Deadlock - Plantary Conquest is the original. This game was written in Windows 95 but was made playable in Windows 3 as well (hence an older 'menued' interface). Yes, it is a strategy war game but you will want to play this game over and over again. Why? The voice acting and video excerpts are STILL the greatest I have ever seen in ANY game to date. The interaction between the races is superb and the development of this game is still one of the best ever. There are seven races and each race is awesomely developed. The insectoid Ch'Cht, the 'evil' Cyth, the middle of the road Humans, the super intelligent Re'Lu, the engineering Maug, the environmental Uva Mosk, and the brawny Tarth. This is one of the few games that I keep coming back to even over these many years. It is an easy game to learn the basics, but as your colonies grow, managing becomes more difficult keeping track of each area as you grow. Working to maximize efficiency is just a cover up for the real game though. Yes "the real game" is really all the fun commentary that comes along as your empire grows or shrinks. A true game experience for the ages and hopefully ages to come... Thanks GOG and mostly thanks to Accolade and Tommo for reviving and making this ageless classic available for all to enjoy once more...
Deadlock II Shrine Wars is the exciting sequel to the original Deadlock - Planetary Conquest. The interface is much improved and a lot of enhancements including the 'settlement' of water areas in addition to land. Yes, it is a strategy war game but you will want to play this game over and over again. Why? The voice acting and video excerpts are STILL the greatest I have ever seen in ANY game to date. The interaction between the races is superb and the development of this game is still one of the best ever. There are seven races and each race is awesomely developed. The insectoid Ch'Cht, the 'evil' Cyth, the middle of the road Humans, the super intelligent Re'Lu, the engineering Maug, the environmental Uva Mosk, and the brawny Tarth. This is one of the few games that I keep coming back to even over these many years. It is an easy game to learn the basics, but as your colonies grow, managing becomes more difficult keeping track of each area as you grow. Working to maximize efficiency is just a cover up for the real game though. Yes "the real game" is really all the fun commentary that comes along as your empire grows or shrinks. A true game experience for the ages and hopefully ages to come... Thanks GOG and mostly thanks to Cyberlore Studios and Tommo for reviving and making this ageless classic available for all to enjoy once more...
Oddly, if you've ever played Imperium Galactica or Imperium Galactica II Alliances, then Haegemonia will seem a bit different yet, They are all 3 made by the same company (Digital Reality) yet all 3 play differently and have different races from each other and different gameplay aspects as well. This is probably part of the oddest 'trilogy' in gaming history. Haegemonia is the third installment of this trilogy. GT Interactive produced the two Imperium Galactica titles and the name change came about because GT Interactive did [sic]not[/sic] produce Haegemonia. I highly recommend all 3 titles by Digital Reality (but unfortunately I + II are available 'second hand' to most IF you can find them that is). So if you're old enough to remember and wondered "whatever happened to Imperium Galactica III ?" way back when, now you know...
This game will seem basic by many of today's games but that is one of its charms. This game has fairly straightforward gameplay of get your resources (gases/metal) and keep them protected while expanding outward into the rest of the galaxy(s). And honestly, the simplicity of this game is still its charm after all these years. This is a classic RTS game with many features but not 'overwhelming' like many recent titles. Easy to learn but tough to master. It doesn't require a steep learning curve, but it does have enough to keep things interesting for many hours to come. Highly recommended for anyone that enjoys "conquering the universe" and beyond. A technical note, I remember this game mostly because I had an ATI Rage Pro video card and I had to use the old DirectDraw drivers because when ATI upgraded its drivers, it messed up the DirectDraw support which caused a 'black screen' bug if you used the newer drivers.
This game reminds me more of a revised version of Conquest - Frontier Wars. Asteroids, star fields and so on. Develop and expand. It's been a long while since I last saw this title and when I saw it here on GOG I grabbed it. I didn't get it back when it came out. Nice to see this title revived and I actually like Conquest - Frontier Wars and ORB better than Homeworld honestly. I like basic better and this game emphasises the basics - resource gathering, upgrading, expanding, and protection. But this is one of those titles that never seemed to get the attention it deserved at the time. Nice to see this title revived again and I definitely recommend it to those looking for a 'space sim' type war game.
This was the second part of Cossacks really. I had these before GOG put these up. Anyway, there was apparently a third installment "Divided Nations" that I was never able to find. Good game but it takes a while to learn. I remember printing out the tech trees way back when for the different civs in the game. Well balanced game and well worth the price (I paid about thirty bucks for American Conquest and about twenty bucks for Fight Back way back when and it was worth that). You need to make good decisions on who you are or what to do. Certain civs (Natives) created more units but less technically advanced than other nations. But you needed to know who you were to get the most out of playing. Obviously the natives needed more units and you needed to base your strategy on that and such. Overall - A nice next generation of Cossacks with added playability and interesting additions in keeping with the times.
