But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's get to the basics. There are 19 acts in the game (which equals about 40 levels in all), as well as completely different sets of missions, rather than the single-objective based missions of the first. And depending on how you play and which branches you take, you may see a different ending than your friends, since there are about six different ones.
You can pick from four different ships, each of which are eventually changeable. Shields, weapons, and maneuverability are the three aspects that differentiate the four new crafts, which can be upgraded and customized. Fins, wings, color and icons can be changed to alter your ship.
In Colony Wars Vengeance, the changes are enormous, but yet they're so subtle, it will take a super fan to notice how well they've been implemented. The ships, as aforementioned, have better and more weapons, which fall into two categories, primary and secondary. In some cases, you'll mine asteroids for crystals, while in other cases you must haul cargo, and your craft is prepared with light-sourced high-tech gadgets to perform the necessary tasks. There are 22 weapons in all.
Other changes appear in artificial intelligence and effects of gravity. Enemy forces are smarter than before, and they'll counter attack or avoid you a little better as the game progresses. You'll have to start thinking like a pilot and not just a mash buttons. You also will find that two of the five solar systems are new, while three of the old ones are back again.
Other cool changes that effect the game occur in the gravity department. First, you'll actually get to battle in areas other than space. That's right, baby. You can battle in heavy gravity areas in alien atmospheres that affect the way you and your enemies move. This adds a whole new dimension to the battles; it's just amazing that it's on PlayStation. The second gravitation effect is spatial anomaly. You may get pulled into an alien sun, or get thrown into a weird orbit because of the various gravitational fields. In either case, you'll need to cope in more clever ways that just hitting the throttle.
Lastly, Colony Wars Vengeance is a single-player game with both dual shock and analog compatibility.