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RED COLONY 2
Released On: Jul 15, 2021
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
6.9
All Platforms
Red Colony 2 offers even more fun and titillating campiness than the original, and slightly improves its gameplay formula. The "upgrade" isn't that substantial, to be honest, so the game is better described as 'more of the same,' but it's hard being hard towards this indie, super-low-budget tribute to Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, and how it manages to offer a tale that can take some pretty dark turns, and at the same time look and feel so utterly ridiculous, but in a good way. It's a '70s sci-fi pulp magazine with monsters and busty girls in video game form, and that's never a bad thing.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
6.9
20% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
80% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
6.9
20% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
80% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Red Colony 2, the sequel to the zombie-infested Red Colony, is a short er game (under 5 hours to playthrough) with an interesting B-horror movie storyline. Without divulging spoilers, this sequel to Red Colony continues where the first left off, with Nicole returning to Blue Colony only to find out her actions taken previously are now effecting the residents of Blue Colony. Through battling slow-moving zombies and new, even deadlier, enemies, this game is a nice improvement over the first entry. While not for everyone with over-the-top animations and distinct looks for the female characters, Red Colony 2 is definitely worth a shot. I would recommend playing the first title prior, as it directly leads into this game.
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Nintendo Switch
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Nintendo Switch
More of the same, for details on what I mean by that see my comments for the first Red Colony. Worth a buy if you can get it for about £5.
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Nintendo Switch
After a quick recap of the events in the first game, Nicole – the spy who was sent to unleash a virus on the Red Colony – returns to the Blue Colony after experiencing a knock on the head by a mystery assailant. As she comes around, she realises that her own colony has succumbed to the same fate. Nicole must now find her daughter and escape to the final refuge in Sky City.
If you’re feeling a little déjà vu, that’s because the character’s motivations are pretty much identical to María’s from the first game. It’s an odd choice to have a plot point that’s so similar to the original, but at least the rest of the storyline follows far different beats and is generally told a lot better. Whereas in the original, you’d have the main character moaning about an affair amidst a zombie apocalypse, Nicole and most of the other NPCs remain quite aware of their current predicament and react more appropriately. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly an improvement. There’s still a lot of cringey dialogue as a result of trying to make it feel like an ‘adult’ title, but it’s handled a lot better. The game also exudes more of a B-Movie feel, which helps it get away with some of the crazy nonsense that happens throughout the game.
If Red Colony was a 2D version of Resident Evil, the sequel is essentially 2D Dino Crisis… or at least that’s what the trailer would have you believe. In fact, the game is very much like the first one but with a handful of added dinosaurs. As with the original, Nicole will spend most of her time searching for supplies to keep her going as she finds her way to the prison where her daughter is being held. To get there, she will need to obtain three valve pieces that have been curiously separated. It won’t be an easy task though, as the colony requires security passes to access certain areas. She will need to solve a multitude of puzzles in order to make her way through. Compared to the first game, Red Colony 2 has some far more interesting puzzles on offer; they’re not extremely taxing, but they certainly require more effort than in the prior title.
Returning from the previous game is the crafting system, which can be used to make guns, ammunition, and even new skins for your wrist device. By finding material out in the world, you can feed it into the 3D printer located in the Red District in order to gain supplies. There’s only a limited amount in the world, but there’s just enough to see you through – providing that you are careful with your bullets. Combat isn’t particularly satisfying, with the guns feeling like they all deal the same damage, but you can at least shoot out lights for a stealthier alternative. It’s worth noting that the game doesn’t have any bosses, so feel free to use whatever you have at your disposal to clear your way through the undead. You can also use the 3D printer to save your progress if you have a save card handy. These are pretty scarce, but the game is neither long nor very difficult so it shouldn’t prove to be too much of an issue – unless you get mauled by a raptor, of course.
Speaking of which, the implementation of the dinosaurs in the game is done surprisingly well. They were teased in the previous game, but never actually appeared; in the sequel, you’ll come across a bunch of these beasts. They’re used very sparingly and whenever they appear, there’s always a great buildup beforehand. These prehistoric encounters were my favourite part of the game, by far, even though you aren’t able to actually fight them. If you see a dinosaur, you need to hide or run: they’re fast and will kill you instantly. Don’t try and stand up to them, or you’ll be in for a quick and painful death. I did encounter a bug with the final dinosaur encounter whereby the game locked up as it ate me, but considering I was dead anyway it didn’t matter too much.
Bugs in the sequel are thankfully few and far between. There were a couple of big ones towards the end, but other than that there were only a couple of minor issues that had very little impact. Performance, on the other hand, doesn’t fare quite as well. Everything runs smoothly most of the time, but it started to chug in some of the later areas from time to time for no apparent reason. Hopefully these issues can be identified and patched out in a future update.
