Earth 2160

I had good memories of playing the very first Earth RTS, but that was before I played Supreame Commander and SC:Forged Alliance. I was excited to try out the things like FPS view from any unit, but a few hours in to the single player game turned me off completely. First you can't start out as any faction, and the two you can choose from are severely limited. i.e. each has only strong air or strong land units, not both. The game's AI so so brain dead they have to resort to cheesy cheats like starting each mission with you starting from scratch while they already have a base, economy and techtree advancement well ahead of you as the only way the AI can offer a challenge, Both factions first mission mainly invovles the tedious navaigation of a maze kind of map with a handful of the lowest units in the game. I think I kept at it till about the 3rd or 4th mission, where the maps still tended to be moba like narrow one way paths to navigate, with no room for flanking, or other RTS battle movements. I see no point in playing this when there are more polished and robust games like Supreme Commander Forged Alliance frequently offrered at barain sale prices.

Normally I don’t like comparing games with each other, not even between games from the same series, but for the Earth games I’d say that the difference between 2160 and all previous games in the series is huge. I tried/played all games from GOG. So: 2140: Very outdated. I finished it, but clearly it cannot be played (pleasantly) nowadays. 2150: I had finished main game around the time it got published, but I tried it again from GOG. From what I figured out, it seemed to me that the whole 2150 trilogy’s difficulty setting is broken in GOG’s version. I mean that no matter what difficulty you choose at the start of each mission, the game feels like it’s always “locked” in a hard difficulty. So I couldn’t finish the expansions nor re-finish main game. 2160: The absolute best in the series. If you haven’t played any game from this series and you’d like to try one, I’d definitely propose 2160. 28 missions (7 for each campaign) with a pretty good story tied among them (Voyager 1 is back!). And at last, the ED isn't weak anymore! The game may refer to an immigration to Mars, but you get to travel to many different natural satellites of the planets in the solar system, with their distinct environments for each one. That made me more eager to play each subsequent mission, in order to see where next will I end up to! It also helped that graphically the game is very beautiful with vivid colors. The gameplay is very good with the characteristic, for the series (except 2140), customization of your army, according to your needs on each mission. Also, I LOVE strategy games where your researches carry on in subsequent missions and you don’t have to search everything over again. This gives a sense of continuity of my army! The 4 factions have very distinct differences in their buildings and units (obviously). 2160 made me forget all previous games in the series! Concluding, although it doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, it does end with a promise of a next game. I’d really like that!

The game is great and very nice RTS strategy, but the DRM is annoying. I bought it twice (2 accounts) to play it online, but it is not possible because it is not activated. It is necessary to ask for serial number from GOG support, but there is just some chat bot asking for DX diag log files, why??? Very disappointed...

Being an avid Earth 2150 fan, I was really pumped for 2160 when it released back in 2005. However, for whatever reason, I could not get into the game at all, and quickly dropped it in favor of good old 2150. Almost two decades later, I found myself eager to re-visit this game and give it a proper chance after all. And while not a perfect game still, I really enjoyed my time with 2160. Compared to 2150, 2160 is both more and less complex. Some gameplay systems have been simplified or done away with (ammunition, tunnels), while others have been expanded upon (rock-paper-scissor mechanics). Furthermore, the factions now are differentiated not only in regards to available technology, but also in how they build their base and such. As a result, the factions do play quite differently, though the balancing leaves something to be desired. This doesn't really come into play during the campaign, where things are much more lenient, but in multiplayer/skirmish, 2160 can feel a bit unfair at times, especially since the AI cheats. Speaking of, the campaign is pretty good. Earth 2160 comes from an age when every RTS had to have hero units, and in this case, the narrative likewise centers around these heroes. The story isn't particularly memorable, but picks up plot lines from previous installments such as Lost Souls. The missions are nicely varied for the most part, and since there are only seven of them per faction, it never gets stale or repetitive. Curiously, the first campaign is actually the hardest, whereas the last one is the easiest. Visually, Earth 2160 is still surprisingly nice to look at. The explosions in particular manage to impress, and even a full day/night cycle with wandering shadows is present. The fact that every new weapon or armor is properly visible and animated on units is neat, too. The English voice acting, on the other hand, is at most tolerable. In short, if you liked 2150 and aren't afraid of a lack of hand-holding, 2160 is well worth playing.

GOG key doesn't work. Sent the screenshots directly to parent company email as requested and was promptly ghosted. Unplayable in this state.