

Colonists live in bio domes. The character you have to look
after in the demo tutorial is Venus. She and all the others are
called operatives because they have to run the whole base.

Space Colony is a bit like the Sims. The key to the game is
keeping the colonists happy. The happier they are, the more
work they'll do. The full game has 20 different individuals, all
with different needs. Venus, for example, likes to dance so
putting a disco floor in her room and telling her have a boogie
really cheers her up. Other factors that affect her happiness
include her salary, health, amount of social interaction and
sleep.

Stig turns up soon. He's another operative, looking a bit like a
Hell's Angel. Food is a big priority for him so once he and
Venus have had a chat, it's time to find both of them something
to eat. Food is extracted from local vegetation and delivered to
the mess hall - once you've built it.

The tutorial is pretty brief and only shows the basics but it was
certainly enough to interest me. The full game has a sandbox
mode, galaxy mode or user-created scenario mode. You can
create your own scenarios using the map editor, or download
them from the Internet. There are 24 alien species, some
friendly, some not. There are also various robots to guard your
base, kill invading aliens or help.

Yes, I REALLY liked the look of this game! With larger graphics
than my faves like Emperor and being more a people management
game than a God game it still isn't the game of my dreams ... but
it's getting there.








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