Deadlock

Rating:
Summary: Quite addictive
Review: A moderate learning curve (the game easily lets you set playing levels so it's fun while you're learning)... you must gradually "research" technologies, then build & develop them. A very, very well-balanced game; you're always debating whether to invest in armaments & try to attack (or need to defend!) versus putting your investment into research to develop stronger weapons, faster factories, power plants, farms, etc. to support them. You can also research to expand your ability to research. You get the idea; well-designed strategic elements.

The result is very, very good game play. And if the game gets easy, you can just "up" the computer opponents' features making them quite tough (I've played this for years, & still find it quite challenging and quite addictive at its highest settings!) I've never played network play, so I can't comment on it.

This is one game I've periodically had to wipe off my hard drive just so I could get some work done.

Rating:
Summary: Quite addictive
Review: A moderate learning curve (the game easily lets you set playing levels so it's fun while you're learning)... you must gradually "research" technologies, then build & develop them. A very, very well-balanced game; you're always debating whether to invest in armaments & try to attack (or need to defend!) versus putting your investment into research to develop stronger weapons, faster factories, power plants, farms, etc. to support them. You can also research to expand your ability to research. You get the idea; well-designed strategic elements.

The result is very, very good game play. And if the game gets easy, you can just "up" the computer opponents' features making them quite tough (I've played this for years, & still find it quite challenging and quite addictive at its highest settings!) I've never played network play, so I can't comment on it.

This is one game I've periodically had to wipe off my hard drive just so I could get some work done.

Rating:
Summary: As enjoyable as it is charming
Review: I enjoyed Deadlock for one major reason: its humor. In the world of such games like Alpha Centauri and Command and Conquer, the gory blood-shot games that take themselves completely seriously, Deadlock gives you all those games offer but also presents everything in such a unique way that just can't resist a chuckle. Let's look at the game's elements:

1. Graphics - not cutting-edge, but not too shabby. I agree, your lands do look a bit board-game like, but this just adds to the charm. Maybe it was meant to be this way. All the structures are original and interesting, most are animated in some way. The menus are easy to read. One gripe: the colonists are flat and barely detailed. But I'm sure you can take all this.

2. Sound - marvelously ambient and soulful, it's perfect for a game like this. The hum of the machinery at the settlements of the sickly Maug techies, the chants of the mystic Cyth, the chattering of the insectoid Ch'ch't, it all is so... magical. The score is not that great, but it isn't loud either, so it does not become annoying.

3. Controls - tight and ingenious. You rarely have a chance to make a mistake as the game is turn-based and you get plenty of chances to change your mind in the middle of things.

4. Concept - great. Incredible. The game gives you the control of a game like Sim City, it is as relaxing as a slow game of Monopoly ( not to say it doesn't get just as frantic at times). The world you have to colonize is randomly generated each time you begin anew. The technologies are interesting and innovative.

Overall, this is a neat little game, even if it didn't score a runaway hit, it still has its tight little circle of followers.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Game
Review: I first downloaded the demo off the internet, and could not believe how fun it was. The graphics are perfect, not too amazing and not Pacman style. It has parts where your colonists are 2D and not very interesting, but when it shows what your race you have selected in detail, the graphics are amazing.
The downside to deadlock is the battles. It is rather stupid how you cannot actually control your troops in battle. as you watch from the sidelines, who wins is determined by a lot of ratios and junk that hurts my brain to think about. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give deadlock about a 9.

Rating:
Summary: Good for what it is and how much i got it for....
Review: I got this in a game pack that was 29.99 for this, Civ 2, MOO 2, and Starcon 3. I must say though, as long as not too high a price, this game is definitely worth it.

You assume the role of a particular faction: each has special abilities and bonuses. You build a City Center to annex a territory to your 'empire'... areas are something like 8x8 squares or something like that, dunno, I havent played in awhile, but you can build a myriad of structures when you get better technologies. You also have to mine and stuff to get metal and wood, and you get different structures which mine better than others or can mine different metals, etc.

