Review by: Pete Hines
Published: February 17, 1998

After discovering a remarkable source of energy on Mars, humans have set off from Earth to mine this valuable resource, called Petra-7. That’s the good news. The bad news is that a group of wandering aliens, who call themselves Taar, have decided they would like to have Mars as their new home, and don’t take kindly to visitors. In Dark Colony you can either represent the humans and the corporations which are working together to defend their valuable claims to the Petra-7 they have found, or the aliens (Greys, as they are referred to by the humans) and help them establish their new home and rid the planet of those infernal human beings.

So you’re thinking — what does this game have to offer over every other real-time strategy (RTS) game out there? Well for one, it uses the word “dark” in the title, which is apparently all the rage with game companies these days and an indication of something special. The game actually looks and plays a lot like most RTS games on the market, and closely resembles Warcraft 2. I say that because it has that same “cartoonish” look and feel that Warcraft 2 does and is similar in other aspects as well. The game is essentially set up to provide lots of combat without having to worry about much else.

The only resource you have to gather and manage is Petra-7, which is basically used like currency. It is used to purchase all of your units, structures, and upgrades in the game. You mine Petra-7 from vents that are randomly spread around the map. Active vents are indicated by a glow from the vent, while those with no Petra-7 are dull and lifeless. Vents can spring to life at any time and you can even set the game so that once a vent goes cold (because you’ve mined all the Petra-7), it can come back to life as a renewed source of energy. You extract Petra-7 from a vent by placing an Exploiter (human) or Brozaar (alien) over the vent. It will continue to extract the resource at a constant rate until the vent runs out, you move it elsewhere, or it is destroyed by the enemy. Mined Petra-7 is automatically credited to your account.

Each side has a handful of structures and units that are essentially mirror images of each other. There are 10 units for each side in various shapes and sizes. Each side has your basic foot soldiers, armed with light weapons. Both sides also have a bomber/scout vehicle that can fly over any terrain, and heavily armored vehicles that fire projectiles from longer distances or carry heavier fire power. Each side also has a number of stationary units that provide some extra defensive punch. Both sides have a unit that buries itself and acts like a land mine and another unit that can move to a given location and then deploy. Once its there, it can’t move, but it provides solid defense against both air and land units. You can upgrade the armor and weapons of each unit once you’ve obtained the appropriate structure. Each side also has a unit that can perform specialized attacks, like para-storms and assassinations.

Structures are built on foundation bases located on each map. Both sides use similar foundation structures because the aliens decided that if the humans already went through the trouble to create and place them, they might as well adapt their structures for when they took over Mars. Each structure is built over a Petra-7 vent so that a small, steady flow of Petra-7 will be obtained even if you aren’t extracting any from other vents. Bases come with a processor which converts Petra-7 into usable energy. Other structures that both sides can build include a barracks for building infantry units, a research facility which enables you to upgrade units’ weapons and armor, a facility for building advanced combat units, and a research center which allows special units for either side.

Gameplay takes place on a variety of maps, including deserts and tropical areas, which are the result of successful terraforming efforts by the humans. Each day is divided into day and night times. Humans have better visibility during the day, while aliens see better at night. In addition to the humans and aliens, the planet is also inhabited by a number of different types of wild creatures which have the ability to attack if need be. Special artifacts can also be found throughout certain maps, each of which provides special powers and abilities to the holders. These artifacts, left by alien inhabitants of Mars long ago, include Lunatek, Maxtor, and Solaris. These are special weapons that perform powerful attacks. For example, the Maxton is an artifact that buries itself in the ground and grabs any units within 25m of it and pulverizes them.

You can either choose to play a campaign, which is a series of battles that lead toward wiping out the other side, or single and multiplayer wars, which are standalone battles against 1-7 other opponents. There are more than 50 maps that can be used in the single player wars. Each uses different terrains, map types, and numbers of opponents. You can choose to play individually, where it’s every player for him or her self, or you can divide players up into teams. Multiplayer wars can be fought over modem, serial cable, or TCP/IP connection.