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| | Publisher: Runesoft  Genre: Strategy & War | | | Min OS X: 10.6 CPU: 601 @ 180 MHz RAM: 32 MB |
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As you might have already guessed from the title, you are now on Earth in the year 2140. Imagine a few wars from now with the scattered environmental disaster or two, and you’ve got the setting of the game. Standard post-Armageddon stuff. The world has conveniently dwindled itself down to two world powers: (1) the United Civilized States (UCS) comprising America, Western Europe, and Northern Africa and (2) the Eurasian Dynasty (ED) covering Eastern Europe and Asia. Australia and most of Africa were laid waste and were so badly contaminated that they have been removed from world maps. Oh dear…how politically incorrect!The UCS is considered “decadent and lazy” and has developed computers to run their everyday lives. In fact, the computers choose their leaders! The ED is run by a military dictatorship and has developed technology fusing human and mechanical parts, so that they now exist as robots with organic brains! Natural resources have become extremely scarce and the final conflict between the UCS and ED will decide the fate of the world to come. Choose which side you wish to play and off you go. Good vs. Evil. USA vs. USSR. Stone Cold vs. The Rock. You get the idea. Getting Started Earth 2140 is campaign based. In other words, you proceed through scenarios of increasing complexity and difficulty toward your goal of world domination. After clicking through the numerous startup screens, you arrive at the introduction. Dark terminator stuff. I was just waiting to hear Arnold’s “I’ll be back” at any moment. A mouse click or patience takes you to the main menu. Moving the mouse to the left or right gives you the following options: Network (start/join a network game), Database (an online listing of buildings and units), Intro (view the introduction video again), Credits, Load (for saved games) and Quit.Unfortunately, the documentation does little to help. A few charts list out unit costs and basic abilities, but that is about all. The keystrokes listed in the manual are clearly PC-based. The “readme” file that accompanies the CD-ROM is a MUST READ to learn the Mac keystrokes. Keep in mind, however, that even the readme will seem lackluster. It seems to refer to the control key and command key without distinction. I’m still trying to work out some keystrokes.
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