After playing Red Colony, I was pleasantly surprised by it not being terrible; however, it certainly had many issues that made it seem very rough around the edges. I had hoped that the sequel would improve on those issues and – for the most part – it has. It’s still not perfect. Combat isn’t very satisfying, the game is still a little janky, and the emphasis on sex is a little bit too much. For a budget price though, I think people looking for a cheesy survival horror experience may end up enjoying the game.
****/2021/07/14/red-colony-2/
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Nintendo Switch
Red Colony 2 is the direct sequel to Red Colony 1, a 2D Ecchi side-scrolling horror game taking place in a space colony where Zombies have suddenly infected the Red and Blue colonies.
Red Colony 2 takes the same formula as the first game and ramps up the difficulty by introducing breakable weapons. The original could easily lose some of its tension when you realized Zombies were easily dispatched with the knife. Also introduced are raptors, fast moving, seemingly un-killable monsters that will rip you to shreds in no time.
The game is voiced completely in Japanese and the art looks beautiful, however, as of time of writing, the game does suffer from some minor, non-game breaking bugs and glitches.
I still recommend it if you're looking for something different to play on Nintendo Switch
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Nintendo Switch
It honestly hasn't been that long since I reviewed the original Red Colony, and with my time with it fresh in my head I can tell you now that game is an improvement in EVERY aspect.
This time around you play a mother trying to rescue her lost daughter after returning from a secret mission forced upon her by the Mars government. Spoiler for the first game: you basically caused the desruction of the entire Red Colony. After cleaning up loose ends at the end of her mission, the main character Nicole returns to the Blue Colony only to
be attacked and knocked unconcious. After awakening she finds that the Blue Colony is now under attack by the exact same zombie creatures and dinosaurs that destroyed the Red Colony.
I'll stop there for the story, because I find it one of the most improved aspects of this game compared to the original.
Nicole, as a character, goes through a dark and warranted growth which I found to be greatly entertaining. Don't get me wrong, this story is pure, distilled B movie horror at it's finiest so it may not be for everyone. I, however, would have went to see this in a theatre multiple times. All of this, combined with the multiple ending (I've found 3 so far) add up to a story that I'll come back to every once in a while.
In the gameplay department Red Colony 2 plays almost idential to its predicessor, except for the one HUGE change that, to me, is the number one greatest improvement. There is no longer a knife! Every weapon in this game is restricted to a very limited supply of ammunition, and in the case of the melee weapon (Baseball Bats) a limited number
of hits before it breaks. This one thing cements this game as a TRUE survival horror. In Red Colony 1 I equipped the knife and was able to take down any enemy fairly easily; I almost never used a gun. This honestly took away any felling of fear when facing the zombie hordes, but with the small amount of rescources given to you in Red Colony 2 every encounter is a make or break. It's important to try and sneak past enemies (and in some cases absolutely necessary) otherwise you'll end up with no way of fighting back when you need to.
The puzzle system is also improved. You'll still be looking through data entries for number codes, but the devs have also hidden special locker codes
in the environment itself and some of these are very well thought out. Other than those there are also now four letter word locks on certain cache bags needed to unlock WristGear upgrades and crafting materials. I also have to give a shoutout to the level design. The Red District is treated as a "hub world" with different parts of the colony branching off in
different areas. The paths that you need to take always circle back around and connect to the hub making every part of the colony's infrastructure
feel like a true city complex.
Graphically, this game is over sexualized in a borderline offensive way, but considering the inspirations it's an understandable parody. The main character's walk and run animation is unnatural and reminds me of paper dolls, but overall the general character design is good. All the environments are well done and set up a creppy, desolate atmosphere that fits well. There are also a few comic-strip-like cutscenes that have a cool, styleized asthetic and are used in places where the actions wouldn't necessarily fit the character movements.
In the end Red Colony 2 is an entertaining Indie Survival Horror that I found quite enjoyable. Yes, there are aspects of this game some people will be turned off by but if you're willing to give it a try you might enjoy it for what it is.
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Nintendo Switch
Red Colony 2 isn't going to be on many must-play lists. But that's OK, it doesn't have to. It's a game with an absurd story, offensive characters, and sleazy dialogue that will make you feel as dirty as the city you're exploring. The gameplay is basic, the animation is crude, and it's short experience (only about 4-5 hours long). But, like many cheesy horror movies, it has a certain appeal if you know what you're signing up for. There's puzzles, exploring, and horror elements-aplenty. There's a solid atmosphere that can ramp up the tension and some good jump scares. Odds are you won't play it again after you make your way through it, but like any good campy horror movie, you'll walk away with an interesting experience that's certainly...different.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary What is worse than a zombie apocalypse? A zombie apocalypse... With dinosaurs The Blue Colony was a place of opportunity, a capitalist metropolis where hard work, determination and a keen eye for business could punch you a one-way ticket to the top of the illustrious Sky City. . . That was until the Virus hit. Now the elite are hunted...
Rated M
for Mature
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Jul 15, 2021
Developer:
- Shinyuden
Publisher: Shinyuden
Genres:
