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Earth 2160

EMAIL PRINT pc

7.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 31 critic reviews
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Based on 59 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: ZuxxeZ Entertainment / Deep Silver / Midway

Developer: Reality Pump Studios

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 14, 2005

Summary

EARTH 2160 is the official sequel of the award winning, very popular and top selling EARTH series and continues the brand of "Earth 2140" and "Earth 2150." Only a few thousand humans managed to escape from the Earth before its collapse in 2150 A.D. They spent the next few years on the terra forming of the red planet, developing new technologies and building up new civilisations. Somehow each of the three fractions "Eurasian Dynasty", "United Civilised States" and "Lunar Corporation" did this independently and separately from each other - but in the year 2160 something strange happens in this new world. If ED, UCS and LC join forces or continue their old war against each other - is possibly now, up to the player. Beside the usual venues in the solar system, there are some strange looking locations: planets with moving and reflecting liquid surfaces. And beside the standard RTS - resource acquisition, base building and destruction of enemy bases, the year 2160 will have some adventure inspired tasks for the players. [Zuxxez]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Earth 2150 Earth 2150: Lost Souls

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Gamer's Hell

It may not replace "Star Craft" in terms of stature—but it’s damn close. The multiplayer matches are suitably intense, and the single-player campaign delivers everything in terms of both expectation and intention.

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BonusStage

The super high learning cure will absolutely knock quite a few gamers out of their seats, again, especially if they try to jump into things like they’re playing "Starcraft" for the 2000th time.

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GamingTrend

If you are looking to sink your teeth into a challenging and graphically strong RTS game this may be what you are seeking especially in a time where there are not many options available in this genre right now. Just be prepared for a hard fight, and get ready to go it alone.

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Computer Games Online RO

The singleplayer story may not win any awards any time soon and the voice acting will most likely make you go nuts on more than one occasion, but the solid set of features, good AI as well as a dedicated and active online community will keep you in the front of your PC for hours on end.

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Worth Playing

An extremely lengthy, deep, and beautiful strategy experience. From the very start, you'll find yourself drawn in and playing for quite a long time.

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Gamers Europe

Earth 2160 uses every trick in the strategy book to great effect. If you can think of a feature, it’s probably there. We can expect a sequel because of the way the last campaign ends, but I won’t spoil it for you.

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GameZone

A really good RTS game that will capture your imagination as you try to become victorious over your foes.

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IC-Games

If you are sick of the countless WW2 RTS games on the market today you’ll be a fool if you let Earth 2160 pass you by. With four campaigns and an extensive multiplayer mode we can see this one lasting well into the development of "Earth 2170."

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VideoGamesLife

To compare "Earth 2160" directly with past greats like "Command & Conquer" and "Total Annihilation" is to miss the point. No, it’s not as inspired or as absorbing or as fun as those earlier games. But to find a fresh game which dares to take the baton from those titles and carry it forward another hundred yards is a real pleasure.

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IGN

It has amazing faction balance that include some awesome base building strategies and terrific tech tree. On the other hand, it has a campaign that simply plods along with a slow pace, lack of creativity in mission design, and a story that is fatiguing thanks in large part to some amusingly bad characters and horrible voice-overs.

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eToychest

Earth 2160 is competent, and while it doesn’t break much new ground, it is nonetheless a decent game.

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PC Gamer

A must for hardcore RTS nuts, but not the best option for casual players. [Feb 2006, p.48]

Game Over Online

With an interesting premise, four campaigns and a large amount of depth with the researchable technology tree, Earth 2160 allows hardcore strategy fans the option to tailor make their own units and plans for galactic conquest.

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Digital Entertainment News

Earth 2160 is a display of both good and evil; with its great graphics and its awful voice-overs.

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GameSpot

Earth 2160 features interesting gameplay and beautiful graphics, but it's dragged down by its badly paced and terribly told campaign.

