Colony
from Rusty Axe Games

Colony is a game from Rusty Axe Games. It was released in the Spring of 2004. The game play is simple, yet difficult to master. From a first glance at the game, it reminds you of Chinese Checkers. However it’s nothing of the sort. If you wish to say the game is similar to anything, it would be a Space Age Othello. The only reason I say that is because the game play is somewhat similar, yet very different.

From the picture above, you can see the red and yellow ‘worlds’. You are the RED and the computer plays the YELLOW. In other levels, the computer may be BLUE or another color. The object is to take over the board with more ‘worlds’. You can do so by moving one of your worlds to an adjoining square. This will create a clone and leave a world behind. Or you can jump two squares and physically move your world, and leaving no clone behind. Both strategies are necessary for this game. It will take time, but you will get the hang of it.

Each level has it’s own strategies, should I jump or clone? In the lower left and right, you’ll see the score or number of worlds you and the computer have. Obviously, by the end of the game, whoever has more wins. You only have one chance, otherwise the game is over. However, there is an undo feature. If you press the top left button for the menu, you’ll see the UNDO option. You can undo the last move you made. I highly recommend saving your game after each level. There are a total of 50 levels to the game. Don’t be fooled, some levels look deceptively easy, yet can be very tricky. There are five save game slots for you and your friends.

Now… obviously I haven’t made it to level 26 yet (like the above screen). You have two different opponents, each with their own artificial intelligence and playing characteristics. There are more than one level that offers this type of challenge. This may be a spoiler, but be prepared for up to three different computer players on some levels, each with their own playing style.

Colony is an extremely addicting and frustrating game to play. And I mean frustrating in the most pleasant sense. You might think you have the upper hand, yet one wrong move and BOOM, the tables have turned. The graphics are first rate and the background animation is cool to watch. It looks like a pulse flowing downward through the circuitry. The sound effects are very good as well, although a little loud. I found it was best to turn down the volume before loading the game. There are no in-game controls for the volume settings. The game is played in landscape mode. All of the ‘worlds’ are controlled by the stylus. Click on the ‘world’ you wish to move or clone and the location to place it. Moving one square will leave a clone, more than one square will move the ‘world’. The computer will not let you make an illegal move. The top left button is assigned for the menu for saving the game or quitting.

One cool feature… when you’ve gained the upper hand (or the computer), it will automatically clone the rest of the worlds to end the level. If either of you have no more available moves, the game automatically takes over to fill in the screen.

Colony sells for $14.99. It’s available for the Pocket PC, plus the Zodiac and N-Gage devices. It will be available soon for Palm 5.0 devices. The full game download is slightly over 2MB in size. It runs perfectly from a storage card as well.

This is a game for the entire family to play. It looks so simple, yet it’s challenging and extremely addictive. Check out the demo or buy a copy and you may be just as hooked as I am! I have found myself setting the game down for a few hours and coming back to take another shot. Keep in mind, there is always the UNDO feature. The game doesn’t necessarily have to end right away!

Special thanks to Lennard for sending us a full version of Colony to review.
This game was tested using the Samsung i700 Pocket PC Phone Edition running Windows Mobile 2003.