If you can still get this to run under Windows XP SP2 then...
Needless to say, the very next day I got the old CD out and proceeded to install the game on my desktop computer.
Before continuing with this review however, I must add that I couldn’t get it to run on my desktop computer so I had to revert to the laptop still running an older version of Windows, etc. before I could get back to a game I really enjoyed “back in the old days”. It really didn’t like all the latest NVidia graphics cards and DirectX versions running on the desktop. In fact, it wouldn't even get past the first installation screen.
From a review point of view, it’s therefore important to keep the whole thing in perspective, and to reflect on what was cool and what was not in 1994 – 12 years ago, when a lot of readers were possibly not even born yet, or barely capable of walking across the living room, never mind playing with the PlayStation or X-Box (the PC still ruled in those days!).
Gameplay (8):
Back in 1994, the concept of city building and empire building was still pretty new and it’s here were I have to credit the guys at Sierra and Dynamix for their innovation at the time.
The gameplay is really quite immersive if you are into strategy and empire building and those kinds of games, once you get used to the fairly arcane user interface compared with modern games.
The variety in environment selection when starting a new colony as well as the numerous challenges and building options that arise primarily as a result of this selection make for very good replay ability as well.
The whole layout of the first colony also takes quite a bit of thinking, otherwise some issues in terms of growth potential and feeding your population will soon arise.
In general, this is essentially what would equate to a fairly slow-paced, thinking, kind of empire building games today. Not recommended for someone into first-person shooters and cars crashing all over the show – not even for people who are more into titles like Age of Empires where there is quite a bit of warfare going on all the time.
In this game, there are no political or combat issues to consider, since you are the only colonists on a new planet to begin with (besides the fact that advanced empire issues such as politics and combat weren’t really on the radar screen back then as far as the developers go anyway).
Graphics (7):
Pretty good for 1994, with some fairly good animation scenes in between, albeit that the interface only runs at low resolutions as would be expected for a time when the guy next door who had a 1024X768 Super VGA screen/card combination was the most popular boy or girl on the block.
Sound (7):
The same theory applies as under Graphics above, also considering that the whole SoundBlaster thing only came into being a short while before 1994.
Here, I also have to agree with the previous reviewer about that woman’s voice built into the AI. She’s a bit like HAL 9000 on estrogen after a while (from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, for our younger readers).
Value (8):
Probably irrelevant by now, since you’ll be hard pressed to get an original copy anyway.