Earth 2160 Q&A - Story, Factions, and History

After a five-year absence since the last game in the series, the Earth series returns this November with Earth 2160, the third chapter in Reality Pump's long-running science fiction saga of humanity at war with itself. The first two Earth games were popular with its fans, thanks to a slew of innovations, such as the ability to design your own units from scratch by mixing and matching parts that you unlocked through research. With Earth 2160, Poland's Reality Pump promises to build on these innovations, as well as introduce a few new ones to the real-time strategy formula. To get the details, we caught up with Alexandra Constadache, the executive producer of the game.

Earth 2160 is actually the third chapter in the Earth series.

GameSpot: Can you give us a brief rundown of Earth 2160 and its story? We know that it's a real-time strategy game set in the future on Mars, but why Mars? What has happened to players to have them end up there, and what is their eventual goal?

Alexandra Constadache: The primeval goal of mankind by nature is survival, and that being the case, the true test for each player during the Earth series, to date, has been just that: to survive.

The Earth series started with a global war that soon compromised Earth. The sheer magnitude of all of the battles spun the moon out of the Earth's orbit and sent it on a collision course for Armageddon. This event sent our three surviving global factions--the Eurasian Dynasty, the United Civilized States, and Lunar Colony--into a bitter struggle to escape. We needed to find a new home quickly, and in our haste we decided that the new home would be Mars!

So, all three factions escaped to Mars for a second chance at survival. But would they make the same mistakes they made on Earth? Well, you will have to play Earth 2160 to find out.

GS: Perhaps not everyone knows that Earth 2160 is the third game in the Earth series, or that the series started eight years ago. What makes the Earth series different from other real-time strategy games? And what's new in Earth 2160 compared to previous Earth games, and how will these new features further help distinguish the new game from the pack?

AC: Well, for starters, Earth 2160 is a futuristic sci-fi real-time strategy game developed solely on a per-pixel shading engine. It has more than 150 hours of gameplay, offering first-person perspectives, picture-in-picture technology, a nonlinear storyline that will make even the casual gamer stand up and cheer, and an ever-evolving online experience for everyone that offers not only great gameplay, but the ability to compete for cash prizes. Stay tuned for the worldwide championship that will happen in December.

GS: Are there specific gameplay lessons that you have taken from previous games in the series, and from other real-time strategy games on the market, which you'll be applying to Earth 2160?

AC: We have learned many lessons on the road to Earth 2160, the most important being that gameplay and fan approval are synonymous. When you are making the perfect recipe you have to take heed of the past. With that, it is true that Earth 2160 borrows from the best amongst its past brethren, but, that is where the comparison between Earth 2160 and the rest ends. We feel that Earth 2160 stands out from other strategy games. Not only has this title stayed true to the genre, it has established technological parameters yet unseen in this genre and offers a detailed futuristic nonlinear storyline that is both fun and compelling.

As you can tell, the game features a cutting-edge graphics engine.

GS: Did you always plan for the series to move forward this way? The first two games were set on Earth, but then Earth was destroyed. Then everything shifted to the moon in an expansion pack. And now we're at Mars. Is there a road map for the series somewhere? Do you know where the story is heading after this?

AC: Well, obviously, we have plans for where the Earth series will eventually end up. Even so, the input from our core constituent has overwhelmed our Web site with thousands of suggestions. These suggestions are thoroughly considered as to the way the overall story of Earth 2160 will come about. This has always has been our goal, as with every game we have produced. We want to not only make games that are technologically superior for the genre; more importantly, we want to make games that are embraced by our fans worldwide.