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PC Format

It's the sci-fi game for RTS fans who found "Dawn of War" a little too streamlined. A game by fans for fans, but few others. [Sept 2005, p.90]

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

A space war that's heavy on cliché, with a side order of weird aliens. Earth 2160 is an accomplished but dull RTS sequel. [PC Gamer UK]

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Game Chronicles

Earth 2160 is pretty much a game by RTS experts for RTS experts. This game is not novice friendly by any stretch of the imagination.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

An extremely robust and well-featured RTS with hours of play stretched out waiting to be dived into. The fact that the usual selling point of such titles – the campaign mode – is rather disappointing interferes with how the game will ultimately be received.

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Eurogamer

No matter how good it is - and in Skirmish mode, it really is pretty good - it's a bit saddening. The future never seemed so far away.

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Pelaaja (Finland)

Earth 2160 is a visually impressive and competent RTS game with lot of interesting game play elements. It doesn’t revolutionise the genre and playing it is feels the same as playing other games in the genre. Still, the whole package is slick, well rounded and plays well. If you’re looking for an deep sci-fi RTS game with a long quest, you could choose worse. [Sept 2005, p.74]

Yahoo! Games

Most of the attraction was the aliens, though it was difficult to restrain the urge to lift them out of the genre-bound confines of Earth 2160 and into the groundbreaking RTS they deserve.

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Next Level Gaming

There is not a whole lot of good things I can say about the storyline in this game. Frankly I just wanted the characters to stop talking so I could try and enjoy the game.

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Armchair Empire

Aficionados of the real-time strategy genre might want to buy Earth 2160 even though there are almost too many options to consider when it comes to vehicle design and the lackluster campaigns could have benefited from a lot more attention.

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Game Informer

If you're a genre dabbler, there are a good dozen or so similar games released over the last several years that deserve your attention far more than this entirely average title. [Feb 2006, p.110]

Gamer 2.0

Certainly, Earth 2160 is a long game, but tedium does set in and it’s difficult to escape the feeling that you’ve played this sort of title before.

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Gaming Age

Earth 2160 is a fun RTS entry for the PC library, albeit an unnecessarily long and poorly constructed campaign mode.

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1UP

If getting the mechanics right is enough for you, there is more than enough here to keep you busy for quite a while.

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Computer Games Magazine

It never goes beyond being just another real-time strategy game. [Feb 2006, p.63]

GameSpy

It's a real shame that Earth 2160 is so hostile to new players, because it features a powerful graphics engine, a deep and rewarding game design, and potentially limitless replayability with all its flexibility.

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Computer Gaming World

"Starcraft," sans that pesky "fun" thing. [Jan 2005, p.90]

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 59 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gatlus S. gave it a9:
Really amazing graphics for its time, but the game play mechanics can be a bit rough. And the voices suck really bad. But it's the overall violence and tactic developing zazz that makes it sweet

William L. gave it a10:
This is an amazing RTS. It has many of the best features of CC, SC, and others in the field, along with some nice fetures usally assoicated with TBS games. Only downside I've found with it is the poor translation of the text and dialogue at some points.

Chadly gave it a10:
Great Great Game! You have to spend some time with it though. I have personally experienced the intelligence of the A.I. They sent in a few planes to test out my defenses, when I saw them get shot down I didn't think twice, but about 4 minuets later they brought in a whole fleet, took down my air defense and also a big cannon. And then 10 seconds later they sent in there ground troops. The voices are horrible, but you do get used to them. And at first there were some technical issues (my units still get killed when put in a structure) but with the patches and a few tweaking it works. There are also some mods out there. To be honest, it is a bit rusty, but it is the best rusty strategy game I have played ever. In fact, I wish I could play it now, but I am at work and will have to wait.

Kulkun S. gave it a9:
Simple idea and still very fun. Just grab all the resources you can, build up a force, and launch at the enemy before they take you out. Had not trouble with anything except the dialogue messing up a bit too often (hence not a 10). Still, it's a great time killer and the strategies of each side make it a bit more interesting. Very nice graphics.

