Colonization Of The Moon

In Brief

An action shooter with cartoon like graphics. (a sub genre of the Tower Defense game)

Installation:

Colonization Of The Moon downloads to a 7.4 MB zip file that unzips to two files, (a setup file and a read me). The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed if you wish. The installed game is approximately 8.14 MB in size.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Colonization Of The Moon

Five shortcuts are installed to the desktop, four of which can be safely deleted . If you want the games shortcut to be installed to the desktop, make sure the appropriate checkbox is checked. Even if this is left unchecked you will still get the four internet shortcuts installed to the desktop; (i.e. Falco Space - Online Game!, FalconLine Online Games Website, FalcoGo WebGL Games! and Free Games Downloads!). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure the appropriate checkbox is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window).

Introduction:

The game is a shooter with a side view. You have to defend your home from the invading aliens. The attacking aliens are located on the right side of the screen. The barrier dividing the defenders (on the left) and attackers includes a gun and a flame thrower. You need to kill the aliens with the gun (left mouse button) and the flamethrower (right mouse button).

The Game:

Colonization Of The Moon was made using Game Maker Studio. On opening the game you are presented with the options menu, which is in Russian. There is no profile page but you can seemingly select one of two languages via two flag buttons. One for Russian and one for English. Clicking on the UK flag doesn't change anything on the main menu, i.e. the rest of the menus remained in Russian; however, on starting the game you'll find the game is in English if you clicked on the UK flag. The game is simple, shoot the oncoming hoards. If they reach the barrier, they start to reduce its strength. If any of the sections hit points are reduced to zero, you lose and have to start again.

There are Five different selections that you can configure, though not all can be increased at the beginning of the game. After trying a few combinations, the only thing I could figure out (not being a Russian speaker) was that you can increase the hit points of the barrier segments. Which make it much easier to survive if the alien attackers manage to get to the barrier before being destroyed.

I spent over an hour playing this game hoping to find some save points. Initially I couldn't get past level seven until I figured that one of the configuration sliders from the main menu increased the hit points of the barrier. When maxing this out, it became much easier to survive. Once I'd figured out the best way to use the two weapons, it was easy to keep on going with little lost of hit points from the barrier. The gun is best used for long range shooting and the flame thrower for close quarters combat. You can also use both at the same time by holding down both the Left and right mouse buttons. Both weapons are more effective when fully charged. By the time I got to level 45 my hands were hurting so I had to stop. Over several levels I was able to increase all of the items in the main menu (oddly you couldn't increase any of them to maximum until you'd played several levels. As there are no instructions with this game, it's basically a trial and error effort to learn the ins and outs of the game (which are very basic). Once all the sliders were maxed out , the hit points on the barrier were 200 for each segment. Using a combination of the gun and flame thrower, I was then able to defend the barrier successfully all the time. The only losses I did make were when I took a screen capture. this would minimize the game to the task bar until; I'd saved the screen capture, and I'd find some of the barrier had been damaged as the game appears to continue when minimized.

If any of the barrier sections reduced to zero it would be game over. When I tried to reduce various slider controls to see if this increased the difficulty level (for example reducing the barriers hit points) , they seemed stuck once set,. even when rebooting the game. The high score and gold remained when restarting a new game.

Whiterabbit-uk 25th March 2019

Conclusion:

This could have been a decent defense game, but the inability to see the main menu items, makes the game a little difficult to enjoy. Also, once each of the game configuration sliders had been increased to maximum (which took several levels to be able to increase to maximum. The game became too easy to beat. There are no save points (at least as far as i got level wise i.e. level 45), plus the gold coins that you collect (by clicking on them) appear to have no use beyond collecting them. I initially thought they may be used to buy better weapons or upgrades, but, after playing 45 levels with nothing changing apart from more aliens attacking each level, nor any change in environment, It became obvious that there was just what you see at the beginning of the game. Apart from hurting my hands, it also became rather tedious and boring after the first several levels. The lack of upgrades and surprises along the way, plus the same background scenery throughout the game, as well as both weapons (which are part of the same gun) is immovable. It would have been much better if the gun was movable along the barrier. For these reasons I will not be keeping this game. I have much better versions (e.g. Plants vs. Zombies)

I really wanted to like this game. It's a sub-genre of tower defense games, which are one of my favorite genres; unfortunately I cannot recommend this game in its present state. If the developer were to add those things I've mentioned above that are lacking, I'd consider buying it via Steam. It's on sale at the moment for only £0.43/$0.54/€0.43/₽ 15). If you were hoping for a moon based game and you have a VR head set, I would recommend you check out Moon Landing VR. There's also an excellent first person adventure game called Moonbase Alpha that's free on Steam HERE. You can see several videos of game play (mainly multiplayer versions with swearing) HERE.

Videos of Colonization Of The Moon:

You can see an couple of in-game videos of game play via the Steam store page HERE and one I've just uploaded to my You Tube channel HERE.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game later, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can Google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via Steam HERE.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Colonization Of The Moon to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developer Imperium Games and the distributor Falcoware Games for giving away Colonization Of The Moon and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Colonization of the Moon doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums). The free game over at Epic Games is Oxenfree a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift, ( worth £14.99/$19.99/€19.99). Oxenfree ends April 4th, where a new game called The Witness will be given away. Indie Gala have just added Memoranda to their free games list, plus another 20 free games in their recently added showcase section that includes adventure, RPG, Simulation, strategy and casual games i.e. Memetown USA, The Great Story of a Mighty Hero, Camp Sunshine, Five Nations, False Birth, GOR - Gorilla Office Rampage, Home is where Chip is, Age of Fear: The Free World, Die Legende von Saya: Befehl aus der Dunkelheit - (The Legend of Saya: Command from the Dark), What Never Was, The Last Humans: Awakening, Childhood, Dunwell, Safe Not Safe, Hi Hotel, Bugs Must Die, Cuadradito y Circulito, Hellino, Hovership Havoc and Wake Up , or you can find them all HERE. Finally, there are some excellent bargains on sale via Steam HERE.