Outpost 2: Divided Destiny

The original Outpost dealt with the survivors of a doomed Earth heading off into the stars to find a new planet they could call home. Outpost 2 assumes you achieved this task and starts with the newly-founded colony in something of a tizzy. Two tizzies actually, as the colonists have split into two factions, one a bunch of nature-loving environmental peaceniks, the other a bunch of mad scientists intent on giving mother nature a swift kick in the gaias.

The game can be played from either side, but it's not long before you stumble across what initially seems like a 'nice touch' but which has a hidden flaw. The problem arises because of a storyline running throughout the game. In fact there's not one, but two, one for each side. What's more, they are entwined like the stars of a porn flick. From the storyline's point of view this works pretty well: you start a mission, read a chapter of the 'novella' (as they call it and, surprisingly for this sort of thing, it's pretty well written), play the next mission and get to the next chapter.

Each of the missions is linked to the story and helps build the overall atmosphere. Unfortunately, although there are supposedly two separate campaigns to play, each set of missions is pretty similar to the other, except with different colours. There could've been real innovation here, especially with the separate storylines, but sadly it's been squandered.

To arms, men!

Another annoyance is the combat. Not, you understand, that I don't believe it works or that it's ineffectual but rather that, like the rest of the game, it's nothing we haven't seen in just about every strategy game of this type from here to Dumfries. It's Command Et Conquer on a smaller scale. Now there are two ways you could approach this. One would be to say fine, it's a solid proven system that works. The other would be to say pish and twaddle, it's unoriginal and suffers the same faults as C&C. I'd like to see some originality in games of this type, instead of just the poaching of existing ideas. For example, how about field commanders that can be issued with orders and will behave in as realistic a manner as present Al technology allows, letting you take care of business elsewhere. If Outpost 2 had done something like that instead of just copying what was already out there, I might have been more impressed.

Sounds like a metaphor

And that's pretty much the feeling you get when playing Outpost 2. It's a whole lot of everything we've seen before, and that's precisely why I can't quite recommend it. Different icing, but the same old cake. It's a shame - a crying shame. A weeping in the streets after a heavy relationship break-up shame, because it isn't Outpost 2's fault. On the surface it's as professional and playable as almost any other resourcemanagement game around. Praised and damned for the exact same reasons. It's a harsh world.