Sid Meier’s Re-Colonization (Games Blog Banter)
Welcome to the latest instalment of Blog Banter, the monthly blogging extravaganza created by bs angel and coordinated by Game Couch. Blog Banter involves our cozy community of enthusiastic gaming bloggers, a common topic, and a week to post articles pertaining to said topic. The results are quite entertaining and can range from deep insight to ROFLMAO. Any questions about Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
Sid Meier’s Colonization is being re-made! Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Game re-makes have been around for many years now, games developers and publishers every so often have a ‘brainwave’ and end up improving on classic older titles – perhaps others feel they can at least sell a few games off the back of original’s reputation regardless of what they produce?
When it comes to Sid Meier though I think he’s definitely in the former category - not only can he produce a great game once, but he can re-produce it over a decade later!
Do Re-Makes Work?
Sometimes you get a game that lives up to the predecessor and perhaps even takes it to a new level of success by taking advantage of the new technologies on offer, one such well-known example was that of Prince of Persia.
I remember playing this game the first time round on the 8-bit computers such as the Commodore 64, the graphics and gameplay were pretty simple like many games back then, but it was a game that was at least well executed for what it was – that said, I was never a huge fan of the game to be honest and I certainly never got close to finishing it.
With the updated instalments, the Prince of Persia series has really pushed back the boundaries of gameplay and graphics compared with the original thanks to the power of the modern gaming platforms. I enjoyed that game a lot more, but it probably wasn’t my kind of game ultimately as I didn’t finish that game neither.
One arcade-style game that I did really enjoy when it was first released was Golden Axe, there’s now a re-make coming for that too, however I’m not sure whether that game will capture the charm of the original and as such I currently don’t have much excitement over that release.
However, there’s an upcoming re-make that I’ll definitely be playing – it’s time for Colonization!
Colonization - A Re-Make Worth My Time?
In my previous Blog Banter articles I’ve written about one of my favourite games franchises, Sid Meier’s brilliant Civilization franchise which has always appealed to the strategic and analytical gamer in me. The fact that it was turn-based meant that it gave me more time to ponder what direction I would take at each step, even more scope for carefully planned and decisive strategies that aren’t normally open to you in real-time strategy (RTS) games.
Sid Meier followed the original wide-ranging Civilization game that dealt with around 6000 years of your civilization’s history, with one that would then focus in on a more specific time in history – the colonization and ultimately the struggle for independence of the new world of America.
Looking back on it, Sid Meier’s Colonization seems to have been Civilization’s poor relation, but I have fond memories of setting up towns, harvesting, trading, dealing with the native population and creating a military to eventually win our war of independence! Perhaps it’s the entrepreneur in me that appreciated the strong focus on the aspect of trading in this game - selling goods back to the homeland for a tidy profit, which can then be invested in your own militia force to that will ultimately allow you to severe your ties and win your freedom!
Sid Meier creates great games, but one of the best things about him in my opinion is that he is willing to go back and re-visit what he’s done before and see how he can re-create and improve it for the modern platforms available as has been the case with Civilization, Railroad Tycoon and Pirates!
And now he’s turned his attention to Colonization which will be released this month, I’m really looking forward to this as the original is that old now, that even if I wanted to go back and play it, I probably couldn’t get it to work on a modern Windows PC. I’m sure I won’t be alone in wanting to re-visit this game, not to mention the potential for a new audience now – perhaps it will receive more recognition this time around?
What do you think to re-makes of older games? Are in favour of them? What games would you like to see re-made for your modern computer and consoles?
Other Participants:
Lou Chou Loves You: Blade Runner
XboxOZ360: Eternal Darkness
Silvercublogger: Mario Paint
Unfettered Blather: Mech my day
Save in Progress: Earthworm Jim
MasterKitty’s Weblog: Zelda: A Link to the Past
Game Couch: Tass Times in Tone Town
Crazy Kinux: The Modern Re-Make of a Game
Delayed Responsibility: Crossover Triples, Taking You to School
Colonization, eh?
I played that game a teeny bit on the PC. I’m not to keen on strategy games these days.. but I did dabble in my fair share.. Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics….
That’s a cool game to remake I guess. Online multi-player would have to be a must, of course - is it in the game?
Silvercubes last blog post..|[Blog Banter #8] {Paint Me Something Fresh}|
Some of the first PC games I ever played were Sid Meier games: Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire. Man, I lost track long ago and counting the number of hour I played those games. Having played, and still playing actually, Anno 1701 recently, I”m curious to see what Colonization is going to be like.
Great article!
P.S.: If you could add my blog banter to the list of participants that would be great!
CrazyKinuxs last blog post..Blog Banter #8: The modern re-make of a game
Another great thing about the Colonization re-make is that it seems to have happened fairly quietly - I was shocked to see that it’s released this Friday - I’ve now got my pre-order in and will be playing it over the weekend!
The multiplayer aspect should be a nice new feature, presumably it will work much like the Civilization 4 multiplayer.
Sid Meier’s Civilization games are a cornerstone in any strategy genre fans collection. I actually had no idea this game was being released and look forward to trying it out.
Great blog BTW I’m glad I found it through Blog Catalog!
David Wornicas last blog post..Favorite NES
I may be 67 but that gives me some right to speak my mind. It also means I have seen developments since the 8 finger entry needed for the Spectrum 64.
This game - Colonization - is hugely disappointing. I rate myself as an experienced strategy/sim type player but I defy anyone to win this. No matter how hard one tries, or how early one can get to a Revolution point, even on the easiest level, one is then faced with an army of great size and several man of war ships which I have yet to find how to build. My Ships of the Line try hard but fail miserably.
Either I have finally gone dementiared, quite possible, or Firaxis have this hopelessly wrong. Sad, as I love these games.
R
@David - Glad I could be of service and pleased to hear you like the site, you’ve got a great nostalgic gaming blog yourself!
@Richard - I’ve yet to write up a full review for this game after getting it, however in a sense I’m pleased that I’m not the only one who had problems with the easiest level of difficulty on Colonization - I’ve only played it through once so far, but I didn’t even end up declaring independence until 1 turn before the timer ran out on winning the game.
It’s a tough game indeed, you either can’t afford to waste a single turn or they need to adjust the difficulty settings in a patch update.