Earth 2160
This new game is a dream come true for people who like intricate games with complex research trees and a lot of control over the construction of units. In this game you can research new technologies in order to design more powerful tanks and aircraft, and use the new units to kick some enemy ass. Being a RTS you can control individual soldiers and play elaborate attack strategies against fortified enemy bases. And luckily you can save your game at any point, because you'll find yourself reloading a lot, especially at the beginning. The game has incredible graphics too, which add a lot to the game play. This is a complex and hard game that's a lot of fun to play.
Gameplay:
The background story, something that I'm usually not too interested in, explains how the Earth was destroyed and three different factions were able to make it to Mars. The factions are looking for a downed satellite with some important data on it, and as they are all trying to get it they easily slip back into their old ways of fighting amongst themselves, but this time there is a new wrinkle: an alien race.
Installation: The game installed without a hitch, which was nice to see. You do have to have internet access in order to unlock the full game however. The serial number, which is printed on the back of the manual, needs to be entered on-line in order for the game to fully function. If you want to play against a friend on your own LAN, you'll need two copies of the game too. Each computer that you play against has to have a different serial code.
Once you get the game loaded, there's a series of campaigns to play, one for each race. These are very long and complex, with various goals and missions to keep the interest level up. Each race has different strengths and weaknesses, and its good to get to know each race by going through the campaign missions.
Like many RTS games, players have to build bases, create manufacturing plants and build the units they need as well as harvesting resources that are used in the manufacturing process. A player can choose to use his resources to build tanks or defenses for his base. One other thing is added to this mix though: research. Your faction can research new technologies and weapons as well as defenses to your opponents weapons. This aspect really adds a lot to the game, especially since the enemy is doing research too. It's great to be able to cut through the other sides defenses like they weren't even there, but it's possible to find out that your latest and greatest unit doesn't quite make the grade when matched against the enemy's newest tank.
In the campaigns there is another new twist, hero characters. These heros are usually the ranking officer, and the person who talks to the higher ups and gets the mission objectives. They are also more powerful than you're average Joe, and represent a significant fighting force. They do more damage and heal more quickly then other units, and they can utilize things that they find laying around such as improved weapons and armor that they find on enemy corpses. The down side is that if they are killed, the campaign is over.
I assume the reason for these heros is that the manufacturer is trying to put a face on the game, giving the players someone that they can identify with such as Laura Croft or Solid Snake. I didn't really think that this worked as they were hoping. The heros are a little annoying, their dialog is pretty cheesy, though their power does come in handy.
After the campaigns are finished (and it will be many hours) there's also a player to player skirmish mode. You can play against another player over the internet or LAN, or battle the computer. This was fun too, even when playing against the computer. The AI does a good job of playing the various factions, and puts up a good fight. Though I'm sure that eventually players will be able to figure out the computer's weaknesses I wasn't able to do so in the time I had to evaluate this game.
This game was a lot of fun, it's a very good RTS game. The research section of the game reminded me of Civilization a bit, and it's a lot of fun creating new tanks with awesome weapons. Each race has different abilities and possible weapons, so the campaigns all have a different feel to them.
There's a lot of strategy to this game too. You can't rely on one tactic for too long, you have to discern what the enemy is doing and react to it. Just coming up with a plan and following it blindly though is a recipe for disaster.
The game interface is easy to use and fairly intuitive if you have any RTS experience. It's easy to set up group of fighters and designate units to the groups even before they are built. Maneuvering between units is fairly straight forward, and the unit creation menus aren't complicated. There are a lot of graphic menus that you'll need to access while playing the game, and you can chose which ones are open while the game is progressing and hide the others.
That's not to say that this game is perfect, there are some flaws that were irritating at times. The biggest complaint is that the documentation is lacking. There's a lot of things that just aren't discussed in the instructions and several things you just have to work out for yourself. What newly researched weapons do and what type of chassis do you need to mount it isn't listed anywhere. It can be really aggravating to try to use your newly invented weapon only to find out that none of your chassis will hold it. Since this is a RTS game, you really don't have time to try a lot of things out and having a weapon you can't use is a big detriment.
Though the graphical interfaces give you a lot of information and let you manipulate many aspects of the game, they don't give you all the information that you need. Energy is a very important factor for your bases, yet there's no easy way to see how much you have to spare. It would be nice to know if you had enough juice to power a new building before you started constructing it.
Another problem is that the alien race is a little too powerful, especially when it comes to defense. I thought their campaign was the easiest, and when you're playing another race and runs up against them, it's a really tough battle. Too tough some would say.
This game also has a tough learning curve, especially if you haven't played a lot of RTS games before. If you have played a few RTS', learning the intricacies of this game won't be too hard. After a few missions of your first campaign the manipulation of individual units and fighting groups will be second nature and automatic. The fact that there are so many options in this game is the thing that really makes it great. If you're willing to take the time to learn how to play, you'll be richly rewarded.
Graphics:
This game boasts a powerful graphics engine and looks just stunning. It has the best looking graphics for any RTS game that I've run across. The landscapes are beautiful and detailed but it is the units and buildings themselves that really take this game to the next level. From a bird's eye view the soldiers look similar to other RTS games, but you can zoom in and out easily, with the characters getting more and more detailed as you move in. It's possible to zoom into an area that's not much larger than a single person and though that's not a good way to play the game, it sure looks impressive. The figures and machines are very detailed, and they leave footprints and tire tracks when they move. The night and day cycles are also impressive with the armored units having headlights which illuminate a small area in front of them. There really wasn't any need to add this effect, but it sure looks nice and adds a degree of realism to the whole affair. The graphics really add a lot to the game and make it more enjoyable.
Audio:
This game has some high fidelity audio, though some of the sounds that are reproduced are irritating. I'm talking about the voices used for the various heros and their commanders. They are really annoying. Most of the actors try to sound gruff like they imagine a grizzled old soldier should, but it just comes across as sounding phoney. After a while these really got on my nerves.
Aside from that, the game sounded great. The gun fire and explosions added a lot to the game play, but they had a lot of other sound effects too. The sound of wind blowing over the red plains of Mars and rumble of the tank engines are all done very well. There is some background music, but it's very light and not intrusive. I appreciated it since it gives players something to listen to while they are organizing for an attack.
Conclusion:
Tired of console games that you can beat in 5 or 6 hours? You won't have that problem with this puppy. A single player can take a long time to explore all of the campaigns and after that the skirmish mode will give hours and hours of entertainment, and that's just playing against the computer. While there are some problems with the documentation being incomplete and the aliens being a little too tough, this is a game the RTS players will definitely want to pick up. A high Recommendation.