Colony Wars reminds me a lot of the Wing Commander series in the way the story is laid out. You pilot your craft in battles and, at the end, find out more of the story. If you lose so many battles, the Zar wins and you lose the game. If you win, you continue to progress through the story. It's very interesting how the story unfolds in the manner in which you play the game. The one thing that isn't present thankfully, is the awful interface that Wing Commander had. I'm talking about the times when you were forced to walk around the bases and talk to everyone in the game before you could get into the action. That really bugged me. In CW you hear about the story in awesome rendered FMV cinemas and then go back to the action.

The graphics in Colony Wars are awesome. Easily some of the best on the Playstation to date. I am seriously scared of wide open spaces (hell if I know what phobia it is). When I first droped into space I was frightened!  The atmosphere is that real. You can see stars and nebula close by, black holes will be on the edge of the playing field, and suns of distant solar systems seem so real that you can almost feel their heat through your ships windows. Think of the first time you saw the movie 2010. The space felt to vast and beautiful that you were overcome with it.&nb You get that same feeling when seeing Colony Wars. The lighting effects are the best on the Playstation that I have seen. The sides of the giant ships are lit up by nearby stars and on the reverse sides it's so dark, you find yourself running into ships if you not monitoring your radar! This game should receive an award for its graphics and lighting effects alone.

The control in Colony Wars is great! You feel as if you are really piloting a fighter ship straight out of Space: Above and Beyond. The controls are even better when the analog pad is used. You can just squeeze the thrusters to get around that one meteor, or you can gun it to catch up with the mothership and defend her. Targeting enemy ships can be a problem, but this is due to the fact that the engine is so realistic. If you fly your ship in one direction for a long time, you'll have to re-adjust your position by the use of retro and forward thrusters. Once you get the hang of it, you get the sense being a space fighter pilot (however that feels).

Colony Wars is not without it's problems, however. Some of the missions you are sent on are almost impossible to win. If you fail in a certain missions, the next one pits you in a ship not worthy of flight and gives you orders to kill some Zar mothership (yeah, right). The game felt short to me, yet I still go back for more, it's just that I did complete the game in 2 days. Games of this magnitude should last a lot longer than that. Well, at least there will be a sequel to continue the fun! With all negatives aside, Colony Wars is an excellent game worth of your "George Washingtons" and "Abe Lincons".

· · · Vincent