I am shocked that there is no thread for this game yet!
First of all, for those who do not know anything about the Anno series. Anno is a very interesting game as a whole, and I would even say it deserves its own title for its genre. It's this odd, yet extremely satisfying mix between city builder, RTS, and diplomacy/economic game. There are just so many layers to these games, I can't even begin to delve into all of the aspects in this post. So let me just jump right into the meat and potatoes of Anno 2070 specifically.
What would happen if Global Warming went into the worst possible scenario? What if all the polar ice caps melted, global temperatures rose, and it was just the worst it could potentially be? Well, that's what Anno 2070 is. With the massive flooding, only the highest points of land and mountains are what remains of Earth. With this struggle came out three factions across the globe: The Eden Initiative ("Eco's") and the Global Trust ("Tycoons") along with the Techs, which take the role of the Orients in this game for the Anno 1404 veterans. The first two powers are not the only factions, but are the two largest and are fighting for support and power as the global power to influence humanities decisions in the future of how to progress from the tragedy.
Now, the Eden Initiative are the sustainable energy people, or the "hippies", as you probably have gathered at this point. They work out of environmentally sustainable methods, such as wind turbines and the like to produce energy. The Tycoons are far more industrious and expansive, however, deplete resources significantly faster and contribute to pollution significantly. Both have their bonus' and drawbacks. The Tech's, for those unfamiliar with the Orient comparison earlier, are what give you your late game tech. In this games case, Submarines to settle underwater!
Remember what i said earlier about this game having many facets, more than I could talk about? Well, I wasn't exaggerating. Power consumption, power generation, income, dozens of different resources, population, population happiness/needs, moving in or moving out citizens, upgrading citizens are just the top of the iceberg. Islands have different fertilization, which requires more colonies for more advanced forms of citizenship and therefore requires intricate trade lines between your islands to keep good production up. However, with this massive trading, comes pirates and competition. Therefore you must protect your ships with warships and submarines and airplanes, taking missile strikes upon your enemies, so forth.
Diplomacy also takes a huge role. Being able to trade with your partners may provide extremely beneficial for both parties. In an upcoming expansion planned for next year, ground troops and even moving into Space is planned to be implemented as well --- adding huge dimensions of strategy to the field.
If you want a simple city builder, Anno can provide with its Easy Mode. If you want an intense nation builder with some side combat and easily some of the best resource management on the field today, Hard Mode and whatnot can be great. The campaign is one giant tutorial, as well. The main meat comes in Continuous mode, which is basically do fuck all with everyone around you. It even has a system where you can play side by side with someone and build a city together!
Now, there are "upgrades" available on Online Mode which take a LONG ass time to research (sometimes up to 40 minutes with massive resource dumps and a struggle to get there), but these are extremely beneficial and are permanent across all games due to them being unified on your "ark"
Oh, and of course: If you want to learn your shit about the game
Please don't tell me I'm the only one playing this game way too god damn much
On December 14 2011 11:42 Rybka wrote: You are not alone! I bought it off of Steam based on the fan reviews alone, but I haven't had an opportunity to really dive into it. I can't wait
You may be confused at first, even as an Anno veteran if you are, but the best way to overcome this is to just turn the music up and just start doing shit. I was confused and bored shitless at first, but after 30 minutes of playing, I just can't stop playing it all the damn time now.
EDIT: This god damn sound track is amazing. The juxtaposition between the soft, melodic and happy Eden Initiative music compared to the industrial and gritty Tycoon music.
The game's still expense so I haven't bought it yet. However, as an Anno fan, I'll get around to it eventually. I always wanted to play Anno games multiplayer but no one ever wanted to play with me.
Can you give me some reasons this game is NOT just a reskin on Anno 1404 as the demo felt like? Because with a game this expensive, I'd much rather just stick with 1404 if there's little new.
Damn you got me all excited about it but I can't afford it right now. Are there any cheaper older versions that are worth playing? Graphics is not an issue as long as they play well.
On December 14 2011 11:51 beef42 wrote: Can you give me some reasons this game is NOT just a reskin on Anno 1404 as the demo felt like? Because with a game this expensive, I'd much rather just stick with 1404 if there's little new.
This is the sole reason I havent bought it, and I LOVE 1404.
Lay us out some reasons to play this one instead of 1404
On December 14 2011 11:51 beef42 wrote: Can you give me some reasons this game is NOT just a reskin on Anno 1404 as the demo felt like? Because with a game this expensive, I'd much rather just stick with 1404 if there's little new.
