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Colony Wars Red Sun Review
Noel Brady
00/12/0000
The third installment of the Colony Wars saga is looking just peachy.
After its two visually-gorgeous, but ankle-deep, predecessors the all-new development team are aplying the finishing touches to a potentially-dazzling title. Red Sun is set during the same time as Colony Wars: Vengeance but aims to create a more immersive environment for the player. Which means ditching the formulaic missions of the past in favour of free-roaming gameplay that owns much to the legendary Elite.
The galaxy is being torn apart by two warring factions, leaving you to make a killing by hiring yourself out to whoever is winning at the time. Jobs involving casual space violence can be picked up at any of the better starports along the way, with tasks ranging from escorting convoys to destroying starships and smuggling and stealing. You\'ll have around four missions to choose from at any one point and, though some will pay more than others, it\'s a fair bet they\'ll involve the most suicidal taks money can buy. It\'s also worth taking into account whether your employers will pay you bounty for shooting down enemy ships, or whether they\'re too tight.
Naturally, there\'s tons of hardware to blow your filthy credits on, including nine ship types and over 40 offensive and defensive accessories. On top of the usual spread of lasers. rockets and missiles, flush Space Trevors can soup up their ships with flared tractor beams and go-fasta cloaking devices. What\'s more you\'ll be able to customise your weapon set-ups for each mission. Each ship can carry a fixed amount of weaponry, with the larger, more expensive models packing more heat than Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.
By casting you as a mercenary, Psygnosis has been able to introduce certain elements culled from Elite. In addition to missions which are vital to the plot, there are optional mercenary missions and gladiatorial Thunderbowl deathmatches, where you can pick up some money if you win. Money that can then be spent on weapons for those vital missions. Not to worry if you\'re not a hardcore butoon basher though, you can always pick one of the escort or rescue missions.
Also, with a varied mix of equipment, which spands defensive and attacking categories, it\'s up to you how you customise your ship. Do you upgrade your shield, or bolt another laser cannon on? Certain missions are unplayable without the right amount of equipment. One early stage requires you to retrieve an lien artefact from hyperspace. For this you\'re told you need a grappling hook, but the mission breifing also advises that you boost your cooling system, because hyperspace has a tendency to cause your ship to overheat.
Red Sun boasts a better mix of missions than its elder siblings and has more emphasis on the surface stages. The new graphics engine goes a long way to helping the game cope with all this extra responsibility. The landscapes -- though still perenially fog --enshrouded -- are nevertheless undulating and atmospheric. Likewise, the space graphics are significantly bolder this time; enemy ships range from small fighters to huge, Star Destroyer-size capital cruisers, with independently-firing turrets, and various arms and flanges which break off when you target them.
Also, the lighting has been vastly imrpoved. Now, if you head around the shadow side of a ship, the lights continue to blaze through the darkness. That said, there was a distinct high-resolution sharpness to the earlier games which has been lost in Red Sun. But what\'s lost in shaprness, is more than made up for in the concentration on detail. Ships fly by combat goping about their business, stars glimmer in the background and asteroid belts occasionally hit. It all helps create the genuine felling of flying in space.
Red Sun is far from being a grounbreaking game, but then it probably isn\'t trying to be. It\'s a cracking space combat shoot-\'em-up which is a joy to play, has moe than enough missions yo go around and comes with a plot that genuinely hooks you to the end of the game. Psygnosis have had a hard time of late but with this, Rollcage Stage II and Wip3out, it definitely looks like their getting their golden development touch back
