LADYDRAGON.COM - Space Colony, due for release this Fall on PC

Wednesday June 04, 2003

Space Colony, due for release this Fall on PC

Following their recent chart success with the million selling Stronghold series on PC, London-based developer, Firefly Studios, have catapulted their creativity into the not-so-distant future announcing, Space Colony, due for release this Fall on PC.

Space Colony is best described as a space-based People Sim meets a City Builder. The player manages and nurtures a group of dysfunctional space dwellers colonising the most unearthly corners of the galaxy.

Make no mistake; none of the 20 colonists you'll meet were ever on a NASA shortlist. However, a craftsman never blames his tools and there's work to be done (you have no idea how much).

Each world you explore and colonise presents new challenges. You manage the resources, the chores, the living conditions, and ultimately, the fate of all the colonists and visitors to your space base. But as you'll discover controlling the flow of credits is one thing; controlling emotions is another.

Maybe the oxygen flow needs turning up a tad, but despite the terrors of living in space, our colonists are oblivious to the dangers of the alien-infested planets they've made their home - plumb in a Jacuzzi and the fact that giant alien brains are taking over the base simply melts away.

Ahhhh, welcome to life beyond the stars. It's everything the brochure said. So what if half the staff are brawling, the Harvester Robot is chain sawing its way through the oxygen supply, and small fury aliens have taken over the disco? This is home!

Simon Bradbury of Firefly Studios, commented, "Space Colony works under the disturbing premise that a gym instructor can operate a nuclear reactor, a Norwegian biker can't live without disco, and a geriatric can be put in charge of base defence. It's a pressure cooker environment where you make the atmosphere." He continued, "The game mixes the very popular People Sim genre with elements of tycoon-style games and world-building. Despite being set in the future we wanted to make as many of the game elements as real-world as possible, which really comes out in the characters and their personalities - albeit with tongue squarely positioned in cheek."