Earth 2160

I love this game. The 3D is very well done, with atmospheric effects, smoke contrails, nice lighting... all kinds of goodies. On a decent machine, you can have many dozens of units all going at it and notice no slow down. Good tech tree and vehicle design options. Do not neglect the "+" key. This doesn't speed up the game like normal, but fast forwards to the next "important" thing... basically, any event you might need to respond to. So if you need to build up a chunk of units to take out an objective, stack 20 of them in the build queue and keep hitting the + key. Poink, poink, poink. They all come bopping out. Or if you're sending units on a long slog, same deal. Press + and they will go till they hit their mark, or enemies. A nice touch. Controls are great; some of the UI gets a big boggy, but you get used to it. Fun to build bases, research units, design and build 'em, defend the base, etc. Just fun. Which is the point, eh?

It's been a number of years since playing this game but given the large amount of positive reviews I thought I would give my perspective on 2160. To put it bluntly - I think it sucks. The first problem arrives right when you're deciding which faction to pick, the box says there are 4, the ED, LC, UCS and aliens. But the game pulls that annoying trick where the campaign twists between all factions so it's not like Red Alert in that you can pick between two distinct factions for a completely different experience, instead you have one very bloated campaign. The campaign itself is difficult to follow with a poorly written story and cringe inducing voice acting. Then there's my main problem with this game, the damage - it's just ridiculous. When I first started playing I had a squad of tanks out scouting the area and they encountered an LC defense turret, I grouped up (there were about ten of them) and attacked. Every single one of them was destroyed. The damage from defensive structures is ridiculous, don't even think about attacking until you can swamp even a single turret. This leads to the teching problem; you have a large tech tree (which could have been a plus) but you have to re-tech every mission. So that large tech tree becomes your worst nightmare in that you have to spend ages re-learning how to build that twin barrel tank that not half an hour ago you were churning out in a previous mission. It makes no sense and needlessly drags out an already laborious game to interminable lengths. However, aesthetically the game looks nice and the 3D is good, I also enjoyed how each faction really looks distinct from each other. The ED is highly industrialised, the LC futuristic, UCS reminded me of something out of an 80's science fiction movie and the aliens... I don't like the aliens at all, but they still look distinct anyway. Overall I think this is a bloated, poorly told game that is over loaded with repetition and irritating game play but still manages to look good.

This game packs in a lot of value in the way of content and options. Sometimes you need your RTSs flashy and mechanized, this will surely complement Shattered Steel in my GOG mech collection, keep the robots coming GOG. By the way there is no Online Activation, although the graphic for the Activate button still remains in the menu.

Having never played any other games in the earth series and only dipping my foot in the proverbial pool of online multiplayer (around 5 matches at most) I feel I can offer a unique perspective on the game. Overall I feel this game was rushed. Earth 2160 has four brilliantly designed factions: the more traditional uraisan dynasty (E.D) with their tanks and jeeps; the all female lunar corperation (L.C) with hover and laser technology ; the mech using USC*; and the morphing,cloning and transforming aliens. the campaigns (one for each faction) all form one progressine storyline and as far as I can see had good intent behind them but are let down by: 1.the story; for instance in one mission you have to save a group of prisoners from L.C captivity, however they serve no practical purpose and would only hinder your mission. 2.clunky game mechanics; this is when a goal or a object in the game just plain out dosent work i.e having kill all aliens as an objective when the said aliens are in a remote corner of the map unreachable by ground troops (the majority of units in this game are ground based) or when you reserch a new unit only to find out after half an hour of searching the internet because you cant figure out how to use the damn thing that it is pointless in your current situation. To conlude Earth 2160 is a great game that was let down by a rushed job. If you can overlook the issues that the game has/mod them or you are a sci-fi rts nut (like me! :P) or if you are just a fan of the series and actualy know the paper thin storyline I'm sure you will have a brilliant time with it. "Wharhurst out" *dont know what UCS stands for, sorry! :)