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Colony Wars: Vengeance for PlayStation 1
In Colony Wars: Vengeance for PlayStation 1, you fly as Mertens for the rebuilt Navy. From the sealed-off Sol system, that fleet goes to war against the League of Free Worlds again. Each mission begins with a briefing, after which you choose your starfighter in the hangar. During battles, you track your target on radar and read the gauges to see whether you first need to break its shields or can damage its hull.
Weapons have different roles: an anti-shield attack does not automatically work well against an unprotected ship. You therefore need to switch in time, let a missile lock on and leave room to turn. Reverse thrust helps with tight manoeuvres, while the afterburner moves you quickly but temporarily prevents firing. Successful missions earn tokens. You spend them on shields, engines, afterburner and manoeuvrability for your available ships. Your results also influence which missions and ending you reach.
You play this space combat game alone, using an ordinary PlayStation controller or optionally a DualShock for analogue control and vibration. You manually save the campaign through the Memory Card menu, using one free memory card block. Note that a save always resumes at the beginning of the current act, not at the latest completed mission within it. A password likewise resumes at the start of an act, but does not preserve your pilot statistics. Bear this boundary in mind when stopping after several missions.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Colony Wars: Vengeance for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Colony Wars: Vengeance
Psygnosis released Colony Wars: Vengeance in 1998 as the sequel to 1997's Colony Wars. The first game had you fight for the League of Free Worlds; Vengeance reverses the viewpoint and follows a pilot from the defeated Navy. The former enemy thus gains its own voice and a reason to strike back. Mertens narrates from that world, where isolated colonists still bear the consequences of defeat and internal conflict.
Designer Mike Ellis remained involved in the sequel after the first Colony Wars. In a PlayStation retrospective, he describes how political motives, propaganda and conflicting interests had belonged to the series from the outset. That background makes the choice of the Navy understandable: you no longer see the same war solely through the earlier victors' eyes. Briefings and conversations give meaning to objectives that often appear on screen simply as an enemy ship or installation.
Vengeance retains the branching campaign, but also gives you more influence over your starfighter's characteristics. Tokens for shields, engines, afterburner and gyroscopes make preparation more tangible than simply choosing a ship. Colony Wars: Red Sun followed in 2000, again for PlayStation. Vengeance therefore sits in the middle of a three-game series, with its own main character and campaign structure. It is not the first Colony Wars with a new subtitle or a collection of all three games.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Colony Wars for PlayStation places the same emphasis on space combat, breaking shields and a campaign that branches according to results. You fly for the League of Free Worlds there, whereas Vengeance moves you to the other side of the conflict. Similar combat objectives consequently take on different political meaning. The tokens used to improve ship characteristics in Vengeance also distinguish its preparation from the first game. Both are separate campaigns, not two names for the same content.
Colony Wars: Red Sun for PlayStation develops combat between starfighters and large vessels, but follows a different character. Earning money and buying equipment have a greater influence on your progress there. Vengeance instead ties Mertens to the Navy and uses earned tokens to improve fixed ship characteristics. The similarity lies in objective-based space combat with different weapons; the differences are your role and the way your next ship becomes stronger.
Omega Boost for PlayStation also pits small targets and large opponents against you in three-dimensional space. You control a flying combat robot, collect target locks and progress through combat zones towards bosses. Vengeance uses briefings, ship selection and campaign branches to construct longer military operations. Both require quick decisions about which enemy should disappear first. Omega Boost emphasises attack rhythm and scores more, while Vengeance focuses on mission progression and ship preparation.
G-Police for PlayStation combines controlling an armed aircraft with missions explained in a briefing. You operate between buildings in a futuristic city and carry out police duties. Vengeance instead gives you room to manoeuvre around larger ships, without streets as fixed reference points. In both games, you must translate on-screen information into a target in the environment. However, the different layouts make searching, approaching and evading feel different.
Descent for PlayStation shares the importance of turning, holding position and firing in a three-dimensional environment. In Descent, you move through mining complexes, find passages and clear out dangerous robots. Vengeance has you fight around ships and installations in more open surroundings, with allies and military objectives from a briefing. Whereas Descent often asks you to work out how rooms connect, Vengeance mainly asks which enemy, escort or installation currently needs your attention.
