Earth 2160 next gen RTS but does it take a few steps back from Earth 2150.
Earth 2160 consists of a long campaign, in fact a different campaign for each of the 4 factions in the game, the usual options for multiplayer exist skirmish, LAN & internet play via earthnet. The gameplay features that stand out when you first play 2160 are the large research tree & the modular construction of units and building. This ultimately means that’s is not a pick up and play RTS, be prepared to invest a lot of time to get the most out of this product. What it does give is plenty of scope to vary tactics and lots of depth, the four factions in the game differ significantly in terms of technology, building and unit construction. In the case the of the Alien faction even the way to construct units differs, this faction clones and mutates into other units.
The first thing you notice about 2160 is the graphics, they are superb and everything you would expect from a recent PC game. The engine is able to handle many units on screen and when you zoom in close up none of the detail is lost. The lighting, use of shaders and scale are handled very well and generally the look and feel of the interface is both clean and unobtrusive. The weakest aspect of the graphics is the animation when compared to something like warhammer 40K.
The interface itself could do with a little more streamlining and enhancement. For instance when placing buildings there is need to re-select it in the construction palette or when requesting vehicles to patrol an area there is no quick way to designate an area without waypoints. At times though the interface is excellent, for instance the facility to assign vehicles under construction to a specific group before hand, PIP display, first person mode (though really a novelty) and the packages which allow predefined units to be built (though these cant be saved to the HD for later use).
The sound in the game is average ranging from atmospheric music to some reasonable sound FX. Though I wish it was a little bit more punchy and that they removed the vocals from what seems like a euro pop track from the main menu. The speech used when a unit moved into action could also do with a bit more character, this seemed like a step down from previous games.
First of all the bad news, the campaign mode is actually the weakest part of the game, The voice acting (In the UK version) is not great certainly when compared to titles like warcraft, though its not as bad as some people would have you believe. The problem is that lip sync is terrible in cut scenes, which are in turn poorly rendered by the in game engine (In fact the worst graphics to be found in the game!). None of this helps immerse you into the campaign, the story itself has a good premise even if its been used before but it unfortunately plods along leaving you wondering where the story telling aspect of the campaign went to. In fact many single play campaigns just feel like your playing a skirmish game. The single player mode does as the hype says and gives you many hours of gameplay but never really excites nor inspires.
The good news is that the multiplayer is a lot of fun, there is a lot of depth and the varied construction for units and buildings allow for different tactics. Its not necessarily a game where the player with the largest numbers wins, the nature of the game means you need to build units and equip weapons that best counter your enemy. It unusually misses out on some standard features on multiplayer like the ability to choose teams, start positions, ping the mini map and game rate setting. However anyone wishing to play this game in multiplayer should consider downloading superstorm which is an official mod that addresses some of the multiplayer shortfalls. The mod now comes with rebalancing beta which everyone online uses, this is definitely a game in need of some rebalancing, your find that a Alien faction left unattended is near invincible once they have their best units. On the up side 2160 contains some interesting features for multiplayer load/save games (believe me games can take hours), allowing players to join a existing game online and allowing units/resources to be given to your allies. However the multiplayer experience seems to lack some of the more stealthy tactics that could be employed in games like command and conquer generals.
Earth 2160 does seem like a job half done, perhaps more development time was required to smooth the rough edges and flesh out the good ideas within 2160 of which there are many. Strangely tunnelling that was in earth 2150 was removed, the hero units in the game are not as useful or developed as hero units in the warcraft or warhammer 40K games, the weapons of mass destruction are not as destructive as they are in games like command and conquer generals.
This product shines in multiplayer where the game mechanics work best; don’t expect it to be easy to pick up though. Some people will consider the large research tree, modular construction as great depth while others will be put off.
Though fun in multiplayer the one player element of the package is poor and some might say the product itself lacks a soul, any modders out there should note that the SDK is not being openly distributed at the moment.