Nick's Place

Anno 2070 is the game that I am abuzz about right now. Why? Because its awesome. That’s why. I am a long time fan of city building games such as Zeus: Master of Olympus, Children of the Nile, SimCity, and so much more. I’ve always wanted a more advanced city builder with a story line that is very deep and rich in lore. Well, Ubisoft has outdone themselves so far in my opinion.

I got through the first mission available in the demo for the upcoming release of Anno 2070 on Thursday November 17, 2011. And I’d like to share with you all the awesomeness of it. Right now online mode is not available, or if it is I haven’t found it yet. But this game seems like it will be pretty dependent upon a stable internet connection to experience the multiplayer and the random effect. This game allows you to play with others over the internet! Race to the resources and stuff like that. Awesome, right?

Well, this game has surprised me in the first mission! There was a video briefing unlike the introduction. This time it was a man named Thor Strindberg and not E.V.E. the artificial intelligence from before. This man came to me, a private captain of an Ark developed by S.A.A.T. , and asked for my help and ensuring that Global Trust, his company that he works for stays to their two-year plan. And I’m in charge my my sector for it! So, basically, this Thor guy is my boss. Oh, did I mention the best part of this? He speaks! The words are READ to you. That is right.

However, the music is a bit loud and hearing the words can be a bit tough at times. I highly suggest going into the settings of Anno 2070 and up the voice sounds a bit and lower the music. This game has very high quality sounds which is amazing. I never dreamed of a city building game being so interactable in the story. Oh, did I give that away? Yes! There is a complete story! Basically, the background is that it is 2070 and global warming has happened! We need to protect our mass-consumerist culture or live with harmony of nature. Is it possible to do both? You are the captain of an Ark, its your choice to support and build the city of the future!

So, if I wanted to I can be a tyrant whom cares about profit and lining my pretty little pockets with as much currency as possible just so I can have that luxury and that power. I can spend massive amounts of resources to get what is left of the world’s scarce resources. Or, I can go more environmentally friendly and learn to interact and live with nature. Research better and greener ways. What’s the better path? Live with nature or let capitalism run the world? Is a harmony of both possible? I don’t know! This game is going to make me want to find out.

Anno 2070 touches a very, very, hot modern issue. It can show us what our world is going to become. It lets us build our world in our image. Will it spark a political movement? I doubt it. But, does it make an awesome game storyline? Heck, yes! Whomever was the writer of the story, you did a great job here. The whole team did. I loved the speaking and my quests being read to me! I don’t have to sit and stare at the screen reading my quests and wondering what to do next, this game tells you and literally reads your text to you. It was brilliantly done, and makes the story seem so much better and more epic/awesome. If you haven’t already check out my first post about this game: Anno 2070 Introduction. My first post has more story from the introduction.

So, I started the mission. Thor Strindberg of Strindberg Inc. introduced me to the Global Trust, which is the largest energy provider in the world that spans across continents. From the looks of the map it spams across North America (United States, Canada, Greenland, and the Arctic) to Europe (Western and Eastern) all the way to the confides of the European side of Russia and down to Africa. Pretty deep into Africa, looks like around Southern Sudan area.

Strindberg speaks more about the oil and coal deposits and how he is responsible for over 18% of the Global Trust’s monthly demand and the production targets are constantly increasing. Global Trust wants more power to distribute, wants production increased at any cost necessary. I assume it is any cost necessary as long as there is profit. When I entered the game Thor Strindberg’s company is in the process of modernizing the hydroelectric power plant at the damn in Site 13 (which is the name of the mini-city I played in). The reason for this is to satisfy the enormous demand for electricity.

Engineers invented an innovative high-performance module for the main turbines to increase the production and commission as quickly as possible. They want this done within a short period of time to stay on the two-year plan. Mr. Strindberg welcomed me to Site 13. I was surprised to see that he actually spoke to me! A popup with his face and name and a quick gist came up in my upper right screen corner. In green text was his words to me. As like the introductions, the game read them out loud. There was a quick video of showing me around the zone and zooming into the Site 13 city.

The video showed me the hydroelectric power plant and explained the importance of the powerful turbine to increase the production. More energy is needed to increase production. The turbine is becoming a priority target.

I started out at my Ark which looks pretty neat but basic. There’s not much there but E.V.E. We don’t get a giant ship in the game, we get to control an Ark and all of the data from it. Right now the Ark seems to be a basic hub, a technology building that is high tech. E.V.E. the artificial intelligence adviser from S.A.A.T. is within the Ark. But, I got a tiny cargo boat.

Within seconds I was already given a quest by Mr. Strindberg with some building materials. I had to go up to Site 13 and collect them from his warehouse. Upon there the city was stunning, but, I didn’t waste time looking around! I was curious of the quest! Basically, I was sent to an island in the south, Southwest to be exact. At that island I started construction and built a new dock/warehouse on this island beginning infrastructure within it. Next I had to build a city building. The game became a series of running items back and forth for quests. It became about finding the oil, delivering it, getting the turbine, delivering it, help escort an important ship out of the waters.

Within my first fifteen minutes of in the game I got to build a basic infrastructure not far from an already existing infrastructure. I got to get wind of basic trade and had a tiny bit of combat. The controls took some getting used to as there was no easy “here’s how you do it” guide. I was actually confused on how you rotate buildings, but, I figured it out! Lay down your roads first! Your buildings automatically adjust toward the road’s direction!

The quests continued, the combat was cool. But, I admit I was a bit confused. Then I got a notice from Engineer Peterson about how the dam wouldn’t be able to hold the new load. He told me that we were already at our maximum value. He asked me to talk to Mr. Strindberg about this. Which, I did, but he ordered me to go forward with the project anyway. I had to build more residences for workers to get the turbine completed by schedule. Fifteen residences! I had already built some coal power plants as my energy consumption needed it! I ran out of power quickly and a coal power plant was needed. I also built a fishery for the food demand. These were side things as E.V.E. explained to me, I was mainly focused on the bigger quest line… the building of the turbine.

Mr. Strindberg insisted on the turbine being installed as quickly as possible and the hydroelectric power plant being brought to full power. So, we went through with it. Guess what?! The Engineer was right! The damn brust! MR. Strindberg got mad and blamed the engineer. He told the engineer he’s going to have to answer for this. Basically, it seemed that Thor Strindberg made Engineer Peterson the scapegoat.

I won the round. It was a fun adventure. The first mission was fun. Though, there were some things I’m still wondering. I want to adjust my camera angle to look at things in a new angle like most city building games have, I hope Anno 2070 has this support. If it does I haven’t figured it out yet.

This game was rich! It was plain awesome! The first mission was a lot of fun and surprised me. I couldn’t predict anything. The story looks great. So far this game looks like it’d be one of the best games I had the pleasure of playing. I cannot wait for the release on the seventeenth. I probably won’t be getting it then due to the $49.99 price tag. So, I’d be stuck with the demo for a while longer. But, I’ll get it eventually when I can afford it, at this time my money supply is completely tapped.

But, Ubisoft did a great job. If you have a chance to pick up this game, I highly, highly, recommend it based on what I saw thus far. If I had to give it a rating based on what I saw right now? A solid five out of five. It’s that good, though, takes a few moments to gain your bearings. I think I’d like this game.