Earth 2140

Reviewed By: Erica J. Marceau

Review Date: September 5, 2002

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Format: CD

Developer: Epic Interactive

Mac Publisher: MacPlay

Minimum System Requirements: 233MHz G3, Mac OS 8.6, 64MB RAM, 4MB video card, 250MB free hard drive space

Network Feature: Yes

3D Support: Yes

Mac OS X Compatible: Classic mode

Price: $19.99

ESRB: Not yet rated

Availability: Out now

When a game breaks new ground, such as WarCraft and Myst, there are often copy cats or clones released shortly after which try to ride the wave of popularity. Some of these advance the genre and are fun to play, while others simply make you grimace. Earth 2140 is the latter, and is one of the worst games I have ever played. With bland graphics, poorly designed levels, and an unappealing story, there is little positive to say.

Earth 2140 starts out with a movie which involves a lot of explosions and walking, metal, robotic skeletons blowing something up. I don't know what it means, but it doesn't really matter because the story's completely meaningless. Basically, two of the world's super powers are fighting over the last remaining resources after countless wars have nearly destroyed everything and driven the population below the surface. This must explain why so many of the levels are the same barren wasteland.

Most of the real-time strategy games I've played introduce you gently to the abilities of each unit by gradually increasing the difficulty of each level and the kinds of units to which you have access. Earth 2140 breaks this mold by giving you a bunch of tiny units which are barely distinguishable and whose different abilities are only mentioned in the manual and in the in-game reference you access from the main menu. You're not even told how much damage each unit does, just their current and total hit points. So, I took these guys and wandered around and shot everything and won the map. The next level I did the same thing and built buildings which were meaningless because the enemy was destroyed. The level after that I had to do the same thing. It was very tedious, and all I got from it was eye strain from focusing on the tiny units.

Another major fault is with the differences--or lack thereof--between the two superpowers. They look the same, sound the same, have the same looking units, and construct buildings the same way which look the same. The only difference is one is brown and one is green, which nicely matches the scenery which is of the same color.

The graphics are very sparse and dull. Just the same brown or green rock and dead tree level after level. The missiles leave a trail of exhaust and leave holes if you attack the ground, which is a nice touch. However, most of the game is just devoid of details. Likewise, the soundtrack is a bunch of tedious looping techno songs despite the "professional soundtrack" description on the game box.

There are many real-time strategy games on the market, and practically any of them will be a better game than Earth 2140.

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