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REVIEWSREVIEWSEarthSelect your side,“it’s an East West kinda thing”.Which country shall we flatten today?The built-in database has details of themany different units and buildings.Product InformationDeveloper: Topware InteractiveAmiga Port: Pagan GamesDistributor: Epic InteractiveAvailable: From most Amigagames dealers.WWW:www.pagan-games.comwww.epic-interactive.comPrice: around £302140Hostilities BeginEarth2140 is a war strategy type gamein the mould of the likes of Napalm andCommand & Conquer, where you havecontrol over your forces destiny viamouse control (wish that worked athome), you can think long and hardabout strategy and form the perfectscenario for your forces to take over theworld, or if you are more like me go inguns blazing and get snookered from arearward counter attack (ouch). Butthat’s what its all about in this game, nomatter what your skill level you will nodoubt enjoy it. Strategy games are notnormally my cup of tea but after playingthe demo I knew that Earth2140 was aquality game, and boy was I right! Afterloading it up for the first time I couldn’tresist playing it, and in fact when Ifinally stopped playing (to go to bed) Iwas totally shocked to realise it was 2AM! This game is just so easy to pick upand get into, even for strategy gameamateurs like me as you can set the skilllevel to suit the type of player you are (Iset skill level to easy......wimp).Peace Talks Break DownThe game comes on 1 CD packaged ina DVD case (which I think is the smartestpackaging solution) along with a 20page manual which although not verydetailed has plenty enough informationto get you going and to be quite faironce you get into the game you will notprobably need it as the controls arepretty well thought out and easy to master.Installation is via the standard installerwhere you make a few choicessuch as where to install to. Earth 2140supports 640x480 and 800x600 16bitscreenmodes, a graphics card isrequired. 68k (the documentation states‘060 only) and PPC via WarpUp versionsare supplied, you select thescreenmode and processor you want touse by double clicking on one of fourprogram icons.It’s WarOn running the game it goes straightinto the intro animation which is quitelong but gives you a “feel” for the game.Once the intro is finished you arepresented with the menu screen whichis navigated around by moving themouse and the screen scrolls (in mycase very fast and smoothly) to whereyou move the mouse to....neat! Here iswhere you choose what side to do battlefor (either UCS or Ed...it’s an East Westkinda thing) with each side having it’sown array of weapons, or you can lookat the database where you can view thevarious buildings, soldiers or vehicles,there are also options for Net and Serialbut when I clicked on them I got amessage stating these will be availablewith the mission pack Cd’s (can’t wait forthem). Ok so once you have selectedyour side you are next presented with ascreen to choose your difficulty level (Ichose easy....yeah I know I’m a wimp),where upon you are shown yet anotherscreen where you choose the areawhere this war is gonna take off, havingsaid that I could only choose one forwhatever side I fought for but therelooks like many areas, mainland Europe,England, Netherlands, Africa and goodold USA can be selected if you have therelevant mission packs!On selection of the battlefield location ashort anim loads followed by an objectivesscreen that informs you what to dowhich can range from searching for andkilling all the enemy units, to more complexmissions such as capturing enemybuildings or defending particular buildingsor units. Then at last the maingame screen opens with the battlefieldtaking up most of the available area butdown the left hand side there is a strip(about one fifth of the screen) that con-You start with a few soldiers... ...and before long... ...the action really hots up!tains game information and controls. Atthe top of the strip you will find athumbnail map showing the entire battlefield,coloured dots show your units,enemy units, buildings and wherebattles are taking place. Below thethumbnail the game controls are shownon a series of tabs so they don’t take upa lot of room and get in the way. Thesetabs contain all the information such ashow much cash you have, the state ofyour forces, a summary of your objectives,and game controls such as loadand save. One tab allows you to changethe behaviour of your units for exampleyou can set them to guard a position,attack or escort another unit. Anotherfeature is the ability to assign a group ofunits to one of three virtual Generals(yes sir!) who will then automaticallycontrol these units, you can set eachGeneral to be either defensive of offensive(they will defend the area or go outand attack enemy units respectively).The Carnage BeginsI must say the graphics of this game aresuperb, the main battlefield screen (tothe right of the control GUI) is rather welldrawn with raised plateau’s, trees,grassland and desert sand areas, andwhen tracked vehicles cross these areasthe leave track marks in their wake. Letsgo into battle, you can select a singleunit by clicking on it with the mousepointer and sending it into battle or areconnaissance mission by then clickinganywhere you desire on the map (Idon’t recommend single units, bound toget outnumbered), or you can drag yourmouse over multiple units (soldiers andvehicles) which will select them all andsend them of to battle (much bettersafety in numbers), of course not forgettingto leave a few behind to look afterhome base in case of surprise attacks.One thing you will notice is that most ofthe map area is black which means it isunchartered, but once your troops go onthe march the areas light up showing thefull detail of the area, this representsyour troops visual range and once theymove away the area is shown slightlydarkened which means although youhave chartered the area you can nolonger see it! This is best demonstratedwhen you have moved into an area,moved on, then on your return when youenter the area you may find the enemysuddenly appearing out of nowhere andattacking you (sneaky but cool).This is where things get really interesting,the battles that take place are justso good to watch with both sides firing ateach other, rockets are launched thathave amazing smoke trails behind them,the explosions are particularly nice andleave scorched buildings and land behind.There are a whole host of units tochoose from with four basic types,robots, armoured vehicles, bikes andwalkers. Each type of unit has it’s owncharacteristic speed and strength, theycan also have different weapons suchas missiles or grenades. Later in thegame more advanced weapons becomeavailable such as aeroplanes, ships,lazer cannons and plasma weapons. Toaccompany the carnage is a bizarreselection of CD music which rangesfrom light metal (almost suitable)through blues saxophone to a real surrealhappy tweety tune (has to be heardto be believed), maybe it is designed tomake you feel guilty about all the killinggoing on (almost anti war)... strange!Wars are expensive and Earth2140doesn’t let you forget it, to build newunits you must mine minerals which arethen refined and increase your funds. Toextract these minerals you need to builda mine which must be located where theminerals are available on the map, thereare usually only a couple of places oneach level. So now you have your mineyou need a refinery to process theminerals and a Bantha vehicle totransport them, finally the money startsrolling in. The other essential building isa power station, without one none of theother buildings will function. You canbuild all manner of buildings to enhanceyour war effort, including a robot factoryto build troops, heavy tech to buildvehicles, research centre for betterunits, there are also air and water basesto add variety.Enemy DefeatedEarth2140 strikes a good balancebetween Strategy and playability, evennewcomers to the genre will be able topick it up easily (unlike Napalm which Ifound very difficult to master), then thelearning curve is progressive so youdon’t get frustrated. The graphics andeffects are not only awesome but runvery smoothly indeed, even if you arenot a Strategy fan this is one title not tobe missed.ResultsProsSmooth game play and scrolling.Variety of units and missions.Difficulty curve “just right”.ConsThat music!Backgrounds get a bit repetitive.28 CLUBBED - Issue 8Summer 200129