This is the sole reason I havent bought it, and I LOVE 1404.
Lay us out some reasons to play this one instead of 1404
I just feel it's far more refined overall. There just seems a bunch of smaller shit implemented that makes it generally more enjoyable than 1404 in my opinion. If you're a die hard 1404 fan, then keep doing what you gonna do. However, at least try the game out -- it's really god damn good. I'm far too occupied right now to come up with something coherent in response (I wrote up the OP last night, inundated with shit all over right now), but I'll be sure to do a write up tomorrow afternoon if someone already doesn't in the meantime!
This game is on my Steam Wishlist....if I don't win the Steam giveaway....I will buy this after the contest is over...I really enjoyed their previous games, Anno 1404, and this one looks pretty kickass
On December 14 2011 11:51 beef42 wrote: Can you give me some reasons this game is NOT just a reskin on Anno 1404 as the demo felt like? Because with a game this expensive, I'd much rather just stick with 1404 if there's little new.
This is the sole reason I havent bought it, and I LOVE 1404.
Lay us out some reasons to play this one instead of 1404
I just feel it's far more refined overall. There just seems a bunch of smaller shit implemented that makes it generally more enjoyable than 1404 in my opinion. If you're a die hard 1404 fan, then keep doing what you gonna do. However, at least try the game out -- it's really god damn good. I'm far too occupied right now to come up with something coherent in response (I wrote up the OP last night, inundated with shit all over right now), but I'll be sure to do a write up tomorrow afternoon if someone already doesn't in the meantime!
I'll be honest. I'm on the fence after reading your OP. My first girlfriend introduced me to the series with 1503. The first one I bought was Anno 1701. And you know what? Every one of them is the same, just a *ttiiiny* bit more refined.
I'll.. uh, I'll play the demo and maybe wait for a $20 sale even then. I'm sure it'll be fun but it's like Tropico or err
I can't think of any other resource/city builder games that fit into this catagory atm but my decision not to buy a full priced Anno refinement is still valid.
I bought it and i gotta say that i really love futuristic setting. The medieval setting was really getting old. I prefer this to 1404 by far. Gameplay and graphics are top notch of course.
On December 14 2011 11:51 beef42 wrote: Can you give me some reasons this game is NOT just a reskin on Anno 1404 as the demo felt like? Because with a game this expensive, I'd much rather just stick with 1404 if there's little new.
I bought it for the soundtrack wahaha. Which is like previously mentioned the best part of the game. But different? yea, you can vote in city and world councils and TWITTER in the lobby! Could you do that in 1404 huh!? It supports cooperative modes where you can be several players controlling one 'player'. I'm not sure since I haven't tried it though. The multiplayer is pretty scarce like usual, maybe its cause people are playing through the campaign...
But yeah, the game-play is pretty similar. Some new things like underwater cities creates two layers of one map and the faction system is a bit more elaborate than in 1404. Also, there's a lot of statistics and extra console controls added in game. The graphics, reskin as you say it, makes the mood a bit different from the other games. It's more gritty and grey, not colorful as in 1404. Campaign is pretty much the same though, and one of the major complaints is that it holds your hand too tight in the missions. Go do this, retrieve that, build that and so on. Think it loosens up later on, but I haven't played very much yet. Might not be the most revolutionary game, but it's no EA Sports / FIFA in terms of developer laziness either. It's your money, make the decision yourself. A game 'this expensive' sounds strange though. You want them to market each game as an expansion? It's normally priced here, I bought it for 400 sek (55$?).
Game is very good , but its very luck based game. You can just stuck in late game , if you dont find island whit truffles..and its very rare. And you gonna need it to make better "food" in late game , to make your citizens to advance to next lv. I stuck at two games because of that.. or im just stupid and i dont get this game ( other way to find truffles )
On December 14 2011 16:42 pallad wrote: Game is very good , but its very luck based game. You can just stuck in late game , if you dont find island whit truffles..and its very rare. And you gonna need it to make better "food" in late game , to make your citizens to advance to next lv. I stuck at two games because of that.. or im just stupid and i dont get this game ( other way to find truffles )
You can simply give the island another fertility if you have the right item(usually bought from the faction arcs) and an island with a question mark. If not, you probably aren't supposed to get that far( usually in certain scenarios or campaign missions).
400kr is a lot of money to me. I know it's no different from everything else. I'm sure the price will drop soon enough though, these games are rarely huge CoD caliber smash hits.