Space Colony (2003)

A tight package that offers plenty in the way of sim-building entertainment. If you've ever played a simulation game and wondered what it would be like if you actually had to control a group of separate personalities instead of robots, this is your game.

While it would have been nice to have a better way to organize workers' shift schedules, customizable characters, a richer combat system, and a multiplayer module, there's more than enough interesting things to do to keep you busy.

The lighthearted look at sci-fi makes for a light atmosphere that, unlike many sci-fi titles today, goes easy on the killing and wanton destruction.

The small personal touches that abound throughout the game are evident of quality production values, and these shine through in both the game’s outstanding interface and its spot-on motif.

Although Space Colony puts forth a decent effort in meeting the aspects of a life simulator, the flow of the game can be cumbersome. Unfortunately, the other aspects of the game don’t make a strong enough presence to overcome this and even seem out of place at times.

And that's where Space Colony breaks down a little - way, way too much to deal with. At times, you'll be so busy just trying to keep up with every gameplay element that it starts to lose its fun.

A clever combination of real-time strategy and The Sims isn't clever enough to hold your interest for long.