WHAT’S HOT

   The gameplay (sort of a modified Othello) is simple
to start, but may take you a lifetime to actually master.

SETUP

   The install
routine for Colony is normal. This review was done on my iPaq 2215 running
XCPUScalar, using my 512Mb CF card.

PROGRAM FEATURES

    First, let’s review the Colony’s features
(copied verbatim from Rusty
Axe Games’ website:

When you start Colony, it rotates
the screen (into a landscape mode) and then shows the introduction.

   Then
you are greeted with the main menu. The background of all these
screens is constantly changing (symbolic of the gameplay itself).

The second option
on the Main menu (skipping Start game which we will see later) is
to Load an existing game (up to 5 can be stored). Load times are
quite fast (thankfully).

The highscore table
(which is then renamed as Hall of Fame) keeps a running list of
the top 10 scores. There doesn’t seem to be any way to reset these
scores.

Finally, is Exit Game.

While in the game,
if you press button 1 (in my case, the Calendar button), you can
bring up additional options such as Resume (of course), Undo (which
resets the board back to your last move),

Load and Save Game
(up to 5),

and Exit Game. Note
that this Exit Game only takes you back to the main menu, not completely
out of Colony.

LET’S PLAY!

   Here’s
the first level. In the upper right corner is your score (currently
0). At the bottom left is the level indicator (L1 or Level 1). The
game board is in the center (which changes size and shape from level
to level). Your pieces are red (while your opponent is anything
but red). To the right and left of the gameboard is the score indicators
– in the example above, I have 19, my opponent 7. These numbers
change as pieces are exchanged.

To play, you select
one of your moveable pieces (by tapping on it – which subsequently
turns the piece gray), and then tap on the location you want to
move to.

The drop location
is indicated with a white circle with 8 red dots (as seen above).

There are 2 types
of moves in Colony. First is duplication. This happens when you
move a piece adjacent to one of your existing pieces, thus creating
a duplicate.

   The second
type of move is a jump. In the example above, I took the piece that
was originally duplicated and jumped it (2 spaces max) to the lower
left corner. Any pieces that touch a piece that is placed turn the
color of that pieces (in the example, red). Now the score is Red
24, Yellow 4. The fifth yellow pieces you see above (that looks
slightly off center), is the opponent moving (getting ready to change
the score to Red 24, Yellow 5).

Here you can see that
I’ve jumped again, taking the piece score to Red 24, Yellow 2. My
running game score is 25.

If you can successfully
block off any available moves from your opponent, then the game
autofills the rest of the board for you.

Level 1 completed.
Final tally: Red 46, Yellow 3 with a score of 175.

Tapping on the screen
then takes us to the next level.

    Here’s a teaser of what Level 12 looks like – and there’s still
38 levels after this one…

    Sound wise, the game is average. There is music on the title screen,
but none in-game. There are random sound effects in game (which
sounds a bit like a jungle sample) that play every few seconds (and
then get promptly clipped off). As you capture and move pieces,
there are also varying sounds played. While interesting at first,
the sounds can quickly become tiresome (especially if you are auto-filling
a board with 20+ pieces and you hear a zap sound for every spot).
There is no way to turn off or even turn down the sounds.

HELP SUPPORT

    Other than the in-game instructions, Rusty
Axe Games doesn’t provide much on their website at this point
(save a "Contact
Us" link). Handango
does provide an additional email
address for support.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    According
to Handango,
the game requires at least a Pocket PC 2000 and 2.5Mb of storage.

BUGS AND WISHES

    I
found no fatal errors, and my wish list is short:

• Add
  the ability to mute and change the level of sounds in-game
• Give
  the user the ability to reset the highscore table
• Change
  the Instructions page from a scrolling to a static format
• Add "Tap to continue" messages to level up screens
• Fix
  refresh problems (when unit is turned off with game running)

PURCHASING

    You
can buy
this software directly from Rusty Axe Games or from Handango.
The price shown is $14.99.

PROS

• 
  

  Fun yet mind-bending

• 
  

  High replay value

• 
  

  Price

• 50 levels of gameplay

CONS

• No in-game volume controls
• Full screen mode keeps
  user from accessing functionality in the rest of their unit
• Some refresh problems
  if unit is turned off while the game is running

OVERALL IMPRESSION

   Colony is quite a puzzler. Some of the levels
are easy, but others can take a good bit of planning. Some levels,
I was sure that I wasn’t going to win, and then at the very end
– a tie (in my favor no less). For the price per level, you really
can’t go wrong. Even with the bizarre animal sound effects. If
you are a puzzle fan, you definitely need to check Colony out.

Have you played Colony?
See something that isn’t quite right? Tell us what you think!
Click on the Discussion Link below.