Earth 2150: Lost Souls

In the land of RTS games, very few titles receive good press and attention from the fans, since it is a very difficult genre to break into. Beside the fact that you have to come up with a convincing universe and the units that are part of it, you also have to make the gameplay versatile and interesting, all while encouraging competitive matches in the multiplayer mode.

Earth 2150: Lost Souls continues the epic saga of the three powerful factions fighting each other for the planet's resources, by providing you with a new campaign for each side. Thus, you can experience the war from the perspective of the United Civilized States, the Lunar Corporation and the Eurasian Dynasty, all of which have their own interests and reasons for being involved in the skirmish.

Since the Earth is on its way to being destroyed, because the Sun's expansion is about to engulf the planet and roast everything in sight, the human civilization managed to escape a long time ago. There were some people that got left behind, though, and they got to be called the “lost souls”. Naturally, they are after revenge and they do everything in their power to get to those who abandoned them.

When it comes to the actual gameplay mechanics, Earth 2150: Lost Souls basically acts like every other RTS, which means that you have start off by building a base and train as many units as you can, in order to defeat the enemy. You can also construct various types of power plants, which assure that you have enough energy to support your buildings and keep your army functional.

The annoying thing is that the mouse actions are reversed and you have to use left-click in order to issue the commands, which can be quite the bother for those who are used to the classic set up from other RTS games. Other than that, the camera and the controls are almost standard and you can easily make use of them to coordinate the troops and get an overview on the situation whenever you want to do so.

In the end, Earth 2150: Lost Souls might not bring too many innovations when it comes to the mechanics, but the new campaigns provide you with dozens of hours of gameplay and a very well-written story. You also get a few new units and buildings to play around with for each of the three factions.