Posted September 02, 2009
Well, maybe not a can, but anyway. On with the review.
The mid-Nineties witnessed a tsunami of real time strategy games. The shock waves brought about by genre-defining titles like Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer spewed forth tidal waves that engulfed the market in largely average clones. One such clone was Earth 2140. The prequel to this fine game.
Some amongst the slew of RTS titles helped the genre evolve. But few really broke new ground. There were, of course, exceptions: Shogun Total War, Total Annihilation & Earth 2150, the unassuming sequel to an average title.
While Earth 2150 delivers the familiar concepts of base building & tank warfare, it makes clever additions which help make the game stand out. Firstly, you have a main base that is accessible throughout the campaign. This base is never subject to attack and serves numerous roles.
This might not sound like much. But it significantly reduces the number of buildings you'd have to otherwise build on the battlefield each and every mission. It also means you can carry units over from one mission to the next. Units gain experience, which means that even when you have bigger, more powerful units they can still hold their own on the battlefield. You can also conduct all your research here.
Another, more exciting, innovation is the ability to research various weapons and chassis and combine them to make your own tanks, mechs, aircraft etc. These constructions can be saved and added to your factories' build queues.
Add to that the ability to dig trenches, build bridges anywhere you like and the fact that land can be flattened for construction and you can see a wealth of strategic options opening up with each new battle.
Earth 2150 also delivers three separate factions. This has been done before, of course. But while these factions may lack the diversity of Starcraft's factions, they're nonetheless about as diverse as three human factions could ever be.
- The Eurasian Dynasty rely on technology that looks like a straight evolution of modern military hardware. It does get a bit more advanced later in the campaign, but those tanks still look like tanks, even with huge amounts of lasers stacked on top of them.
- The United Civilised States are stereotypically fat and lazy and rely on robots to do all the work. Which includes fighting their battles for them. Naturally this means mechs and plenty of them. Yay!
- The Lunar Corporation have a lot of light, fast units but contrast these with some ridiculously powerful base destroying aircraft of death.
The premise of the game is simple: the Earth has been knocked off of its axis by one too many nukes and is doomed to plummet into the Sun.You're required by your chosen faction to secure the required resources in order to build a massive fleet of colonial spacecraft to escape the doomed planet before it's too late. If you hang about too long, things really start to heat up and the Earth starts to look like it did a few billion years ago.
However, the strengths that the game's scenario provide also provide some weaknesses. The game's focus is on resource collection above all else. This can mean you're still mining a particularly large patch of ore long after the last of your enemies is dead. Once you've wiped out the enemy they won't be reinforced. Packing up and leaving early seems counter-productive. So you're just left there waiting for them to finish. Time to go put the kettle on...
Because of this, you may never get through the entire campaign before you've completed it. Your only objective is the resources. Once you have those it's game over. So efficient players may never see the last few missions of their chosen faction. You can hold back resources from your exodus project if you really want to see it all though.
Debatably, another weakness is in the complete lack of infantry in the game. Again, the harsh conditions make surviving the elements impossible for even the ED to consider sending them out into battle.
To summarise:
Pros
- Unit experience & carry over
- Research & design your own units
- Three distinct factions
- Good graphics (for its time at least)
- Deformable terrain
Cons
- Heavy focus on resource gathering
- Controls and interface could be more streamlined
- No infantry
Earth 2150 should appeal to any strategy fan who seeks more than strategic and tactical options than games like C&C could dream of offering. There are some nice surprises dotted throughout each campaign and a good variety of missions. But patience is required. Keep that in mind.
The mid-Nineties witnessed a tsunami of real time strategy games. The shock waves brought about by genre-defining titles like Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer spewed forth tidal waves that engulfed the market in largely average clones. One such clone was Earth 2140. The prequel to this fine game.
Some amongst the slew of RTS titles helped the genre evolve. But few really broke new ground. There were, of course, exceptions: Shogun Total War, Total Annihilation & Earth 2150, the unassuming sequel to an average title.
While Earth 2150 delivers the familiar concepts of base building & tank warfare, it makes clever additions which help make the game stand out. Firstly, you have a main base that is accessible throughout the campaign. This base is never subject to attack and serves numerous roles.
This might not sound like much. But it significantly reduces the number of buildings you'd have to otherwise build on the battlefield each and every mission. It also means you can carry units over from one mission to the next. Units gain experience, which means that even when you have bigger, more powerful units they can still hold their own on the battlefield. You can also conduct all your research here.
Another, more exciting, innovation is the ability to research various weapons and chassis and combine them to make your own tanks, mechs, aircraft etc. These constructions can be saved and added to your factories' build queues.
Add to that the ability to dig trenches, build bridges anywhere you like and the fact that land can be flattened for construction and you can see a wealth of strategic options opening up with each new battle.
Earth 2150 also delivers three separate factions. This has been done before, of course. But while these factions may lack the diversity of Starcraft's factions, they're nonetheless about as diverse as three human factions could ever be.
- The Eurasian Dynasty rely on technology that looks like a straight evolution of modern military hardware. It does get a bit more advanced later in the campaign, but those tanks still look like tanks, even with huge amounts of lasers stacked on top of them.
- The United Civilised States are stereotypically fat and lazy and rely on robots to do all the work. Which includes fighting their battles for them. Naturally this means mechs and plenty of them. Yay!
- The Lunar Corporation have a lot of light, fast units but contrast these with some ridiculously powerful base destroying aircraft of death.
The premise of the game is simple: the Earth has been knocked off of its axis by one too many nukes and is doomed to plummet into the Sun.You're required by your chosen faction to secure the required resources in order to build a massive fleet of colonial spacecraft to escape the doomed planet before it's too late. If you hang about too long, things really start to heat up and the Earth starts to look like it did a few billion years ago.
However, the strengths that the game's scenario provide also provide some weaknesses. The game's focus is on resource collection above all else. This can mean you're still mining a particularly large patch of ore long after the last of your enemies is dead. Once you've wiped out the enemy they won't be reinforced. Packing up and leaving early seems counter-productive. So you're just left there waiting for them to finish. Time to go put the kettle on...
Because of this, you may never get through the entire campaign before you've completed it. Your only objective is the resources. Once you have those it's game over. So efficient players may never see the last few missions of their chosen faction. You can hold back resources from your exodus project if you really want to see it all though.
Debatably, another weakness is in the complete lack of infantry in the game. Again, the harsh conditions make surviving the elements impossible for even the ED to consider sending them out into battle.
To summarise:
Pros
- Unit experience & carry over
- Research & design your own units
- Three distinct factions
- Good graphics (for its time at least)
- Deformable terrain
Cons
- Heavy focus on resource gathering
- Controls and interface could be more streamlined
- No infantry
Earth 2150 should appeal to any strategy fan who seeks more than strategic and tactical options than games like C&C could dream of offering. There are some nice surprises dotted throughout each campaign and a good variety of missions. But patience is required. Keep that in mind.
