Colony

Bees may be small and rather harmless, but they play a very crucial role in nature. Thanks to the fact that they carry pollen from one plant to the other, they facilitate reproduction, which is why nature probably wouldn’t function at full capacity without them. Besides that, they are also very organized, and there’s a well-established hierarchy followed by every member of the hive.

Colony is a real-time strategy game in which you are given the building blocks for a bee colony, and you have the liberty to grow it as you see fit. Granted, you can usually just follow a handful of routes to make sure you survive, but the experience gets more volatile later on. In essence, you have to spawn larvae, collect pollen and defend the hive from various predators that might want to harm your colony.

Every now and again, a random event strikes and you must be ready to deal with the aftermath. Sometimes it’s a wasp attack, which can actually be repelled if you have enough guard bees trained, but other times it can be a storm, or a bear. The storms cannot be avoided, as you might suspect, so you just have to deal with a few lost resources and fewer flowers.

One of the most annoying things about the game is that everything moves extremely slow, which is in part due to the actual mechanics and in part due to the awful controls. While the interface is more or less the same as in every other RTS, meaning that you use the mouse to select units and move them, it’s just very difficult to click on the bees for some reason.

Thankfully, at least the interface is simple to navigate and you do not have to stand through tutorials and guides. Even the graphics are quite pleasant, although their simplicity might yet again affect the overall entertainment factor. You have to remember, on the other hand, that the game is not meant to be played for hours on end anyway.

In the end, Colony could certainly use a few touch ups, but it’s pretty fun even in its current state. However, the slow gameplay might push RTS enthusiasts over the edge, although it can also be a relief for newcomers to the genre.