Earth's future and grand adventure (Earth 2150 (PC))

Member Name: MaestroRage

Product:	Earth 2150 (PC)
Date:	13/09/08 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great systems, realistic world

Disadvantages: weak AI, no online play

Earth 2150 is an RTS game which had the right idea on so many things but failed to deliver them on the exceptional level I foresaw it to have. A game based on realism while dwelling into the far future it had some great concepts.

Let's start with that realism. In Earth 2150, every unit that had physical form of attack *rockets, bullets, etc*, had a limited quantity of it. You'd have supply depots that would fly out and resupply troops that would need it automatically, this including your defensive towers as well.

Most players would go "BOO!" on this idea, but hold on a minute and consider what exciting levels of play this would achieve! Consider you've built a massive army. An army of great destruction and you set out. As you fight, units are lost and ammo begins to grow low. Halfway you are left to make a few choices. Do you stop here, bring in some builders and a small base here and supply, and risk giving the enemy time to recover? Do you press forward and let the supply ships from your original base make their way towards you, running the risk of operating with minimal offensive power? Perhaps move the troops from the back to the front and cycle through the well stocked and the ones running off fumes. Press forward and lengthen the supply ship trips?

All of this pressure, all of this new thinking forced onto you by a simple new concept.

Your ammo is not infinite.

The very heart racing sensation that would wash over me whenever I went on an invasion because of this had me yearning for more. And of course, such a yearning was delivered.

Another element of realism given to the player is the day/light system. 2 of the 3 races required solar power to power up their bases and you could see the solar panels move with the sun, the shadows all the buildings and units cast realistic and accurate. For my favorite race, the Lunar colony, so much power was needed. From electric walls, energy beam towers, etc. All of these things took it's toll on your power and as your batteries dwindled away the fear of being attacked with your defensive down was aggravating. Suddenly those meaningless power towers you'd find in other RTS's became more valuable then my main building. If they went down so did I, end of story.

You could even turn the lights on or off from the units, giving the element of surprise and stealth on online play.

So with all this great beaming information, where did it fall short?

The AI for this game was horrible. The enemy would follow predictable patterns and some of that implied building the same monster unit every 3 minutes, and sending it all alone to my base. Sending the same types of troops in the same numbers time and time again. The missile defensive towers were so deadly and so long range that nobody without using some kind of strategy could hope to destroy them. The AI was incapable of figuring out anything. Build the towers, mission won.

The online play is horrible. And by online play, I mean the lack of it. The game was not nearly as well advertised as it should have been. Only a year or so after release the server rooms were empty. Quite literally empty. I stood there for an hour, found one person, never talked, just left.

damn...

Summary: A great game with deep pitfalls