Essentially a very involved, but a bit simpler, space-age game of Civilization.

And military is also decent, although it's a bit hard to manage. You can have tank-like units and ground troops, as well as ballistic missiles, my favorite (3 kinds). It's cool when you attack a territory, because it's like in Civilization, except they actually fight in the city. You see the units move around and fight each other... fairly realistic, but still fun.

Rating:
Summary: Prove Your Worth on an Alien World
Review: I have just begun playing Deadlock: Planetary Conquest. This game owes some of its elements to games like Civilization, Master of Magic, Colonization and Sim City.

You and six other races are trying to colonize a rare habitable planet. You pick a landing site and set out to establish a thriving colony thus proving you have the right to the whole planet as per a treaty.

Like Civilization et al, you must build buildings, build military units, research technologies (although it is really teaching technologies), build an economy and pay attention to the morale of your people.

Morale is a big difference in this game. As colonists, a simple temple is not going to improve morale. No, other factors are the key such as available food, cheap housing and culture. Unlike the other games a riot can break out and buildings will be damaged. These then need to be repaired.

Also unlike the other games if you have the resources (credits, iron, wood, labor, energy, etc.) you can work on building more that one building at a time in a single town.

Warfare is not as important in this game as the others but it does play a part and the combat scenes are very entertaining.

Like Colonization, you must assign work tasks for your population. How many will work in the mine, attend university, build the new housing or raise food for example. The more units you assign to a particular building (up to capacity) the more it will produce.

Unlike other games, you can set the output of each building. A factory may spend some of its workforce on turning iron into steel, trade, and upgrading to a more efficient factory type.

You win the game by being the first to build five City Centers or, much less likely, driving the other colonists from the planet through military might.

All in all this game gets my full approval even though I haven't quite figured out how to properly improve morale.

Rating:
Summary: Prove Your Worth on an Alien World
Review: I have just begun playing Deadlock: Planetary Conquest. This game owes some of its elements to games like Civilization, Master of Magic, Colonization and Sim City.

You and six other races are trying to colonize a rare habitable planet. You pick a landing site and set out to establish a thriving colony thus proving you have the right to the whole planet as per a treaty.

Like Civilization et al, you must build buildings, build military units, research technologies (although it is really teaching technologies), build an economy and pay attention to the morale of your people.

Morale is a big difference in this game. As colonists, a simple temple is not going to improve morale. No, other factors are the key such as available food, cheap housing and culture. Unlike the other games a riot can break out and buildings will be damaged. These then need to be repaired.

Also unlike the other games if you have the resources (credits, iron, wood, labor, energy, etc.) you can work on building more that one building at a time in a single town.

Warfare is not as important in this game as the others but it does play a part and the combat scenes are very entertaining.

Like Colonization, you must assign work tasks for your population. How many will work in the mine, attend university, build the new housing or raise food for example. The more units you assign to a particular building (up to capacity) the more it will produce.

Unlike other games, you can set the output of each building. A factory may spend some of its workforce on turning iron into steel, trade, and upgrading to a more efficient factory type.

You win the game by being the first to build five City Centers or, much less likely, driving the other colonists from the planet through military might.

All in all this game gets my full approval even though I haven't quite figured out how to properly improve morale.

Rating:
Summary: This is the ultimate strategy game.
Review: This game is da bomb U command military units to destroy enemy colonies.It has a great variety of help options an tells you what something is and what it is.The point of the game is to conquer your enemies and the world. Has large variety of cahracters so go and the game you'll on it 4 ever.......

Rating:
Summary: Colonization with a twist
Review: This is a decent game. It plays well, and is somewhat addictive. You basically have to colonize a planet, using its resources to build the population AND armies, while keeping the peace. This is NOT as easy as it seems -- and many of us die-hard gamers like that. Diplomacy sometimes works, and sometimes backfires. Races have differing abilities, which add to gameplay. While most of the graphics are cool, some are game-boardish. Game play is limited to land regions, and you are able to customize the planet you wish to explore.