Sp1ff Z. gave it a7:
This game is pretty good, kinda star craftish. Background story sounds alot like battlestar galactica, homeworld destroyed, only a few thousand humans left. Also kinda like planet side with 3 factions to choose from. w/e shoot me for saying this.

DeJhon M. gave it an8:
I would like to start off by explaining why Earth 2160 has a low score, or rather why I believe it does. Earth 2160 is a no explanation given type game, you have to learn what does what in order to actually beat the game. Now I have only played a little, but on the "defend the space gun" ED mission I finally realized what I was doing wrong. First off, NEVER use the default vehicles, you will want to specialize your vehicles for the situation you need them for. The LC, for example, use energy based weapons... so having energy repulsive armor is a good idea. Rockets are great anti building, but don't hit fast moving vehicles as well, let alone infantry. Air Craft can destroy an LC base in a matter of minutes, if all anti-air craft vehicles / sentry guns are destroyed. The LC has few, if any, anti-aircraft capabilities... however their ground capabilities are quite impressive. Second, unlike games like Warcraft, sending in everyone at once WILL get everyone killed. You actually need to analyze the targets and choose which ones to take down... Destroying power generators/distributors is a great way to severely cripple enemy defenses. And although you can 'destroy' enemy structures, the ED can 'invade' enemy structures and destroy them from within. The LC has a unit called the 'hacker' which can take over enemy vehicles, what you have here is a new level of complexity. Actual battlefield tactics rather then assault... but the information you are given in game is inadequate and will NOT help you at all. You have to be able to recognize each structure the enemy has and be able to know what technology they are using. For instance, the ED and LC both have an anti rocket vehicle which WILL make your rocket attacks ineffective. The differences in combat is so much different then other RTS’ that an experienced RTS player will have more difficulty grasping this game then a novice who just started with this game. Warcraft offers a direct upgrade approach (this is better then that) and has specific units that you can command. Earth doesn’t. Each unit can be outfitted with different weapons that can simply be a clone of another vehicle, or it can operate completely differently then before. And each of these vehicles can serve a purpose that the vehicle description does not necessarily imply. Earth 2160 challenges you to think about your attack rather then simply building up units and sending them in, this is why people struggle with it. And because the struggle is interpreted as repetitiveness they give up and rate it exceptionally low. These people did not fully explore Earth 2160’s potential and because of that, they suffered. However, Earth 2160 does contain repetitive elements, and hard to decipher battlefield data. More often then not, I will encounter a ‘hell’ mission, but the one that really ticks me off is the ED final. It actually wasn’t that hard, I set up a defense perimeter and with only a few planes and rocket infantry held them off effectively enough to build up my base. I found the LC base and was launching a few missiles at it when suddenly… they were all shot down. Turns out there is an alien base positioned in such a way that it perfectly knocks out all missiles. And was a perfect anti win base. Well, they are down ‘now’ so I take care of the LC. In a short while the LC have RE build their base, let alone the fact that the aliens are all over the map. Then I discovered the pass the aliens were using to get to the base. I estimate 2000 aliens resided in that pass (luckily they didn’t have anti missile units). I actually spent more time hunting down and RE killing then suffering. And there are several instances which this type of ‘technique’ is employed. Just levels designed to annoy the hell out of the players.

Peter V. gave it a10:
This is possibly the best RTS i've ever played, and I've played a lot of RTSs. I got my copy before E2160 joined steam so I didnt have to worry about the authentication issues. E2160 has great graphics, gameplay that stands out among other RTSs, and a long campaign and good multiplayer. The complicated style of the game might be it's only bad point, but once you're used to it, this just adds more strategy and makes it even more fun. If you're new to E2160 don't just try it for 5 minutes and say "This is too complex, I give up." Take some time to learn it and you will love it. In my opinion it's a newer more complex Starcraft. Get a retail version and not steam version.

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