We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Colony Wars: Vengeance
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Player's Review
Colony Wars: Vengeance. Released by Psygnosis a year after the original in 1998. The game engine has been upgraded a little with more detailed models, hud and space in general. The game is presented in different native display modes. You can aspect correct to 16:9 if you want the gameplay to resemble TV aspect.
A little about the plot from wiki:-
"In the direct sequel, Colony Wars: Vengeance, the player switches sides and takes the role of Mertens, a pilot for the new Earth Navy, set approximately one hundred years after the events of Colony Wars, Mertens and the newly united Sol fleet, under the guidance of their charismatic leader, Kron, are bent on revenge for the Navy's defeat. Battling vast League fleets, battle-hardened elite mercenaries and alien opponents across unfamiliar and hostile territory, Mertens soon discovers that all is not as it seems within the heart of the Navy, and that the most dangerous of enemies are, in fact, not his enemies at all. Colony Wars: Vengeance features a "tech token" upgrade system, which allows the player to boost the combat prowess of each of Mertens' various fighters used throughout gameplay. Tokens can boost a fighter's shields, engines, firepower and hull strength, allowing the player to convert even the most basic fighter into a formidable weapon, provided the required number of tokens are available. The branching feature of the original title is also featured in Colony Wars: Vengeance, however only one 'good' ending & one 'bad' ending can be achieved after the final missions."
The game comes on only 1 disc this time and in my opinion the game suffers for this. The cut scenes are now only a few seconds long and don't really covey much of story now. Instead the mission briefings give more detail about what is going on. I use each ship as they are given and play missions in both internal and external views to show the ships off. I can not say if I spend tokens wisely, but I like to boost shields more so than the engines, afterburners and handling.
The game has more weapons than the original game although the annoyance of having to take down shields first still remains with the early weapons in the game. One annoying aspect is that you only get 4 mines to stop incoming missiles. after that you have to outrun with after burners but this rarely works for me. I don't recall running out ever playing the original game. Most annoying enemy weapon is the point defence on the large ships. that thing can tare you up and kill quickly in a single hit if you don't move.
There are a couple of time limited missions in the game and those limits can be very tight. An early mission in particular where you have to slingshot asteroids into a mining barge had me raging a few times as its easy to mess up the manoeuvre and the rocks stop dead. There is no time to chase down attacking craft either and they can blow up your rocks! There are 6 endings to the game with the 6th (best) shown at the end of the play through. Following the credits I show the other 5 in turn. I will write about them here:-
00:00:00 - Full playthrough followed by credits
02:25:08 - Ending 2 If the player loses any mission in the Gallonigher campaign act "The Price of Discovery", the Navy is virtually defeated and Mertens is one of the thousands of Navy personnel languishing in League prisons. Kron, meanwhile, is captured and humiliated before a crowd of League supporters.
02:26:04 - Ending 3 defeated in the Sol campaign act "Again Sol's Prisoners", Mertens is one of several Navy pilots prepared for execution by the League amidst a snow-capped courtyard. Thinking that fighting the Empire again in Sol was a second shot at ending tyranny, the League seals Sol with a system-wide bomb grid. Kron prepares another ace up his sleeve: hypermatter torpedoes he will fire on the Sun to make it go supernova and destroy the entire system
02:27:12 - Ending 3 If the player fails a mission in either the Cronus Acts "Tests of Unity" or "Growing Defiance," the Navy is totally defeated and Kron is killed. Mertens' craft runs out of power in deep space.
02:27:51 - Ending 4 If the player fails a mission in the Alpha Centauri acts "Suspicion or Blame" or "Trial of the Judges," Mertens is jailed by The Watch. He is brought before a court on trumped-up charges and hopes that Kron can step in and save the Navy before its too late.
02:28:48 - Ending 5 If the player fails a mission in the Boreas Acts "A New Threat", "Humanity's Hope", and the "Madness of Kron", the Earth Empire dissolves into civil war again as the truth about Kron's real origins comes to light.
A little about the plot from wiki:-
"In the direct sequel, Colony Wars: Vengeance, the player switches sides and takes the role of Mertens, a pilot for the new Earth Navy, set approximately one hundred years after the events of Colony Wars, Mertens and the newly united Sol fleet, under the guidance of their charismatic leader, Kron, are bent on revenge for the Navy's defeat. Battling vast League fleets, battle-hardened elite mercenaries and alien opponents across unfamiliar and hostile territory, Mertens soon discovers that all is not as it seems within the heart of the Navy, and that the most dangerous of enemies are, in fact, not his enemies at all. Colony Wars: Vengeance features a "tech token" upgrade system, which allows the player to boost the combat prowess of each of Mertens' various fighters used throughout gameplay. Tokens can boost a fighter's shields, engines, firepower and hull strength, allowing the player to convert even the most basic fighter into a formidable weapon, provided the required number of tokens are available. The branching feature of the original title is also featured in Colony Wars: Vengeance, however only one 'good' ending & one 'bad' ending can be achieved after the final missions."
The game comes on only 1 disc this time and in my opinion the game suffers for this. The cut scenes are now only a few seconds long and don't really covey much of story now. Instead the mission briefings give more detail about what is going on. I use each ship as they are given and play missions in both internal and external views to show the ships off. I can not say if I spend tokens wisely, but I like to boost shields more so than the engines, afterburners and handling.
The game has more weapons than the original game although the annoyance of having to take down shields first still remains with the early weapons in the game. One annoying aspect is that you only get 4 mines to stop incoming missiles. after that you have to outrun with after burners but this rarely works for me. I don't recall running out ever playing the original game. Most annoying enemy weapon is the point defence on the large ships. that thing can tare you up and kill quickly in a single hit if you don't move.
There are a couple of time limited missions in the game and those limits can be very tight. An early mission in particular where you have to slingshot asteroids into a mining barge had me raging a few times as its easy to mess up the manoeuvre and the rocks stop dead. There is no time to chase down attacking craft either and they can blow up your rocks! There are 6 endings to the game with the 6th (best) shown at the end of the play through. Following the credits I show the other 5 in turn. I will write about them here:-
00:00:00 - Full playthrough followed by credits
02:25:08 - Ending 2 If the player loses any mission in the Gallonigher campaign act "The Price of Discovery", the Navy is virtually defeated and Mertens is one of the thousands of Navy personnel languishing in League prisons. Kron, meanwhile, is captured and humiliated before a crowd of League supporters.
02:26:04 - Ending 3 defeated in the Sol campaign act "Again Sol's Prisoners", Mertens is one of several Navy pilots prepared for execution by the League amidst a snow-capped courtyard. Thinking that fighting the Empire again in Sol was a second shot at ending tyranny, the League seals Sol with a system-wide bomb grid. Kron prepares another ace up his sleeve: hypermatter torpedoes he will fire on the Sun to make it go supernova and destroy the entire system
02:27:12 - Ending 3 If the player fails a mission in either the Cronus Acts "Tests of Unity" or "Growing Defiance," the Navy is totally defeated and Kron is killed. Mertens' craft runs out of power in deep space.
02:27:51 - Ending 4 If the player fails a mission in the Alpha Centauri acts "Suspicion or Blame" or "Trial of the Judges," Mertens is jailed by The Watch. He is brought before a court on trumped-up charges and hopes that Kron can step in and save the Navy before its too late.
02:28:48 - Ending 5 If the player fails a mission in the Boreas Acts "A New Threat", "Humanity's Hope", and the "Madness of Kron", the Earth Empire dissolves into civil war again as the truth about Kron's real origins comes to light.
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