Today’s game is a 12Mb download that unpacks to a dual activation and setup file plus a read me file that tells you that the game is installed to:
C:\Games\LostColony_build (by default)
The final installation is 25.5Mb in size. As usual there’s no shortcut installed to the desktop or start menu. If you’re not sure how to create a shortcut, especially the latter, there’s a short tutorial on how to do so in the forums:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2594
Don’t confuse this game with the first person space colony MMO that goes by the same name; but due to the current economic climate the beta has been extended and a commercial release will not be forthcoming in the near future.
The Game:
This is a poor to average quality vertical space orientated shooter. Much like previous hand made game giveaways. If you’re into space shooters you’ll probably like this, that said; I usually love this genre but can’t say I’ll be keeping this one. I’ve posted several screenshots over in my photobucket account so that you can see for yourself what the game is like; (though to really get a feel for a game you should always try it for yourself.
To be honest you can get several quality space shooters of this genre from Gametop and Freegamespick (see links below).
The movement controls are either keyboard controlled (either WASD or the cursor keys) and primary and secondary weapons can be fired using the Ctrl and Alt keys respectively or the x and y axis of the mouse plus the LMB for firing guns and rockets.
There doesn't appear to be any logic with respect to upgrading weapons. Missiles, once collected, fire at the same time as the guns. If you pick up further gun power-ups; once you've got what appear to be the heaviest weapons, you may find your weapons actually downgrade if you pick up certain power ups, so you need to be aware of where you are with respect to weapon strength. (A bit of a mouthful, lol). Other power-ups include extra lives and shields. There’s a box like power-up also, but I couldn’t figure out what it did.
When you start a new level you start with no weapon upgrades, but you will find power-ups available as soon as you start the level. These seem to be directly related to the power-ups you had in the previous level. Every five or so levels you will get a boss appearing at the end of a level, (though these aren't as impressive as bosses I've seen in other games of this genre). If you don't have a full complement of weapon upgrades get ready for a long battle. With only a single gun it will take you several minutes of avoiding the bosses rockets and guns and shooting to kill the boss. There's no indication of how damaged the enemy boss is until it starts to break up. I almost gave up trying because of the time element and it was ‘too’ easy to hit the boss without being hit yourself.
Images:
Conclusion:
I’m afraid I can’t say I like this game. It’s got nothing that inspires me to play it. The graphics are poor compared to most games of this genre I’ve seen over the last five or so years. There’s no color to the game apart from the satic background and each space ship is colored. Explosions are virtually monochrome and gun effects are white lines. I’d expect to see a psychedelic cacophony of colorful explosions in a newly made arcade space shooter as well as lots of gimmicks to keep the player glued to their computer screen. Instead you get a bland rendition of a tired genre. Some of the weapon upgrades don't appear to do anything, and I didn't notice any perceptible difference in the power of any individual shot. I recommend you check out the links I’ve posted below (if you haven’t already). Most are links to Gametop or Freegamespick, but I've also linked to the space shoot em ups thread and the synopsis of games because you'll find many freeware, abandoneware and browser based space shooters there. As for scoring, If I was to compare it to any one of the free downloads below it would come out on the bottom rung.
I feel aweful slating the game as I’ve always believed any game has its merits, but I also believe in giving an honest review of a game. I would strongly suggest to the developer that he/she add some decent {and colorful} effects to the game and create some mini games or at least add some decent power ups. The ones you get in game were very uninspiring. The only positive thing I would say about the game is that initially it was quite challenging due to the ‘wandering’ enemy spaceships.
Music:
If you like the music you’ll find 8 MP3 files in the following path, assuming you allowed the game to be installed to the default location:
C:\games\LostColony_build\Data\Music
If you don't like the in game music you can easily replace the files by renaming your own MP3 files to the ones found in the music folder
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Alternative games
N.B. All of the Gametop and Freegamespick games linked to above do open up your browser when the game is closed down though this is inocuous. A few may even try to install tool bars and hijack your browser, however they can be avoided by ensuring the tick boxes that are presented during installation are unchecked. Mke sure you have a pop up blocker switched on as well.