''Earth 2140'' is a 2D

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

computer game 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 w ...

and published by

TopWare Interactive 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 w ...

(later acquired by Zuxxez Entertainment). It has two sequels, ''

Earth 2150 ''Earth 2150'', also known as ''Earth 2150: Escape from the Blue Planet'', is a real-time strategy game, originally published in 2000 by SSI and Polish developer Reality Pump and a sequel to '' Earth 2140''. 2150 was one of the first commercial f ...

'' and ''

Earth 2160 ''Earth 2160'' is a real-time strategy video game, developed by Reality Pump Studios. A third entry in the ''Earth'' series, it is a direct sequel to ''Earth 2150''. The release of the game was staggered, originally published in Russia, Germany, ...

''.

Plot

Earth 2140 takes place in the year 2140. Previous wars have left much of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

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 (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the UCS counterattacks

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Factions

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

hedonists Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...

. As much work as possible is done by robots. 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 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 controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

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, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

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 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 good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

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 attributes ...

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'' basically 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. Units and vehicles can be recruited from their respective factories. Each faction has four types of units, with an exception to the civils who don't serve any purpose but garrison. 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 for the player 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; vehicles like submarines are sea-based and vehicles like helicopters are air-based. Air-based vehicles can travel anywhere on the map screen and while they are airborne can only be shot down by rocketry. 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

References

External links