''Earth 2140'' is a 2D

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...

created in 1997 by Polish-based

Reality Pump Studios TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the '' Two Worlds'' series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division. History TopWare Interactive ...

and published by TopWare Interactive (later acquired by Zuxxez Entertainment). It has two sequels, '' Earth 2150'' and '' Earth 2160''.

Plot

''Earth 2140'' takes place in the year 2140. In the year 2048, a global

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a Futures studies, theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes widespread destruction and radi ...

had engulfed

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and reduced its surface into a nuclear wasteland, forcing most of the world's population into underground cities. Tensions rise between the Earth's two major factions, the Eurasian Dynasty (ED) and the United Civilized States (UCS), as both sides vie for the world's steadily dwindling resources. A UCS raid on an ED base is enough to ignite the rivalry into full-scale war as the ED fails in its bid to control

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the UCS counterattacks

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

Factions

The ''United Civilized States'' (UCS) controls all of North and South America, Western Europe, North Africa and Australia. This nation is populated mostly by

hedonists Hedonism is a family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of egoism, it suggests that people ...

, due to the near-complete automation of the workforce. Automated butlers are the standard in UCS households; even politics and war are left up to the machines. As such, UCS citizens are often portrayed by their detractors as decadent "pigs". A glitch in the upgrade of the UCS war processor GOLAN caused the giant robot to miscalculate the military strength of the Eurasian Dynasty, thus compelling it to launch an attack on the ED. After losing several battles in Mexico, GOLAN quickly adapted to the ED threat and began to retake lost ED territory and win battles in Europe. The UCS is generally more technologically advanced than its adversary, employing robot infantry and automated bipedal combat vehicles (more commonly known as

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...

s). The ''Eurasian Dynasty'' (ED) controls Eastern Europe and Asia. The antithesis of the UCS, the ED is run by an autocratic

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

under the Khan Dynasty that often makes life harsh, short, and without luxury for its citizens. As the less technologically advanced of the two factions, the ED utilizes cyborgs, traditional 20th/21st century standard vehicles such as

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s, and armed

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

in its arsenal. Because of its technological disadvantage, the ED finds itself more often on the defensive throughout the ''Earth 2140'' storyline.

Gameplay

''Earth 2140'' requires the player to complete various objectives, mostly destroying all opposing units and structures (or capturing them). Failure of missions happens when all the player's units are wiped out or a vital objective is not met. Structures are built by deploying mobile vehicles on suitable terrain. Mines used to fund the player with money for purchasing can only be built where ore is available. Materials used to gain funds at 1000 credits a piece are carried from a mine (or material on ground) by a BANTHA truck or Heavy Lifter and placed at the Refinery and converted into credits. Mines eventually finish when all ore is extracted. Each faction has four types of units. The player can create up to 5 queued units and even an infinite queue of the same unit. Unlike most strategy games, credits cannot be refunded when recruitment is cancelled and structures cannot be sold. In some missions, it is possible to call for reinforcements only once. Structures can only be removed with self-destruction. All structures except the Construction Center require power from power plants. Lack of power will cause buildings to operate slowly. Destruction of a power plant leaves a permanent scar on the terrain, which drains vitality of any units nearby. Certain types of buildings must be built to enable the player to build others and to recruit more types of units and vehicles, especially the Research Center. To capture an enemy structure, the player must send in enough units to overwhelm enemy units in garrison. Capturing the opposing faction's factories enables the player to make use of otherwise unavailable technology (depending on the research center progress). Guard towers and superweapon launchers cannot be captured. Most of the units and vehicles just move, attack and escort, but certain ones serve with special tasks such as mine laying, cargo carrying and others. Not every vehicle is land-based. A unique feature in the game is that a vehicle once disabled (easily accomplished with ion technology) can be reprogrammed to join the player using a HMCR repair vehicle.

Expansion packs

Two expansion packs were released for this game: * ''Earth 2140: Mission Pack 1'' * ''Earth 2140: Mission Pack 2 - Final Conflict''

Reception

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' gave the game a 6.3 out of ten. Brendan Caldwell from ''

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...

'' called the game an imitator of ''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise created and originally developed by Westwood Studios and currently owned by Electronic Arts. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself ba ...

''.

References

External links