Deadlock: Planetary Conquest is an interesting, yet simplistic world domination game. In the beginning, you choose one of the six races and launch a colony ship onto the planet Gallius IV. The races you do not choose will do the same and from that point on anything can happen. Your basic objective is to build up your colony and expand your technology while keeping close relations with or destroying the other five races. When you do this, the planet is yours to keep.
As each race differs in strengths and weaknesses, the growth of your colony will be affected commensurate with the race you choose to command. For example, the ChCh-T can produce colonists at a very fast rate and steal resources. To balance this out, they cannot produce very effective or strong units because of their poor research technology. The Maug are known for having great research facilities and scientists but, since their public relations are so poor, their citizens often revolt and try to take over the government. Each one will provide you with a set of challenges and obstacles to overcome, a necessity in resource management games.
Regardless of which race you pick, you will then have to start mining for resources (iron, wood, energy and food) and researching new technology. New technology leads to better establishments for your colony and improvements to your attacking and defending units. Some races are dependent on a certain type of resource and are more prone to gather it than others. At times, you'll have difficulty finding the resources you need and this leads to either diplomacy or war.
This is basically the game in a nutshell. You continue to build up your units and resources until you're powerful enough to rule the planet. In order to win the game, you either have to eliminate every other alien race on the planet or overpower and subjugate them. The method you follow is entirely up to you and the strategy you choose. You can try to sabotage other colonies by spying on them and stealing information or you can try to build up a massive army and wipe them off the planet.
Some may argue this simplicity detracts from the overall experience of the game, but it doesn't. Deadlock is a nice diversion from the other world domination games on the market. Some are just far too advanced and complex whereas this one has a nice pace and rarely feels overburdening. If you're tired of games that are far too serious to be enjoyable, try your hand at Deadlock: Planetary Conquest.
Graphics: Each unit is represented by a sprite-based character. Some tend to be a bit pixilated while others look very good. The isometric view of the planet works well here and the terrain is nicely detailed.
Sound: The sci-fi soundtrack is well done and all of the unit sounds are intact.
Enjoyment: Oddly enough, because of its simplicity Deadlock is a very fun game from start to finish.
Replay Value: There are six races to choose from, each with their own method of playability. The result is ultimately the same, but it's worth playing with some of the different races. Also, the multiplayer support is solid.
Players take the roles of aliens deadlocked on a planet surface. You spend turns building and expanding, and ultimatly warring. The last alien standing wins.
How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
People who downloaded Deadlock: Planetary Conquest have also downloaded:
Deadlock II: Shrine Wars, Dune 2000, Deadline (1995), Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand, Day of The Pharaoh (a.k.a. Nil The Living God), Colonization for Windows, Dark Reign: The Future of War, Defend the Alamo
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